Reviews tagging 'Violence'

Het verhaal van Alice Hart by Holly Ringland

22 reviews

jstilts's review against another edition

dark emotional sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.0

Beautifully written, I nevertheless found this book an absolute slog of a read. Terrible things happen to Alice throughout the book, which is heartbreaking, but terrible things fill the lives of the dozens of other characters as well to the point of ridiculousness. Everyone is damaged by death or abuse - even the most minor of characters - for instance a vet, who appears in a handful of paragraphs, has a dead wife and child on his mind. It's eye rolling and exhausting. A character we meet early on and only return to very late in the book has a child die at 5 because everyone needs a tragedy. Everyone has a story and every story is miserable.

Characters make the worst possible decisions at all times just to drive the grimness onwards and make Alice's life as miserable as possible. Her lov ng grandmother absolutely ruins Alice's life and the motivations are all incomprehensible beyond the author wanting their character to suffer.

Where I really gave up is when - SPOILER - Aluce falls ridiculously deeply and savagely in love literally at first sight with someone who of course turns out to be an abuser. I realise that it's not uncommon for victims of abusive families to find themselves with abusive partners but she didn't gravitate towards him, she didn't know the guy at all, so that's not what is happening here - it's just Alice Must Suffer!

Honestly, I wouldn't have finished this book if it wasn't chosen for a book club I'm hosting.

Utterly exhausting, which is a shame as it's beautifully written. One quirk is that most chapters feel like they could be the ending - at times it's like reading a collection of short stories that tell one narrative. I'd be tempted to try the author again so long as the subject matter is entirely different.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Violence, Vomit, Grief, Medical trauma, Stalking, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, and Deportation

emilykabbott's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse

Moderate: Violence

pikkumarja's review against another edition

emotional hopeful sad medium-paced

• Strong character development? Yes

4.0

Tässä on vähän sellainen keski-ikäistyneen naisen voimaballadin sävy, mutta toimii kyllä nuoremmillekin ja oikeastaan varmaan kaikille lukijoille. Aiheet ovat todella raskaita, mutta kieli on todella kaunista ja kerronta pitää otteessaan vahvasti. Kukkiin kiinnittää kirjan jälkeen enemmän huomiota ja jälkisanoissa + kiitoksissa on kerrottu kauniisti siitä, kenen maalla ja kenen tarinoista ammentaen kirja on kirjoitettu.

Alicen ja tarinan muiden naisten vuoksi toivoisin, että kirjassa ei olisi miehiä niin paljon. Miehet eivät oikein nappaa.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Animal death, Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Violence, Grief, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail

be_emvi_ous's review against another edition

emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Toxic relationship, Violence, and Death of parent

Minor: Deportation

snoogler's review against another edition

dark reflective sad fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.5

the setting surrounding this book was great, i could really imaging the aesthetic flower farms and the australian desert and the like, but that was the only win for this book. the plot was based solely around Alice’s trauma, and while it is important to talk about matters like abuse and destigmatize them , i found that the characters and plot was flat overall

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Violence, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, and Gaslighting

amylee_21's review against another edition

emotional medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A

5.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Domestic abuse, Violence, Grief, and Death of parent

jailala's review against another edition

emotional hopeful reflective medium-paced

4.5

An excellent contemporary read! This book spans the first few decades of the main character's life (while also exploring the past of her family members to explain why she is being raised the way she is) so it can feel a bit disconcerting if you don't know this.

There are three almost separate seeming 'chapters' of Alice's life explored so it helps to know that going in- otherwise, the break between her early disjointed childhood understanding into the people caring for her in the second part can through you.

The third part, told more from her adult perspective was fairly easy to read (though the topics she works through can be triggering to some- brutal!)  Another author might have simply told the story only from that third part- throwing in bits and pieces in flashbacks to help you understand.  As it stands, we are led through Alice's life from beginning to her final growth into an adult on her way to a well-rounded life and we get a much more complete picture because of Ringland's choice of structure.

I found this choice of structure particularly intriguing given Alice's constant struggle to get the caregivers in her life to simply be straight with her and explain her family's history to her once and for all already!
Those who do not understand their history and, by extension, their family's history, are doomed to repeat the same bad patterns over and over.
Hiding the past almost never ends well and can actually be quite destructive.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Toxic relationship, Grief, Death of parent, and Gaslighting

Moderate: Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, and Violence

Minor: Animal cruelty and Stalking

While the entire book is cathartic, in order to get to the growth of the main character the story goes to some pretty traumatic places. None of it is over-the-top or used purely for effect. All of it has specific ramifications and growth relation to the characters.

zahrahazmi's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Physical abuse, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, and Violence

ehamlett's review against another edition

emotional reflective sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse and Violence

Moderate: Child abuse, Death of parent, and Fire/Fire injury

Minor: Abandonment

jrae1334's review against another edition

emotional sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Toxic relationship, Violence, Grief, Death of parent, and Fire/Fire injury

Moderate: Panic attacks/disorders, Medical content, and Deportation