Reviews tagging 'Domestic abuse'

Girls Burn Brighter by Shobha Rao

19 reviews

karlisimp's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark tense medium-paced

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

3.5

This would’ve been a 4-5 star read however the ending was awful and anticlimactic. The author should’ve gone one or two more paragraphs. This book is extremely dark and hard to read at most times. Story is mostly rewarding.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug use, Sexual assault, Rape, Suicide attempt, Physical abuse, Trafficking, Torture, Sexual violence, Hate crime, Domestic abuse, and Injury/Injury detail

ventellina's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark 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? It's complicated

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Trafficking, Domestic abuse, Misogyny, Sexism, Grief, Sexual assault, Emotional abuse, Rape, Physical abuse, Slavery, Sexual violence, and Violence

kriti's review against another edition

tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Slavery, Trafficking, Rape, Confinement, and Domestic abuse

comeundun's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful sad tense medium-paced

What the fuck was that ending? Like... I get it, but I'm angry. I wanted to see it. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Trafficking, Sexual violence, and Domestic abuse

irisfromthevillage's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad slow-paced

1.5

This book had been on my TBR for a long time and I knew from the summary that it would be a challenging read and there’s nothing wrong with that. My issue with the book is that it felt like trauma was being stacked without giving us real depth of character. I didn’t get out of it what I felt the book was building towards. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Sexual violence, Hate crime, Medical trauma, Torture, Trafficking, Domestic abuse, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Misogyny, and Xenophobia

calster's review against another edition

dark emotional sad fast-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? No

3.0

Beautiful writing, devastating story, unsatisfying ending 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Misogyny, Kidnapping, Domestic abuse, Rape, Physical abuse, Violence, Trafficking, Sexism, Sexual violence, Sexual assault, and Emotional abuse

Moderate: Death of parent and Drug use

Minor: Alcoholism

ninjamuffin's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative reflective sad tense slow-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

4.0

A raw, emotional, and powerful story about an unbreakable bond of female friendship. Read with care.

Poornima and Savitha are two compelling and complex characters that I became incredibly emotionally invested in and their journey to find each other. I liked Rao's lyrical yet direct prose and in particular I enjoyed the way she expresses her characters' thoughts and emotions. Several tragic and heartbreaking events occur throughout the novel, and Rao makes no attempt to sugar-coat them; at the same time, Rao doesn't let them drag on or let these events consume the novel to the point where it seems self-pitying.

The ending is incredibly bittersweet, and I think a lot of people can/will find it unsatisfying (I did too initially). At the same time, I think the ending does fit the novel very well.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexism, Sexual assault, Trafficking, Domestic abuse, Sexual violence, Misogyny, and Rape

kimberlyb's review against another edition

I started September 2019
I got fat in. I'm not exactly sure how far. But a lot of stuff happened.
I couldn't get through it. It's trauma porn. The stuff these girls went through just kept get worst and worse. There weren't any bright spots. Nothing to keep torchoring myself. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape and Domestic abuse

zombiezami's review against another edition

dark emotional sad tense 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? No

I loved the descriptive writing style, and I loved Poornima and Savitha as characters.  It's hard for me to rate this because it's almost unrelentingly sad. The main characters were so resilient, but I'm so sad that they had to be. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Medical content, Misogyny, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Slavery, Trafficking, and Violence

Moderate: Addiction, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Blood, Cancer, Death of parent, Drug abuse, Grief, Infertility, and Self harm

Minor: Child death and Racism

Colorism

margaretrose's review against another edition

dark 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

4.0

A heart-wrenching story with so many almost-could-be-true elements that you ache for the characters as you read.

Rao really makes you choose your own ending, as she gives you pieces of the setting and atmosphere that are so similar that make you believe that it is possible that it actually will turn out ok for Savitha and Poornima. It still isn't definite closure, you still end the book unsure that they are back together. I'm still asking the question: will they be ok?

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Confinement, Trafficking, Sexual violence, Misogyny, Injury/Injury detail, Domestic abuse, Adult/minor relationship, and Alcoholism

Moderate: Ableism, Drug use, and Rape