Reviews tagging 'Sexual assault'

Mein Ein und Alles by Stephan Kleiner, Gabriel Tallent

58 reviews

maybak's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad tense slow-paced

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

3.0

C’est un livre qui ne laissera personne indifférent. J’ai trouvé les 70 premières pages difficiles à lire d’un point de vue émotionnel car on comprend rapidement

qu’il s’agit d’un père incestueux et que Julia Alveston alias Turtle est une ado maltraitée et en décrochage scolaire.

Sa mère est morte dans des circonstances peu claires et elle a grandit avec Martin, son père survivaliste, alcoolique et féru d’armes à feux. Son grand-père, Daniel, vit tout près d’eux dans son mobile home avec sa chienne âgée Rosy mais son fils et lui sont loin d’être en bons termes.

Turtle vit dans des conditions difficiles et elle est victime d’abus aussi bien émotionnels que physiques.

L’auteur a très bien su retranscrire comment une enfant maltraitée et qui n’a pas d’autres points de repères fait pour rationaliser les sévices qu’elle subit et à quel point il lui est difficile de tracer une ligne entre ce qui est normal et ce qui ne l’est pas. 

Turtle prend conscience du fossé entre son enfance et l’enfance des autres enfants lorsqu’elle fait la connaissance de Brett et Jacob. La mère de Brett était une amie de la mère de Julia et on sent qu’elle se fait du souci pour elle car elle connaît bien son père. Jacob vit une vie radicalement différente de celle de Turtle. Ses parents sont aisés, éduqués et souvent absents. J’ai aimé comment Gabriel Tallent a su montrer que la communauté tente d’aider Julia comme elle peut à travers les personnages d’Anna, la prof de Turtle, de Jacob, Brett et leurs familles. Il a également su montrer à quel point il est facile pour des enfants maltraités de passer entre les mailles du filet

car personne dans l’entourage de Julia ne se rend compte que son père l’a abandonnée pendant 3 mois, après le décès fracassant du grand-père de Julia.

Le roman est fort en émotions, plutôt graphique par moments et j’ai trouvé la deuxième moitié plus entraînante. Le rythme et l’intrigue s’intensifient et on est tenu en haleine en se demandant comment les choses vont finir pour Turtle et la petite Cayenne. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Emotional abuse, and Physical abuse

Moderate: Incest, Pedophilia, Rape, and Sexual assault

halzie's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional medium-paced

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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Incest, Misogyny, Rape, Sexual assault, and Violence

mmwbrown114's review against another edition

dark emotional tense fast-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Bullying, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Incest, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Violence, Gaslighting, and Abandonment

Moderate: Suicidal thoughts, Medical content, and Mass/school shootings

sventura's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

Ripped my heart to pieces.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, and Abandonment

mariana_ct08's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Pedophilia, Sexual assault, and Sexual violence

jenshep's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Sexual assault, and Violence

kellyofcali's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad tense fast-paced

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

4.5

I rapidly consumed this book, which is heart-wrenchingly dark and awful, but very well written and you just keep reading hoping that it's going to get better (I won't say whether this want comes to be). It is really, really tough, so you have to be up for that kind of horrific material, but I found myself quickly entangled in the characters and story.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Animal death, Bullying, Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Mass/school shootings, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Abandonment, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Alcoholism, Miscarriage, Suicidal thoughts, Vomit, Kidnapping, Abortion, and Alcohol

Minor: Pregnancy

booklvrkat's review against another edition

ABSOLUTELY will NOT read books that start with child exploitation and/or abuse. I was so disgusted only 45 pages in.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Sexual assault, and Sexual violence

hattieb2000's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

Blew my mind in the worst and best possible ways. So much to unpick and absolutely gripping, especially towards the end. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Incest, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Death of parent, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Alcoholism, Kidnapping, and Pregnancy

yilliun's review against another edition

dark medium-paced

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

2.0

Let’s start with the good things: Tallent does a wonderful job of making you feel like you are THERE with the characters and can construct beautiful scenes through his EXTREMELY descriptive writing style. Sometimes I felt like I was walking with Turtle through the woods and on the beach.

The not so good: this book lacked the nuance necessary to approach the topics of child abuse and incest. 

Much of the time it felt like the author was writing from a totally different perspective than a 14 year old girl’s. I think there was a good story here, but there wasn’t enough compassion for Turtle. I understand that Tallent tried to walk the line between the deep care and fear Turtle held for her father. In the instances where we are immersed in Turtle’s stream of consciousness, Tallent excels at illustrating how the abuse permeates all aspects of Turtle’s life. He misses the mark more often than not. Specifically, the use of the word “pussy” for a 14 year old’s vagina is wholly inappropriate. It slants the scenes away from abuse and towards the experience being sexually gratifying (which is sadistic in its own way). Because of these scenes, I almost DNF’d this book. The twist ending did suck me back in.

I do think it was a satisfying ending to have Turtle kill Martin, her father. Turtle living with Anna in the end felt very Matilda/ Miss Honey dynamic to me

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Incest, Pedophilia, Rape, and Sexual assault

Moderate: Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Suicidal thoughts

There are multiple graphic depictions of incest and physical abuse.