Reviews tagging 'Emotional abuse'

Love After Love by Ingrid Persaud

12 reviews

katewhite77's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional funny hopeful inspiring reflective 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? Yes

5.0

As Beautiful As It Is Heartbreaking.

One lunchtime whilst working in a school, Miss Betty sidles up to Mr Chetan to become her lodger, and a beautiful dacades long begins. They 
try did try being lovers for a time, and whilst that didn't work out too well, the friendship only deepened. 

Chetan helps raise Solo, Miss Betty's son, for many years. That is until, one day, Solo over hears something that completely changes the course of their lives. This novel spans continents, and the decades just melt into each other. We go from baking hot Trinidadian summers to freezing cold winters in New York. Love  conquers all undoubtedly, but the question remains at what  cost.

Not an easy read by any means, trigger warnings everywhere, but I have no doubt that this will trouble my top books of the year list and has further cemented my  love of Caribbean literature.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Hate crime, Homophobia, Mental illness, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Grief, Suicide attempt, Murder, Outing, and Alcohol

s_mivsek's review against another edition

challenging emotional sad tense 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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Self harm

Moderate: Alcoholism, Cursing, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Physical abuse, Murder, and Alcohol

absolute_bookery's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad slow-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? Yes

4.0

Gah this was sad! I've never read any books from Trinidad but I really enjoyed it. It was quite long and felt like it could have been shorter but a good book that touched on some sad topics.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Death, Emotional abuse, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Blood, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, and Alcohol

mscalls's review against another edition

challenging dark 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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Homophobia, Physical abuse, Self harm, Sexual content, Blood, Grief, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Outing, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

bill_muganda's review against another edition

dark emotional funny lighthearted reflective slow-paced

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

3.75

Such a wholesome story of found family, unconventional relationships. Set in Trinidad but later venturing to New York, we follow Three perspectives: Betty ( a widowed young mother), Mr. Chetan ( A closeted primary school teacher), Solo ( Betty's only son)
The death of Betty's abusive husband paves the path for Mr. Chetan to enter Betty and Solo's lives, and they slowly form such a strong bond and open up about their intimate secrets. We see them morph together as they occupy this unorthodox dynamic.

The writing won't blow you away, I'd recommend the audiobook narrated by the author, infused with warmth from the Trini accent, and you'll find yourself chuckling at the shenanigan. At some point, the story dragged and lost its rhythm, the case with books that shift perspectives you'll prefer some to others. I still had a lovely time with these characters.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Hate crime, Homophobia, Mental illness, Self harm, Suicide, and Suicide attempt

radfordmanor's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional funny hopeful inspiring reflective sad 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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Death, Domestic abuse, Hate crime, Homophobia, Physical abuse, Self harm, Sexual assault, Toxic relationship, Violence, Grief, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, and Alcohol

Moderate: Addiction, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Hate crime, Infidelity, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Suicide attempt, Gaslighting, and Sexual harassment

phoevincent's review against another edition

emotional inspiring 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Self harm

Moderate: Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Hate crime, Homophobia, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Grief, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, and Murder

Minor: Alcoholism and Alcohol

amberinbookland's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad medium-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Hate crime, Homophobia, Infidelity, Mental illness, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Self harm, Sexism, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Religious bigotry, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, and Alcohol

sorcha_rosa's review against another edition

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

5.0

This book was beautiful. The writing was lush and emotional. It is impossible to me that these characters are not real people. This story was wonderfully told.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Hate crime, Homophobia, Mental illness, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Grief, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, and Murder

Moderate: Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, and Blood

Minor: Racism, Xenophobia, and Religious bigotry

serendipitysbooks's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad medium-paced

4.5

 Love after Love covers a lot of heavy ground. CWs for domestic violence, homophobia, self-harm and attempted suicide. I found this a really enjoyable read, possibly because these heavy aspects were balanced by the warmth of the relationships and the strength of the found family forged by Betty, her son Solo and Mr Chetan. Betty and Mr Chetan were especially vivid and delightful characters. Seeing love in all it’s forms, not just sexual and romantic, highlighted and valued was a treat. Listening on audio was great, enabling me to fully appreciate the rhythmic language and Trinidadian dialogue. It would have been nice had there been three separate narrators- a different voice for each main character/perspective but I loved it regardless. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, and Suicide attempt