Reviews tagging 'Child abuse'

White Oleander by Janet Fitch

43 reviews

sdolanadamec's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional medium-paced

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

5.0

Challenging sexual content, but important to read when thinking about childhood trauma

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Cursing, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual content, Sexual violence, and Suicide

akinnunen's review against another edition

dark emotional sad 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? No

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Domestic abuse, and Rape

swanwords's review against another edition

dark emotional inspiring reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

I read this when I was 15, but it really stuck with me. I still think about its poetic ending.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse

paguroidea's review

dark emotional reflective sad 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? It's complicated

4.5

It reminded me of “A Little Life” except I actually liked this book a lot, and everything Astrid experiences felt so much more realistic than anything did in the former. The writing style was very much up my alley- vivid, poetic. I’d read more from this author. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Pedophilia, and Suicide

Moderate: Alcoholism, Gun violence, Racial slurs, Racism, Suicidal thoughts, Murder, and Abandonment

Minor: Ableism

nclausel25's review against another edition

challenging dark reflective sad medium-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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Death, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Sexual content, Grief, and Alcohol

Moderate: Cursing, Infidelity, Racial slurs, Racism, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Religious bigotry, Murder, Pregnancy, and Toxic friendship

Minor: Abortion

madelinequinnee's review against another edition

emotional informative reflective sad medium-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

5.0

A beautifully heartbreaking story. The writing was just exquisite, i could easily picture every scene and character with how poetically they were written. I really enjoyed this and can’t wait to watch the movie and compare them

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Bullying, Child abuse, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Infidelity, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Self harm, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Grief, Religious bigotry, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

krosebooks's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense 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? Yes

4.0

It took me a lot longer to finish this book. Not because it was bad, but because it was so much to digest. There are dark scenarios which I had to process. Good book but not an easy read. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Child abuse, Cursing, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Infidelity, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Blood, Police brutality, Medical content, Religious bigotry, Medical trauma, Murder, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Abandonment, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, and Classism

akaur007'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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, and Abandonment

quinn24's review against another edition

emotional inspiring reflective sad medium-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? It's complicated

4.0

Told from the POV of Astrid Magnussen, daughter of a manipulative poet who is imprisoned early in the story for the murder of an ex-lover. The story follows Astrid through her various foster homes for the next 6 years as she grows and tries to escape her mother’s grip. 
This book was written in such a beautiful way there were so so many quotes I underlined. There wasn’t really anything that I could  personally relate to but it almost felt like I understood at times. There were moments where it was kinda boring but that’s almost always how it is when a book follows someone’s life. The N-slur is used a couple times and while every time it is used it’s clear that it’s not a good thing to call someone (it’s used by a terrible, racist character) it’s obviously still not great for a white women to be writing it. Overall though it was really a fascinating meditation on a very complex mother-daughter relationship

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Child abuse, Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Infidelity, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Self harm, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Pregnancy, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Addiction, Racial slurs, Racism, Vomit, Antisemitism, Murder, Gaslighting, and Abandonment

Minor: Ableism

zemily83's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense slow-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship and Suicide

Moderate: Child abuse