Reviews tagging 'Child abuse'

Cumbres borrascosas by Emily Brontë

220 reviews

znnys's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective medium-paced

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

5.0

It's been a while since I've read a book that I couldn't put down. I was very fortunate to come to Wuthering Heights knowing almost nothing about the plot, aside from what the Kate Bush song revealed. I was immediately drawn in by this book about miserable people treating each other like shit! The spiral of these two families, with Heathcliff at the center, orchestrating his vengeance. He's a simultaneous fascinating and detestable character, and viewed through the unreliable perspective of Nelly, you're almost inclined to believe he's this inherently. But Wuthering Heights is about how abuse begets abuse, and the seed is planted by something beyond the scope of the Earnshaws and the Lintons - it is the pervasive classism of semi-incestuous white English hegemony. It's no coincidence that she emphasizes Heathcliff's ambiguous ethnicity as the main source of his Otherness. It only makes sense, then, that Heathcliff's vengeance runs so deeply, when the prejudice against him was set into motion long before he was born. His transformation into a villain seems like he's fulfilling the prophecy expected of him by everyone around him.

Unpleasantly surprised to see the notion that "these characters are mean and it's not ACTUALLY a romance" so pervasive, as if it's an actual a critique. Yes, they're mean. Yes, nearly every relationship in this book is fraught, miserable, tumultuous, and toxic. I don't see how that makes the book bad? Sometimes books about people who suck are good and interesting! Literature would be incredibly boring if characters always did and said the right things. There would be no conflict. These characters felt like such well-rounded, multi-layered people to me. A good character is someone who you can like, and hate, and pity, all at once. I felt that for nearly every character in this book.

There's a lot more I could probably say about this book, but I'd be writing an essay. Ultimately I really loved it and will probably count it as an all-time favorite.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Child abuse, and Classism

Moderate: Racism, Rape, and Self harm

chelly_reads's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Toxic relationship, Forced institutionalization, Death of parent, and Gaslighting

mousecat's review against another edition

challenging dark sad tense medium-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Chronic illness, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Incest, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Grief, and Death of parent

Moderate: Animal cruelty

Minor: Alcoholism

dramagirl2003's review against another edition

I really cannot understand anything in this book so I'm putting it aside for now

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, and Physical abuse

kattyenn's review against another edition

dark tense 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

5.0

all of these people are horrible, god bless 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Kidnapping, Toxic friendship, and Classism

Moderate: Death, Racism, Sexism, and Death of parent

Minor: Domestic abuse and Rape

donnabrenton88's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense 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

Was a very slow and heavy start, being vaguely familiar with the story hindered more than helped. The arrival of Mrs Dean around chapter 6/7 helped me to finally get in to the story. Whilst deemed a tragic love story it felt more tragedy than love. I did enjoy the story and found immense hatred for many characters. The horror and hopelessness is well written amd the story had me until the end. The rating wasn't five stars as I felt the ending felt a little rushed and happy which felt out of kilter. All in all a good immersion into the classics and one I'd read again

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Sexism, Slavery, Toxic relationship, Kidnapping, Death of parent, and Abandonment

46jjsg's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense slow-paced

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

3.0

A book about terrible people doing terrible things in a terrible environment that breeds more terrible people. You truly don't root for a single person in this novel and despite how emotional some scenes can be (/pos)- you never really know any of these characters when everything is account of an account. Unreliable narrators aside- you can't help feel bad for Catherine and Heathcliff... for like a hot minute and then you snap back to reality. Are they victims of circumstance? Sure, but the cycle of abuse continues... which is admittedly one of the themes, but by the end of the novel you're just like damn what a waste of two lives. This is a thought-provoking novel, but you won't feel good at any point of this novel. It's pretty to read, but it can get slow and sometimes just plain confusing (or redundant). 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Physical abuse, and Racism

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Chronic illness, and Confinement

ayphyx's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious tense slow-paced

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

4.0

Everybody in this book fucking sucks and it’s great (except for you Hareton <3). This book is so much more enjoyable as a book about the cycle of abuse than a traditional romance.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Self harm, Toxic relationship, Violence, Toxic friendship, and Abandonment

Moderate: Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Racial slurs, Racism, Blood, and Death of parent

louiserj's review against another edition

challenging emotional mysterious reflective sad slow-paced

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

3.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Death, Emotional abuse, and Incest

m4rtt4's review against another edition

dark emotional sad slow-paced

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

3.25

this differed a lot from my expectations, the gothic stuff was surprising but in a positive way... unlike all the marriages. So much death and almost everyone was an asshole in their own way and the love stories didn't feel believable enough so that I could have cared for the characters.

also you can never make me root for a marriage between CHILDREN that are COUSINS and make it happen multiple times.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, and Emotional abuse

Moderate: Bullying, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Violence, Grief, Death of parent, and Gaslighting