Reviews tagging 'Animal cruelty'

On the Savage Side by Tiffany McDaniel

32 reviews

kristins3's review against another edition

dark emotional sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character

4.0

A very difficult read. Contains a lot of very intense themes, but it gave an interesting perspective on the wide variety of causes and consequences of addiction without excusing the harmful actions of those caught in its throes (especially Arc’s mother)

Based on this and The Summer That Melted Everything, I feel like Tiffany McDaniel has her own genre that’s sort of like magical realism, but with far-fetched happenings or terrible actions taking the place of magic in that genre. I’m not totally sure what I think about the twist yet and I’ll have to think more on it

Tiffany McDaniel does have a tendency to write characters that constantly give very deep-sounding statements in a way that defies reality, but they also often mean nothing so I’m not sure what to think

The cover does kind of annoy me because it doesn’t match the bottom/top half lipstick used throughout the book

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Drug abuse, Rape, Sexual violence, and Murder

Moderate: Animal cruelty

aude's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad slow-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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Pedophilia, Rape, Violence, Grief, and Death of parent

Moderate: Cursing, Miscarriage, Blood, Vomit, and Pregnancy

Minor: Animal cruelty

thaell's review against another edition

dark emotional sad slow-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

4.0

Une histoire très sombre, ça transpire le désespoir, ça suinte de perversion. Le tout écrit de manière poétique, avec une bonne dose de contes et légendes locales.

Le roman est présenté comme une histoire à propos de femmes assassinées retrouvées dans une rivière. Eh bien… non. Cette partie est anecdotique. Elle ne sert le livre que pour souligner l’indifférence générale face à la mort de ces femmes. Chaque corps retrouvé est d’ailleurs suivi d’un rapport de police qui a l’air d’avoir été écrit par Arc (la narratrice) elle-même, comme si elle seule se préoccupait de leurs sorts.

La véritable histoire, c’est celle d’Arc et Daffy Doggs, deux jumelles nées au mauvais endroit, au mauvais moment, de mauvais parents. C’est celle de leurs difficultés à grandir dans un monde où toutes les personnes sur qui elles devraient pouvoir compter leur font défaut d’une manière ou d’une autre. J’ai apprécié ce livre parce j’ai vraiment partagé avec Arc l’impuissance, le désespoir, l’abandon qu’elle ressent. Il met en lumière la nécessité du refuge que les jumelles doivent se créer de toute pièce pour fuir ce qu’elles appellent “Le côté sauvage”.

On est révoltés par le comportement de certains personnages, l’absence de réaction de certains, la perversion malsaine des autres. 

Bref, si vous voulez lire quelque chose de léger et rafraîchissant, passez votre chemin.

Mais ce roman ne laisse pas indifférent. Le décalage entre la poésie, la beauté de l’écriture et la laideur et la brutalité des thèmes abordés, c’est ce qui fait que ce livre est au final une réussite.

Note : J’ai malheureusement vu le twist final venir à des kilomètres et je pense que ça a perturbé mon immersion. Difficile d’en faire abstraction, j’avais presque l’impression de faire une seconde lecture par moments. Je n’ai pas vraiment pu me laisser porter par l’histoire.

 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Drug abuse, and Pedophilia

Moderate: Animal cruelty and Abandonment

jnnkdl's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad medium-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Cursing, Drug abuse, Drug use, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Violence, and Murder

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Vomit, and Abandonment

magicofthepages's review against another edition

dark emotional sad tense 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? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Torture, Violence, Police brutality, Grief, and Murder

patiolinguist's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional 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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Animal cruelty, Body horror, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Sexual assault, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Death of parent, and Murder

maggiemcfly's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious 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? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Animal cruelty, Child abuse, Death, Drug abuse, Misogyny, Sexual violence, Torture, and Violence

Moderate: Child death, Miscarriage, Death of parent, Murder, and Pregnancy

madeline29's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad medium-paced

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

4.25

Unrelentingly grim and harrowing, I had to put this down a few times to emotionally recover.  The prose is very lyrical and became a little too abstract for me, I found myself skimming paragraphs but I also think this represented well the inner life of the characters. Much of this book felt like being in a dream (or nightmare).
 
I think story is (unfortunately) very true to the lives of women in poverty in rural America and I’m glad I read it.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Child abuse, Drug abuse, Rape, and Murder

bella_cavicchi's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional tense 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

I found ON THE SAVAGE SIDE difficult to read, so unflinching in its depiction of poverty and addiction that I read with a clenched stomach, gripped in empathetic pain. But without this level of violence and trauma, this book would be lying to itself, and for that reason, I consider it a winner.

The novel only fell apart for me (and only slightly!) in the repetition of its lyricism. Sometimes I felt like McDaniel was being intentionally opaque, and while it was always beautiful, I occasionally lost interest. But that is just one picky complaint of an otherwise stirring novel. I'm glad I read it.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child death, Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Terminal illness, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Car accident, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Abandonment, and Injury/Injury detail

fates_fables_golem's review against another edition

dark emotional sad tense slow-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Child abuse, Drug use, Physical abuse, and Rape