Reviews tagging 'Adult/minor relationship'

Songs of the Humpback Whale by Jodi Picoult

5 reviews

clarney12's review against another edition

emotional sad medium-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

2.5

This was fine. Not great. 
Really hard to follow at times with 5 POVs and disjointed timeline. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Incest, Infidelity, Pedophilia, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Violence, and Stalking

jwagstrom's review against another edition

emotional sad tense medium-paced

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

2.0

Unnecessarily repetitive. Jodi greatly improves her craft over time.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship

hannahjeanie's review against another edition

Having read many books by Jodi Picoult and enjoyed them I decided to go back to the start and read everything she has written. 
As this was a debut I did understand that it would likely not be as good as other books I’ve read but was willing to overlook this. 
From the start the characters were unlikeable (something that I can tolerate if it makes sense to the story) and there were multiple instances of problematic views/word choices. While I appreciate this was published in the early nineties is still makes for uncomfortable reading in 2024.
Whilst I decided to push through I had to give up around the 100 page mark when it became clear that one of the key themes of the book was a relationship between a 15yr old and a 25yr old. 
I have always appreciated that Picoult writes about difficult topics however this did not seem to portray any negativity on the situation and almost seemed to glamourise it. 
Whilst I hope that the rest of the book does change in tone from the first 100 pages I worry that this does not seem likely (especially as it’s written in dual timelines so we do see glimpses at the present/future tense and the tone remains the same) and I cannot get on board with reading something including this type of relationship. 
Pretty gutted that this will be my first DNF of a Jodi Picoult book but I just can’t bring myself to continue.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Pedophilia, Toxic relationship, and Xenophobia

fkshg8465's review against another edition

dark emotional informative sad medium-paced

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

2.0

Parts were great. Other parts were awful. Some big misses too - like how Jane’s characters needed to be fleshed out even more given the very specific kind of childhood trauma she had - some of the classic symptoms were missing. Felt like the author researched whales more than the psychology of this trauma. Also hated the ending 100%.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Incest, Infidelity, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Violence, Death of parent, and Injury/Injury detail

hesticht's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• 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

2.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Infidelity, Pedophilia, Rape, Sexual assault, Toxic relationship, and Death of parent