Reviews tagging 'Toxic relationship'

Lessons by Ian McEwan

6 reviews

yanders2's review

dark emotional reflective sad slow-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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault, Sexual content, and Toxic relationship

zara89's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad slow-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cancer, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Death, Emotional abuse, Pedophilia, Rape, Sexual content, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Grief, and Abandonment

Moderate: Domestic abuse and Death of parent

Minor: Pandemic/Epidemic

raelin's review against another edition

challenging emotional reflective medium-paced

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

4.0

I am glad I finished this, because I liked it more than I thought I did halfway through. I needed the reflections of the old man on the young man to balance out the thoughts of the young man, and I had to keep reading to get to that part. 

There was a lot in this to digest and it is ripe for discussion in a book club.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Cancer, Confinement, Death, Pedophilia, Sexual content, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Dementia, Car accident, Death of parent, Pregnancy, and Pandemic/Epidemic

Minor: Domestic abuse and Infidelity

miaaa_lenaaa's review against another edition

emotional mysterious reflective sad tense slow-paced

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

4.25

The start is a struggle tbh but it does improve a lot, about growing up and getting old and just life more generally

‘He wasn’t waiting for her. But if she ever turned up he wanted his options open. Which was another was of saying, he was waiting.’

‘A form of narcissism, or closely related paranoia.’

‘It was his right to want nothing.’

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Cancer, Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Grief, Car accident, Death of parent, Abandonment, Sexual harassment, and Pandemic/Epidemic

schorlett's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional funny hopeful reflective medium-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Pedophilia, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Violence, Abandonment, and Alcohol

Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Cancer, Domestic abuse, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Dementia, Grief, Pregnancy, and War

Minor: Transphobia and Abortion

bridgetkay's review against another edition

reflective slow-paced

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

2.0

I wanted more from this book - and by more, I certainly don’t mean words or pages. From the blurb I was expecting some skilful weaving of a person’s life with the background of major world events. But I was not compelled to continue reading, and found myself quickly wanting to get this book over and done with. Some parts were enjoyable, but with the amount of different huge issues that were attempted, I didn’t feel like any were done justice. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Pedophilia, and Physical abuse

Moderate: Cancer

Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Chronic illness, Infidelity, Mental illness, Misogyny, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Transphobia, Medical content, Death of parent, Abandonment, Alcohol, War, and Classism