Reviews tagging 'Physical abuse'

Year of Wonders by Geraldine Brooks

9 reviews

potassiumk's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad fast-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Gore, Infertility, Mental illness, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Self harm, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Religious bigotry, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Pregnancy, Abandonment, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail, and Pandemic/Epidemic

minniepauline's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful informative mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

4.5

This is a fascinating exploration of how fear changes people and societies. It’s prescient, too. Written in 2001, it’s an apt book for our own times.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Gore, Infidelity, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Grief, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Injury/Injury detail, and Pandemic/Epidemic

gail_dancer's review against another edition

emotional hopeful informative 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? It's complicated

4.0

The beautiful prose of this timepieced novel caressed me as a welcome change from other recent modern novels I’d read. Anna was a complex and likeable lead character whose personal growth spanned large from start to finish. Some unexpected and rash circumstances near the end of the book disappointed me, but all in all  an enjoyable interesting read. The situation of how the village experienced and dealt with the Plague was eerily familiar post-Covid-19. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Child death, Death, Gore, Infertility, Miscarriage, Physical abuse, Self harm, Suicide, Violence, Blood, Grief, Murder, Pregnancy, Abandonment, and Pandemic/Epidemic

s_mivsek's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Alcoholism, Child death, Death, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Violence, and Pregnancy

Minor: Drug use, Self harm, Excrement, and Murder

amandareads23's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child death, Death, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Alcoholism, Mental illness, Blood, Abandonment, and Alcohol

Minor: Child abuse, Infidelity, and Miscarriage

rosalind's review against another edition

challenging emotional informative reflective sad medium-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Terminal illness, Blood, and Grief

Moderate: Domestic abuse, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Religious bigotry, Pregnancy, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Rape, Slavery, Excrement, Vomit, and Religious bigotry

rld1727's review against another edition

2.75

This book was a weird ride. I didn’t love it, but I stuck around because I had read reviews of how the plot goes kind of haywire later on in the book - it does, indeed. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Child death, Death, Physical abuse, Sexism, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, and Death of parent

cptnstphy's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative reflective sad medium-paced

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

4.5

Brooks' prose was gorgeous and brought the reader along as if they were right there in the village, such that it was like watching a film (if not for all the grisly and demonic details, I would want to see this film). Despite the reader knowing how the book would generally end (most villagers dead of the plague) she still manages to create suspense and craft a twist ending none could have predicted (in a dazzling, exciting, and satisfying way, in my opinion). The characters were well-crafted, some with unexpected nuance, although our hero was perhaps too Good and without many interesting flaws. Year of Wonders gripped me from beginning to end.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Death, Gore, Hate crime, Mental illness, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Self harm, Terminal illness, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Abortion, Murder, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Confinement, Drug abuse, Infertility, Sexual content, Excrement, Religious bigotry, Death of parent, and Pregnancy

Minor: Rape and Slavery

mrremi's review against another edition

medium-paced

3.0

This isn't my normal type of book, so if I liked historical fiction more maybe my rating would be higher.  I kind of just pushed through in the beginning because I'm reading for a reading challenge and I refused to give up.  But it wasn't as interesting and action packed as my usual fantasy books.  However, it did grow on me more and my goodness so many things happened over the course of the year.  Anna is a very strong woman but the most interesting part of her story to me was what happened in the epilogue honestly.  But I guess that it took her growth within this year to allow her to get to that different side of her.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Chronic illness, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Physical abuse, Terminal illness, Violence, Grief, Abortion, Death of parent, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail