Reviews tagging 'Child abuse'

The First Day of Spring by Nancy Tucker

92 reviews

passacaglia's review against another edition

dark emotional sad tense fast-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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death and Child abuse

kingsteph's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense slow-paced

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

2.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Gaslighting, Vomit, Forced institutionalization, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Abandonment, Grief, and Bullying

Minor: Infertility

bluemc's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Abandonment, Alcoholism, Child death, Death, Emotional abuse, Bullying, Child abuse, Mental illness, Physical abuse, and Alcohol

catgrad's review against another edition

dark emotional tense fast-paced

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

4.75

I was surprised by how emotional this book made me. It really did a great job of exploring the internal psyche of the main character and made you feel for her even given her actions. An incredibly original and well written book

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death and Child abuse

lexx_reads's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad medium-paced

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

5.0

Very heavy with a hopeful ending. Bleak and dark through out. Find yourself simultaneously hoping for the main character and disliking them

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug abuse, Drug use, Grief, Suicidal thoughts, Child death, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Torture, Cursing, Domestic abuse, Abandonment, Bullying, Child abuse, Death, Excrement, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, and Vomit

danid23's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Child abuse, Child death, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Panic attacks/disorders, Vomit, Domestic abuse, Excrement, Alcoholism, Cursing, Death, Grief, Mental illness, and Murder

mayasr's review against another edition

emotional hopeful 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

5.0

made me sob to think of the neglected children who just need to be loved

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Murder, Domestic abuse, Death, Child abuse, Grief, and Injury/Injury detail

Spoiler

abused child kills two toddlers

Spoiler

heather3879's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful reflective sad tense fast-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

5.0

This incredibly dark novel is classified as a “thriller” but I found it more horrifying and reflective than thrilling, in a good way. If that makes sense. Christie is a disturbed and neglected child desperate for love and attention who commits a horrific crime. Told in alternating timelines between Christie as a child and as an adult revisiting her home, the story demonstrates the power of a child’s environment on the psyche and the potential for change given the chance for a meaningful connection. It was heavy and horrific in its realism, but well worth the read.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Murder, Child death, and Child abuse

Moderate: Domestic abuse

Minor: Addiction and Alcoholism

kingcrookback's review against another edition

challenging dark reflective sad tense 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

This was pitched to me as a thriller, and while there was tension in this story, I'd say that this is more of a very dark, very sad character study. Gillian Flynn-esque in the sense that it grapples with themes of childhood trauma/abuse and contemplation of motherhood but with timelines not quite so pressing or urgent. It would have been very easy for Tucker to have made Chrissie out to be an inscrutable monster, but while her actions are hideous, she is still a child - pitiable, at times exasperating or ridiculous, but replete with the kind of logic and understanding of the world that fills only those who are still new to life. As for Julia, for a while I couldn't figure out if having and caring (so deeply) for Molly stemmed from a sense of ingrained selfishness or newly developed selflessness, until I figured that it made more sense for the answer to be "both," no clean lines and no clear-cut answer.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Violence, Child abuse, Murder, and Grief

Moderate: Pregnancy, Alcoholism, and Domestic abuse

saraanderson12's review against another edition

dark 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

2.5

🎧The First Day of Spring, Nancy Tucker ⭐️⭐️💫 I feel the author did a great job of building the characters to where I felt I really understood them. Chrissy was a very neglected and disturbed little girl and against all odds, she turned out to be a good mother who loved her daughter deeply. Although Chrissy was really crappy to Linda, I loved the friendship and love they shared. I felt that the writing in Chrissy’s POV was at times inconsistent. In some aspects, her characters thoughts were extremely mature for an 8-year-old but in others she seemed to be a very immature 8-year-old. It just didn’t seem cohesive. The opening line of this book grabbed me but it really didn’t keep me hooked for long. I struggled to get through it because it just didn’t capture me. I didn’t feel I was waiting to find out what happened (other than if she killed again) because the two perspectives told most of the store really early on. I was ready to be done with it about half way through. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, and Murder