Reviews tagging 'Sexual assault'

Wir Tiere by Justin Torres

11 reviews

specificwonderland's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced

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

4.0

In a way, not too much happened in this brief novella. In another way, so much happened. To list out the plot points is novella-length, a truncated bulleted list. To describe the characters' inner workings is a much larger project. I felt for these brothers and their survival. You could see how Paps exerted his influence but the kids didn't fully shrink away or lose themselves until the final threads of the story got woven. He exerted his influence on the mom from day 1, to everyone's detriment. You could feel the helplessness of the kids being swept along with the parents' bullshit. You hope kids are well cared for by competent parents but that's not always the case. Parents can just be people, and people are imperfect to some degree. And what a cast of ancillary characters: the neighbor, the bus driver and the mom's coworker Camrade. Re: the neighbor, it's infuriating that kids could be outside bouncing a ball yelling about the abuse they were bearing and the neighbor would be like, 'Hmmm this is a perfect time to show neglected kids incest porn'. But you know that happens in small towns, big towns, rich towns, poor towns. These kids never stood a chance, but they had each other.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Incest, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Suicide attempt, and Sexual harassment

sorenzs's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

Beautiful writing style. Beautiful book. Some parts were hard to get through - in the emotional sense - but I couldn’t stop reading. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Homophobia, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Forced institutionalization, Outing, and Sexual harassment

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Animal cruelty, Incest, Pedophilia, Rape, Self harm, Abandonment, and Alcohol

Minor: Addiction and Infidelity

uhhjeepers's review against another edition

emotional reflective fast-paced

3.75

Read for school.

This is a fast-paced, vignette styled narrative that tells the coming of age story of the youngest of three brothers. This book really came together for me at the end, and I strongly recommend it. It is emotional and honest and the writing is spectacular. The growth from the narrative feeling like it’s told from a child to a teenager really stuck with me, like I could read the changes on the page.

Check for TWs. They’re brief and don’t go into excruciating detail, but I still definitely felt them.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Bullying, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Sexual assault, Toxic relationship, Forced institutionalization, and Outing

kananineko's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective 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? Yes

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Toxic relationship, Violence, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Body horror, Cursing, Homophobia, Incest, Pedophilia, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Forced institutionalization, Outing, and Abandonment

Minor: Bullying, Infidelity, Misogyny, Racism, Self harm, Sexism, Blood, Pregnancy, and Alcohol

librarymouse's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional funny reflective sad

• 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? Yes

5.0

This book pulls at the threads of humanity, fraying the fabric until it's distilled to its purest parts. The narrator shows the core memories of childhood, building up into the moment of the fracturing of his family unit and the unit that was made up of his brothers. Their childlike, experimenting, queered, and crushed mother makes such a complex character, as does their father and the juxtaposition of his tenderness and machismo. This book is truly unsettling and full of life.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Cursing, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Violence, Forced institutionalization, and Outing

Moderate: Homophobia, Incest, and Alcohol

Minor: Adult/minor relationship

faythfarrar's review against another edition

dark emotional sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated

3.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Domestic abuse, Homophobia, Mental illness, Physical abuse, and Outing

Minor: Sexual assault

ssuummeerrn's review against another edition

emotional reflective tense slow-paced

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

3.0

This book was really interesting and had a lot of meaning. This is definitely one of the better books that I’ve had to read for school, but it just wasn’t my favorite. 

I learned something about myself as a reader; I need a concrete plot! This writing style just wasn’t it for me. Each chapter was like it’s own little story, which is fine, but it’s not my favorite format to read. 

The characters did have development, but it felt spontaneous and I want to be able to read about the journey of development whereas in this book it happened behind the scenes. 

This is a really great story, it’s just not the style or format that I want as a reader.

Shout out to Justin Torres who is a professor at my school!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Domestic abuse, and Homophobia

Moderate: Sexual assault

emma_hensley's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad tense fast-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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Bullying, Child abuse, Cursing, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Panic attacks/disorders, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Abandonment, and Alcohol

armontheroad's review against another edition

challenging emotional sad fast-paced

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

5.0

WE THE ANIMALS is a semi-autobiographical debut written in vignettes. We follow a young Puerto Rican boy witnessing his family struggle through domestic abuse, alcoholism, financial hindrance, amongst other things. It is a raw, powerful study of humanity that packs a mighty punch in 128 pages. I highly implore you to view the list of trigger warnings I included, along with doing some additional research for any I may have forgotten. 

TW/CWs: Child abuse, domestic abuse, homophobia, child abandonment/neglect, sexual assault, rape, violence, adult/minor relationship, sexual content, forced institutionalization, conversion therapy, self-harm, ableism, alcohol use/abuse, misogyny, sexism, suicidal ideations etc.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Bullying, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Alcohol, and Sexual harassment

jordan036's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Hate crime, Homophobia, Murder, and Abandonment

Moderate: Rape and Sexual assault