Reviews tagging 'Physical abuse'

We Are the Brennans by Tracey Lange

10 reviews

stephmcoakley's review against another edition

adventurous emotional mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Stalking, Death, Pregnancy, Cancer, Death of parent, Dementia, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Car accident, Physical abuse, Abandonment, Alcoholism, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Alcohol, Gun violence, Medical content, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Infidelity, Medical trauma, and Sexual harassment

juliamb's review

emotional mysterious reflective fast-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? Yes

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Car accident, Miscarriage, and Physical abuse

Moderate: Blood, Classism, Cursing, Gun violence, Murder, Death of parent, Infidelity, Dementia, and Toxic relationship

bringmybooks's review

challenging emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced

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

3.5

Another #12BooksRecommendedby12Friends book finished!

B̷R̷I̷N̷G̷ ✨ 𝗕𝗢𝗥𝗥𝗢𝗪 ✨ B̷Y̷P̷A̷S̷S̷

I wasn't really sure what to expect going into this; I had gotten We Are The Brennans from BOTM (Book of the Month) a while ago, and honestly other than the family having connections to (and/or living in) Ireland, I didn't remember much about the synopsis.

It's a book about family. The family you're born into, the family you choose, and the family you sometimes have to leave. It was a somewhat weird read, because while I didn't feel myself overly emotionally attached to any of the characters of the plotlines, I couldn't put the book down? 

My favorite part of the book was the multiple POV narration, and especially the way the narrators switched off. Whichever character spoke last at the end of a chapter, their quote would be repeated at the beginning of the next chapter and the POV would switch to them. It had this really neat effect of having you follow the story throughout the book in a seamless and (almost interactive?) way that I really liked. 

Now if you'll excuse me, I need to go start planning yet another fantasy trip to Ireland because I have wanted to go since I was maybe 6 years old? And that was 30 years ago? Sigh.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Miscarriage, Car accident, and Gun violence

Moderate: Alcoholism, Grief, Physical abuse, Sexism, Infidelity, Dementia, Toxic relationship, Death of parent, Cancer, Sexual harassment, Gaslighting, Sexual assault, Emotional abuse, Violence, and Rape

Minor: Pregnancy

alexrose28's review

emotional mysterious reflective 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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Physical abuse, Death of parent, and Miscarriage

spencerc22's review

dark emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious reflective tense 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? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Physical abuse, Miscarriage, and Infidelity

mymosstx's review

emotional mysterious reflective 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? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Car accident, Violence, Physical abuse, Murder, Miscarriage, Mental illness, Injury/Injury detail, Infidelity, and Grief

lbevans23's review

emotional hopeful reflective

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Miscarriage

Moderate: Physical abuse

erinhanso's review

emotional hopeful sad 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Car accident, Miscarriage, Physical abuse, and Sexual assault

Moderate: Alcohol, Blood, Death of parent, Dementia, Infidelity, Injury/Injury detail, and Mental illness

Minor: Murder

kloft1993's review

emotional funny hopeful inspiring sad fast-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Car accident, Dementia, Emotional abuse, and Miscarriage

Moderate: Alcohol, Blood, Cancer, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Grief, Infidelity, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Sexism, Toxic relationship, and Violence

Minor: Ableism, Acephobia/Arophobia, Death of parent, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Medical trauma, Murder, Religious bigotry, Sexual violence, and Terminal illness

happiestwhenreading's review

emotional hopeful mysterious 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? Yes

5.0

I absolutely loved everything about this book - a strong contender for my final Top 10 List at the end of the year!

Five years ago, the Brennan's are left hanging in confusion as the only daughter, Sunday, packs her bags and leaves for California with no explanation. She leaves behind her fiancé and familial responsiblities. When the phone rings one night, Denny heads to California to retrieve his sister after she has a drunk driving accident. Her return to New York sets the family ablaze and the long buried secrets begin to bubble to the surface. It's complicated and dramatic and the writing is outstanding. I loved the characters and all of their messiness. I loved the pacing and how the secrets brought all the pain and confusion of the past five years to full circle and, ultimately, the whole disaster had a totally satisfying ending for me.

The blurb mentions Ask Again, Yes vibes and I agree. I'd also add The Most Fun We Ever Had and Olympus, Texas.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Death, Miscarriage, and Physical abuse

Moderate: Dementia

Minor: Blood, Car accident, Chronic illness, Death of parent, Dementia, and Gun violence