Reviews tagging 'Physical abuse'

The Virgin Suicides by Jeffrey Eugenides

9 reviews

alyssapusateri's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Confinement, Death, Mental illness, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Stalking, and Suicide attempt

Moderate: Cursing, Drug use, Misogyny, Sexism, Sexual content, Blood, Medical content, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Ableism, Animal death, Eating disorder, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Pregnancy, and Alcohol

kumipaul's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad medium-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? Yes

2.0

 Painful in so many ways. First, the positives: Eugenides is structurally a very good writer. He wrote about a topic that was abysmally bleak, and he made a horribly depressing book on purpose, I suppose. So, given that this was probably his goal, indicting religious extremism, parental authoritarianism, teen angst, and how we handle death in general, and I would say he was successful there. But, come on, despite all the metaphorical digs at society, do I really need to reward this grim book with a good review? How could I possibly recommend it to someone other than someone I hoped would soon put their head in an oven? I'll say that a lot about it was "interesting", but I can't say that I enjoyed the read. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, and Suicide attempt

Moderate: Physical abuse, Self harm, Sexism, and Religious bigotry

christinewonder's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad slow-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Sexual content, Suicide, and Suicide attempt

Moderate: Domestic abuse, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Toxic relationship, Blood, Grief, Abortion, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Drug abuse and Drug use

eloisajfletcher's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad medium-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Self harm, Sexual content, Suicide, Grief, and Suicide attempt

Moderate: Child abuse, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, and Racism

Lots of objectification. Mental health issues including depression and PTSD

phillyhufflepunk's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad tense slow-paced

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

4.0

I cried...but not from sadness. I cried in frustration. This is one of the starkest tragedies ever written, told from the perspective of selfish, inane narrators - under the delusion that they are somehow a part of the story. With each new development, they...and the self-involved upper middle class d bags that they spawned from...fail the Lisbon girls. Over and over and over, the community has opportunity to step in, but they don't. As these boys chronicle the downward spiral of their Manic Pixie Dream Girls, they continuously miss the moments in which they actually could have saved them.

The boys literally run out of the house after finding one of the girls dead without checking on any of the others, in spite of the fact that they were there to save them in the first place AND that they were about to let Lux do one or all of them just 10 minutes earlier.

 The Lisbon Girls deserved better, and although the story would have been 10x better from their perspectives, I still rate it 4 stars because by hearing the story from a bunch of clueless middle aged men, who were clueless teenaged boys, you see just how ignored these girls felt when they were practically SCREAMING for help.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Chronic illness, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Self harm, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Stalking, Suicide attempt, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

lindseyhall44's review against another edition

dark mysterious reflective slow-paced

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

5.0

“We realized that the world [our parents] rendered for us was not the one they really believed in.“
The Virgin Suicides is a book set amidst the backdrop of mundane suburban life, where a community is forever changed by the suicides of five sisters. Told in first person plural (the male gaze), readers are pulled into the mystery and obsession which will haunt the boys for years to come.
I never expected to enjoy this book so much, much less find it a new favorite. But the compelling writing and dark undertones made it difficult to put down. The story of the Lisbon girls (told through every perspective except their own) is one which I will never forget.
I would definitely recommend (though take time to consider when this was written and the aspects which have not aged well, and please check trigger warnings before reading)!
*I would also recommend watching the movie after, it’s iconic and generation defining!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Mental illness, Racial slurs, Self harm, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Suicide attempt, and Pregnancy

Moderate: Emotional abuse and Physical abuse

merries's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious reflective sad slow-paced

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

3.75

This book is, in some ways, a sign of its times. While, for once, a male author decided to reflect on the presentation of women rather than analyse or explain them, the language screams 1990s. I will say, if you are one for avoiding books with derogatory terms, give this one a miss. Instances are few, but the choice of words reflects 1990s society and how it differs. With the book being set in the 1970s, it further reflects the differences in societal norms. 

I, like many others, wish the other sisters were as fleshed out as Lux. It’s clear that she is the sister at the forefront of the narrator’s infatuation, but a lack of development for Mary, Therese, and Bonnie made it hard for me to distinguish the behaviours of the three, almost-forgotten sisters. Cecilia was given more detail as she was the catalyst, and Lux as she was the centre of the narrator’s lust for the sisters.

Speaking of the narrator, the recalling of events and explanations are very description-heavy, which is not my preference. As a result, I felt lost in the concrete events due to the obsession over the abstract. I feel like a lot of this could have been left out of the book, in favour for developing characters who are meant to be the centre of the story.

However, there were a lot of positives to this book: I devoured this book rather quickly, feeling a need to read on to get to the breaking point of the Lisbon sisters. While that seems a cruel statement, the narrator had explicitly stated multiple times exactly how the sisters died - but not what caused it, and it was that which intrigued me the most.

I felt like Mr and Mrs Lisbon were arguably the most complex characters in the book - we never experienced a true exploration into why they were so cruel, and why they restricted the actions of their daughters. They were enjoyable to question, and provided another level of intrigue as I read.

Overall, this was the book that ended my reading slump of Summer 22, and while it was a book I enjoyed on the whole, I do have my qualms with the details.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, and Suicide attempt

Moderate: Racial slurs, Xenophobia, and Medical content

girl_interrupted's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• 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

Graphic: Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, and Suicide attempt

Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Drug use, Physical abuse, and Racial slurs

karenaerts's review against another edition

challenging dark 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Confinement, Death, Mental illness, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, and Suicide attempt

Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Blood, Grief, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, and Alcohol