Reviews tagging 'Child abuse'

Pretty Girls by Karin Slaughter

71 reviews

aroddy22's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Body horror, Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Gore, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Torture, Violence, Kidnapping, Stalking, Death of parent, Murder, and Fire/Fire injury

kat_rowlen's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense slow-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

2.5

Nothing happens for the first 65% of the book except for unnecessary graphic scenes. I felt like several things were added purely for shock value and did little for the story. The ending is satisfying which was nice, but the twist came out of left field, and was never really explained well. If you’re considering this book because you’ve seen it all over TikTok I recommend passing 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Body horror, Body shaming, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Infidelity, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicide, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Grief, Stalking, Car accident, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, and Injury/Injury detail

brischneider16's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad tense

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Rape, Suicide, and Murder

elliott_the_clementine's review against another edition

dark slow-paced

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

0.25

Strongly do not recommend.

I gave this novel 0.25 stars because it was a book that was written. For a book lauded for its thrilling aspects and thoughtful family drama, there is no thrill and there is no thought, just bloody, useless horror that fails to do anything but shock. Unfortunately, instead of representing the rage of women victimized repeatedly by their society, Pretty Girls tortures its main characters for the pleasure of an audience clearly imagined as male while seeping its depiction of violence against women in privilege and glamour. An irresponsible and poorly done romanticization of torture. In a word: careless. 

Also, I would ask Karen Slaughter to be more thoughtful in her depictions of mental illness. There are many resources online and in libraries for authors to read about mental health and therefore accurately and safely portray it in their work. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Gore, Gun violence, Physical abuse, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Stalking, Car accident, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Alcoholism

suzeanna's review against another edition

challenging dark fast-paced

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

2.75

READ THE TRIGGER WARNINGS! Was really hard to read. Freaked me out for a while after. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gore, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicide, Torture, Blood, Kidnapping, Grief, Car accident, Death of parent, Murder, and Sexual harassment

thebookesquire's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.0

I loved The Good Daughter. This is not nearly as good. Was it disturbing? Yes. Was it interesting? Yes. But I didn't love the main characters, the plot was quite predictable, and there was a large section in the middle that took me forever to get through.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Gun violence, Infidelity, Physical abuse, Rape, Suicide, Torture, Toxic relationship, Blood, Kidnapping, Stalking, Death of parent, Murder, and Gaslighting

Minor: Addiction and Drug use

nselavka's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, and Torture

mukunamatata's review against another edition

challenging dark sad fast-paced

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

4.0

A bit too gruesome for me and a lot of different details to keep track of. That being said, it was captivating and got right into it with new additions being included each page, which built up into a really good story. Obvi the privileged white woman nonsense about feminism annoy me

(and the fact that claire goes out with Nolan, a grade A asshole who was torturing her after the death of her husband.

only a ✋🏻woman would think of that to be an even semi decent addition to the novel.) but I still ate it up so Ms. slaughter will get another read out of me. Interesting and sad. The gore went far however, I do not believe it added enough to the book to be so pivotal during almost every page. I did enjoy this read and I’m better for it 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child abuse, Cursing, Domestic abuse, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Torture, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, and Gaslighting

autumnrls's review against another edition

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Body shaming, Child abuse, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Gore, Gun violence, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Torture, Police brutality, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail

kearac's review against another edition

2.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Body shaming, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gore, Hate crime, Infidelity, Mental illness, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Excrement, Vomit, Kidnapping, Grief, Car accident, Death of parent, Murder, Gaslighting, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail