Reviews tagging 'Pedophilia'

A Girl Is a Half-Formed Thing by Eimear McBride

31 reviews

frank_patrol's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad tense slow-paced

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

3.25

it took me 2 months to read this book, i had a reading slump half way through it, but it’s also quite difficult to read, not impossible and like you get the main point of each part but it may take a while to actually realise what’s going on 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Cancer, Chronic illness, Death, Emotional abuse, Pedophilia, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Grief, and Religious bigotry

casbee's review against another edition

this book is impossible to read with broken grammar, dreadful punctuation, and unclear wording and structure (and not in an edgy cute way). 
the plot is uninteresting, the characters are insufferable, the content is disgusting, and the lack of quotation marks makes it all the worse. 
personally i don't think you can throw trauma and sex and no quotation marks together and call it a masterpiece. 
i cant remember anything from the story and nothing about the book was good. 
dreadful experience; never again; no. i wouldnt recommend this book to my worst enemy. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Incest, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, and Sexual harassment

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Bullying, Sexual content, Violence, and Medical trauma

Minor: Alcoholism, Cancer, Cursing, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Blood, and Alcohol

leahnott's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad tense fast-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Bullying, Child abuse, Death, Pedophilia, Rape, and Sexual assault

hollieadaw's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional 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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Cursing, Domestic abuse, Incest, Pedophilia, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, and Sexual harassment

Moderate: Vomit

jsfbec's review against another edition

dark emotional sad medium-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Pedophilia, Rape, Sexual assault, Terminal illness, Medical trauma, and Alcohol

abithoughtful's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad slow-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? It's complicated

3.5

Difficult in all senses of the word. The stream of consciousness is very immediate but the broken sentences mean you have to invest all your attention to keep up, and investing all your attention makes the whole thing hurt more. Raw and violent and horribly sad, I'm not sure I gained much from sitting beside this particular pain, because too much of it is close enough to my life experiences that it didn't really broaden my mind so much as force me into my own memories. I can see how this might be considered a work of genius, and I think it's a valuable read for anybody who can situate themselves further away from the narrator, but I was left feeling scratched and hollow in a way that felt a little personal.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual violence, Suicide, Terminal illness, Violence, and Vomit

Moderate: Cancer, Emotional abuse, and Grief

Minor: Ableism and Excrement

the book ends with an implied drowning

miles's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense 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? It's complicated

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cancer, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Death, Emotional abuse, Incest, Mental illness, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicide, Terminal illness, Violence, Blood, Excrement, Vomit, Medical content, Grief, Religious bigotry, Medical trauma, Suicide attempt, Pregnancy, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Ableism and Excrement

amberinbookland's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Bullying, Child abuse, Cursing, Death, Incest, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Terminal illness, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Grief, and Medical trauma

richthegreat's review against another edition

challenging dark sad tense slow-paced

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

3.0

Okay, wow. Firstly the book is insanely well written, think stream of consciousness in Irish. It is quite a challenge and I think Eimear is clearly a gifted writer. 
I love stream of consciousness writing, and for me this book did not disappoint, her writing is absolutely stunning, but you have to like that sort of thing. If you can't manage Woolf, or Joyce then don't bother here, as McBride is even more.
That is where my praise ends, this book is pure violence and I would have never read it had I known. There is so much rape, and hate and incest and trauma. The book is trauma, only read it if you are prepared. I have nothing to say that is positive about the plot it is essentially just trauma being passively and actively inflicted on the main character, by herself, others and the catholic church.

For me I can't separate the content from the stunning prose, I found the book so triggering and upsetting that no amount of excellent writing can make up for it. I cannot emphasise enough that you MUST be extremely careful if you undertake to read this book.

Personally if I never read another book about a person getting abused and then engaging in horrendous self hate I will be just fine. I know this stuff happens, and I understand the human capacity to inflict pain on ourselves and others, but I can't read about it anymore, not on this scale. 
I am happy to be challenged on my view of this, I appreciate as a man I may not understand the full authenticity of the lead characters emotions.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Cancer, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Incest, Mental illness, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Terminal illness, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, and Grief

kheleyr's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad tense slow-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Pedophilia, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, and Toxic relationship