Reviews tagging 'Abandonment'

On the Savage Side by Tiffany McDaniel

13 reviews

hailsreads's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Child death, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Miscarriage, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Grief, Murder, Abandonment, and Classism

thaell's review against another edition

dark emotional sad slow-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

4.0

Une histoire très sombre, ça transpire le désespoir, ça suinte de perversion. Le tout écrit de manière poétique, avec une bonne dose de contes et légendes locales.

Le roman est présenté comme une histoire à propos de femmes assassinées retrouvées dans une rivière. Eh bien… non. Cette partie est anecdotique. Elle ne sert le livre que pour souligner l’indifférence générale face à la mort de ces femmes. Chaque corps retrouvé est d’ailleurs suivi d’un rapport de police qui a l’air d’avoir été écrit par Arc (la narratrice) elle-même, comme si elle seule se préoccupait de leurs sorts.

La véritable histoire, c’est celle d’Arc et Daffy Doggs, deux jumelles nées au mauvais endroit, au mauvais moment, de mauvais parents. C’est celle de leurs difficultés à grandir dans un monde où toutes les personnes sur qui elles devraient pouvoir compter leur font défaut d’une manière ou d’une autre. J’ai apprécié ce livre parce j’ai vraiment partagé avec Arc l’impuissance, le désespoir, l’abandon qu’elle ressent. Il met en lumière la nécessité du refuge que les jumelles doivent se créer de toute pièce pour fuir ce qu’elles appellent “Le côté sauvage”.

On est révoltés par le comportement de certains personnages, l’absence de réaction de certains, la perversion malsaine des autres. 

Bref, si vous voulez lire quelque chose de léger et rafraîchissant, passez votre chemin.

Mais ce roman ne laisse pas indifférent. Le décalage entre la poésie, la beauté de l’écriture et la laideur et la brutalité des thèmes abordés, c’est ce qui fait que ce livre est au final une réussite.

Note : J’ai malheureusement vu le twist final venir à des kilomètres et je pense que ça a perturbé mon immersion. Difficile d’en faire abstraction, j’avais presque l’impression de faire une seconde lecture par moments. Je n’ai pas vraiment pu me laisser porter par l’histoire.

 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Drug abuse, and Pedophilia

Moderate: Animal cruelty and Abandonment

aisya_'s review against another edition

dark emotional informative mysterious sad tense slow-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

2.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Violence, Murder, Pregnancy, and Abandonment

jnnkdl's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad medium-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Cursing, Drug abuse, Drug use, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Violence, and Murder

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Vomit, and Abandonment

snowiceblackfruit77's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad tense fast-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Body horror, Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gore, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Grief, Stalking, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Gaslighting, Abandonment, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail

bella_cavicchi's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional tense slow-paced

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

4.0

I found ON THE SAVAGE SIDE difficult to read, so unflinching in its depiction of poverty and addiction that I read with a clenched stomach, gripped in empathetic pain. But without this level of violence and trauma, this book would be lying to itself, and for that reason, I consider it a winner.

The novel only fell apart for me (and only slightly!) in the repetition of its lyricism. Sometimes I felt like McDaniel was being intentionally opaque, and while it was always beautiful, I occasionally lost interest. But that is just one picky complaint of an otherwise stirring novel. I'm glad I read it.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child death, Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Terminal illness, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Car accident, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Abandonment, and Injury/Injury detail

dolores_lola's review against another edition

dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Rape, and Abandonment

verdenrow's review against another edition

Not a fan of the audiobook. The author’s beautiful narrative will have me revisiting this title soon in print form when my anxiety can handle it better.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Drug abuse, Physical abuse, Toxic relationship, Grief, Death of parent, and Abandonment

marisasabino's review against another edition

challenging dark reflective sad tense 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? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child abuse, Child death, Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Infertility, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Violence, Car accident, Murder, Pregnancy, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, and Sexual harassment

briwithabook's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Body horror, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Abandonment, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Alcoholism, Confinement, Pedophilia, Car accident, Death of parent, Murder, Alcohol, Dysphoria, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Gun violence, Miscarriage, Vomit, Police brutality, Grief, and Pregnancy

So many content warnings for this book. If you have any triggers at all, I’d recommend researching content warnings before reading it.