A review by literarytabby
Aquarium by David Vann
dark
reflective
tense
medium-paced
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Graphic: Emotional abuse and Physical abuse
For more on the content warning, I will put it in spoilers, but the spoilers are minor relative to all that happens in the book.
I was raised by a narcissistic parent and the dynamic between Caitlin and her mother brought me to tears. There is also physical abuse done to Caitlin by her mother, but the passages that contained the abuse was a fraction of the book. Most of the story does not feature that, but it does affect largely the second half of the book, even if the descriptions of the abuses are on the brief side. I was not prepared for it and it did not diminish how much I liked this story, but if you have suffered with an emotionally abusive parent, please keep that in mind when/if you decide to jump into this story.