Reviews tagging 'Child abuse'

Real Life by Brandon Taylor

128 reviews

evasteenberghs's review against another edition

dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

• Loveable characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse and Sexual assault

qtree's review against another edition

emotional reflective tense medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Homophobia, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexual assault, and Vomit

Moderate: Death of parent

_puberty2's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective medium-paced

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

5.0

This is a beautiful piece of prose, especially for a debut novel. I blew through it in 3 days and was genuinely glued to the story. I just want to hug Wallace and be a friend to him that will treat him like an actual person, Brigit was the only real one. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Hate crime, Homophobia, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, and Toxic friendship

Moderate: Body shaming and Eating disorder

jordaneley's review against another edition

emotional reflective sad slow-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, and Sexual violence

moonbabe_'s review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Homophobia, Racism, Sexual assault, and Sexual violence

nearlynina's review against another edition

challenging emotional

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism

Moderate: Sexual assault

Minor: Child abuse

xenamollie's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense slow-paced

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

4.0

this was really not my fav, but i also kind of couldn’t put it down (in a not so enjoyable can’t-look-away way). i can’t decide if the characters felt well developed or not — the absolutely excessive over thinking sort of tricked me into thinking yes, but on reflection i don’t feel like i have a grasp on the characters at all — but even that feels intentional, like the main character expends so so so much energy on overthinking himself and others and yet all he has to show for it in the end is these bits and pieces of understanding. 

it was a really tragic story but not without a tinge of optimism (or maybe i just imposed that on it so i could finish the book without feeling like absolute shit?). i wasn’t sure what to make of the interpersonal violence or what the intention was or what i was supposed to think of it. i guess all i can say was it made me wildly uncomfortable, which clearly was part of the point but definitely not the whole point. definitely feel like i was missing something. 

biggest pet peeve with this book was it’s very important to me to be able to track where people/things are in space, and it was so difficult for me to do that throughout. i just felt like the descriptions of scene/setting/movement were extremely confusing and i very often could not follow, and it didn’t particularly strike me as intentional, so that really didn’t work for me.  

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Eating disorder, Homophobia, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Vomit, and Death of parent

Minor: Self harm

cschulein's review against another edition

dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse and Rape

Moderate: Racism

cadystanton's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad medium-paced

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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Hate crime, Homophobia, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, Outing, Toxic friendship, and Abandonment

ghazalg's review against another edition

dark sad tense slow-paced

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

3.0

This book was... Fine. I really wish I liked it as much as some of the other reviews. But I just found it very one dimensional. The book does do a good job of portraying everyday micro aggressions that a gay, black man in the south surrounded by white counterparts can deal with. But other than that, I don't think the exploration of the protagonists trauma alongside the other characters in general was done well enough. I found myself bored, I couldnt relate to many of the characters at all, including Wallace. Had I been able to, perhaps it would have been more powerful as a book. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse and Sexual violence