Reviews tagging 'Child abuse'

Model Home by Rivers Solomon

160 reviews

ayrerhead's review against another edition

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dark emotional mysterious fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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tey_lynn's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional reflective sad medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

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rachaelwho's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional sad tense slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

I didn't *like* the beginning, but I understood why it was so... Impressionistic? So I kept with it. I liked the middle and thought this would be a 4 or better even though it wasn't quite my cup of tea. And then we got to the last third, where the supervillain tells James Bond his whole evil plan. Did the author (or maybe their editor?) really think it wasn't clear what was happening?
I had it about 70-80% sorted when they alluded to having constant UTIs as a child, and I clearly was meant to notice that. Why not trust me to notice it??
It was the weirdest combination of telegraphed from miles away, over-explained, and very muddled; it didn't make sense. 

Voice acting was VERY good. But I'm puzzled at Elijah not being portrayed with a British accent when the text pretty much says she has one, and Elijah's mum was read with a perfectly fine English accent. Still-- excellent performance.
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acweber's review against another edition

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dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

5.0

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nadiarausa's review against another edition

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

5.0

It’s difficult to review this book without spoiling anything, so I’ll just say this: The prose is utterly gorgeous and haunting—Rivers Solomon is an absolutely incredible writer and storyteller.

This could definitely be a triggering book, so please read with care! I didn’t find anything overly graphic or explicit, but there are definitely some disturbing things that occur. The trigger warnings in the “graphic” section I included were because they were themes throughout the story. 
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laurajane78's review against another edition

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dark emotional sad medium-paced
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

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definestrange's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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dark_marble_eyes's review against another edition

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dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
One negative someone noted was that it felt like the author was trying to check too many diversity boxes. My advice is to google the author and learn even the bare minimum about them and reflect on why you assume people can’t belong to all those identifies.
Anyway, painful read. I can’t tell if reading this was cathartic or not. Definitely to an extent, but still painful. 
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brittknee52's review against another edition

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dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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siglesias's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

This book was devastating. I cried within the first few pages at how gorgeously it was written. I was so scared throughout the book because I felt like I knew what was going to happen, I just didn’t want to believe it. So I accepted that the house was haunted and that was it. I sat awake reading this book until 2 a.m. The last 50 or so pages destroyed me. I am very sad but not upset that I read this beautifully written (but very tragic) book. It will stay with me, that’s for sure. 

I think many reviewers of this book have never experienced the wrath a white person will put upon a person of color over things like land and their “community.” I think this book obviously takes it to an extreme (god, I hope this is an extreme) but it’s by no means unrealistic for a POC to have their life ruined by a white neighbor.
 
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