Reviews tagging 'Sexual content'

Sweetbitter by Stephanie Danler

25 reviews

nicolelis's review against another edition

adventurous emotional funny tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• 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

good book, but not great :) i liked the way it's formatted for the most part, but it was occasionally confusing; the characters are relatable, irritating, and off-putting all at once. not a book i'd recommend to everyone. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol and Drug use

Moderate: Toxic relationship and Sexual content

sydneybedell's review against another edition

emotional funny reflective tense medium-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

3.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Drug use, and Drug abuse

Moderate: Sexual content

Minor: Sexual harassment

kenziemac92's review against another edition

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? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

It was a fine book. But it really lost me at the end. I didn't like the ending at all.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content and Drug abuse

mattiestayreadin's review against another edition

dark medium-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

1.0

I got through 75% of this and hated myself for continuing just to see how the nonsense ends instead of walking away before it was too late.

This might be one of the most frustrating and infuriating books I’ve ever read. It genuinely made me mad. I wanted to like this book so badly because I worked in the same restaurant group this book orbits around and perfectly understand the culture within that company, but this just was not it. 

Tess started out as expected. Young, naive, blah blah blah, but she got increasingly less sympathetic with every “season” that passes. She really started to lose me

with the drugs, fucking one of her very few friends, and then really lost me when she licked the blood off her very toxic love interest’s arm out of the blue (at work!) and then turns around and let’s him finger bang her in a cab right after he called her a whore. I accidentally discovered an event that happens towards the end (she sleeps with her boss that is twice her age) and that was the knockout blow that made me drop it for good.

 

I was in my 20s when I worked within this restaurant’s sphere. I am very familiar with the chaos, messiness, and the drama of it all. But Tess has got to be one of the most pathetic characters I’ve read in a long time. I almost hesitate to even say so because this book is basically the author’s autobiography of this period in her life, but somehow she is the most awful character in her own story. I should’ve put it down and left it alone earlier (like Tess should’ve done with Jake), but I was halfway in and just started to hate-read it instead of enjoying it.

One star because she does world build the city and the restaurant culture really well, but that’s the beginning and end of my praise. If you want to read a great book about restaurant culture, read Kitchen Confidential (or probably anything else) instead. It focuses more on back of house than front of house, but you will not want to claw your eyes out from reading it like this one did for me. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Alcoholism, Drug abuse, Drug use, Sexual content, Gaslighting, Toxic relationship, Emotional abuse, Toxic friendship, and Bullying

reginahafner_'s review against another edition

adventurous emotional medium-paced

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

2.0

i hate you jake.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Drug use, Toxic friendship, Gaslighting, and Alcohol

tamtamslibrary's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad 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

4.0

“They don’t remember, nobody remembers what it feels like to be so recklessly absorbent.”

The story builds slowly but that’s the point of the theme. For the MC, life is both fleeting and stagnant, and the author pairs this nicely with her youth and the MC’s over-absorbency of emotions. It’s a coming of age story in the sense that lessons are bitter but with time they sweeten. At times you’ll find the characters cringy, but aren’t we all at one point in time? How human it is to be a “sponge.”

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug abuse, Alcoholism, and Sexual content

Moderate: Abandonment

mollywill's review against another edition

emotional reflective 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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Toxic relationship, Drug use, and Alcohol

Moderate: Vomit

Minor: Sexual content

emsreading's review against another edition

emotional reflective tense medium-paced

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

4.25

I read this book for a book club pick at my local library. I honestly don't know how to put my thoughts into words. Tess is 22 and recently moved to NYC. She gets hired as a backwaiter in a popular restaurant. I've never read anything set in a restaurant before so it was intriguing. The fast pace of the restaurant, the drugs, the sex, the emotions...it was an excellent read. I didn't find her or many of the characters likeable. They all had so many issues. It was like a trainwreck but you couldn't look away. I had to know what would happen to her and the author had me hooked from the beginning. Danler really sucks you into the story.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content, Alcohol, and Drug use

There is a part where Tess drinks and uses drugs heavily one night and blacks out. I was terrified it was going to turn into a rape scene but it did not. Tess mentions being kissed and feeling like she's being suffocated. The author didn't indicate that she was raped but I still felt such anxiety reading that part.

sleeson's review against another edition

dark emotional tense medium-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

2.0

I didn’t really understand it. Graphic sexual content but not in very romantic way. More so, working in a restaurant hookup kind of way. Lots of swearing. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Cursing, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Toxic relationship, Addiction, Alcohol, Drug use, and Sexual content

janice_sumka's review against another edition

dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Toxic relationship, Toxic friendship, Drug use, and Drug abuse

Moderate: Sexual content and Gaslighting