Reviews tagging 'Sexual assault'

Sharp Objects by Gillian Flynn

294 reviews

dakotajade's review against another edition

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Vomit, Addiction, Animal cruelty, Death, Eating disorder, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Sexual violence, Alcoholism, Animal death, Bullying, Medical content, Toxic friendship, Child abuse, Homophobia, Rape, Sexual assault, and Violence

rachelpcook's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.0

This is the first of Gillian Flynn’s books that I’ve read, and I’ll certainly be picking up her others. 

Sharp Objects is an unsavory story, to say the least, but I can appreciate a protagonist that I truly cannot stand behind the actions or thoughts of. Partying with 13 year olds and essentially sexualizing their bodies, particularly in the case of Camille’s 13 year old sister, Amma, is difficult to stomach, not to mention her proclivity for drunk driving, which is a particularly personal subject matter for me. 

However, I came into this book expecting a somewhat gruesome plot, and it delivered just that. 
I think it captures Adora’s torture in a way that shapes the characters significantly throughout the novel, and it illustrates how Camille and Amma separately cope with being their mother’s daughters. Their feelings towards their mother are extremely complicated, craving the security that her affection provided them, while wanting to be as far away from her as possible at the same time. 
“This should be miserable, I murmured as I grabbed a tumbler. But underneath that, a thought: time alone with her! A leftover rattle from childhood. Get that fixed.” 

I thought I saw the ending of this book coming from an early point in the book, which I was only slightly right about. Gillian Flynn successfully built my sympathy towards Amma, leaving me to believe that Camille and her younger sister would rebuild a healthier life their mother had stolen from them, but the twist truly did have me surprised. While I did not enjoy Amma’s character in many tangible ways, I began to believe that her cruelness was simply a facade. 

Despite the gritty nature of the book, I could not put it down, and I’m looking forward to reading Gillian Flynn’s other works.

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Content Warnings

Minor: Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Child abuse, Drug use, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Sexual assault, Domestic abuse, Self harm, and Suicide

bayports's review against another edition

dark 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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Self harm, and Murder

Moderate: Sexual assault

jupitersuns's review against another edition

I was enjoying the book until page 110 when the main character makes a statement I do not agree with at all. 

She states that it is the woman's poor choices that makes them at fault for being SAed (like drinking too much for example) 

I stopped immediately when I got to that part because I am a survivor and it made me sick to my stomach. 

It was way well before May 7 when I had stopped, but I only now decided to input it into the app just to finally clear my current reads. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Murder, and Self harm

Moderate: Sexual assault

Minor: Homophobia

virtuadoll's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Death, Blood, Drug abuse, Alcohol, Bullying, Body shaming, Self harm, Child death, Emotional abuse, Murder, Alcoholism, and Grief

Moderate: Mental illness, Sexual assault, Pregnancy, Medical content, Vomit, Medical trauma, Toxic friendship, Suicide attempt, Violence, Toxic relationship, Suicide, Pedophilia, Suicidal thoughts, Sexual violence, and Rape

poppunkisso's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Self harm, and Sexual assault

zerkleoflife's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-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

Gillian Flynn is a fantastic author. Every character was extremely complex. I took off a point because so many scenes made me really uncomfortable (in the ways the author intended). A lot of things were really shocking but still made sense to the characters. I sort of guessed the end because I understood the characters, not necessarily because it was super predictable. Definitely check the trigger warnings!!!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Medical trauma, Blood, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Mental illness, Murder, Vomit, Self harm, Emotional abuse, Gore, Toxic friendship, Physical abuse, Violence, Alcohol, and Grief

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Eating disorder, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Bullying, Cursing, Drug use, Suicidal thoughts, Sexual assault, Drug abuse, and Rape

aboo99's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Self harm and Child abuse

Moderate: Sexual assault

cassafrassandfries's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• 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

Ok, I felt like I knew where this was going pretty quickly into the book, but CLEARLY did not. Regardless, I really enjoyed this dark and twisty read. It felt a little slow at times for me, and it seemed like there were plot points that were picked up and dropped, but Gillian Flynn still had me mouth agape in surprise and disgust. Just what I was looking for.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Self harm

Moderate: Sexual assault

laurahartfield's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Vomit, Gore, Animal death, Child abuse, Sexual assault, Rape, Murder, Child death, and Self harm