Reviews tagging 'Sexual harassment'

My Year of Rest and Relaxation by Ottessa Moshfegh

62 reviews

spooderman's review against another edition

challenging dark funny reflective 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? Yes

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Drug abuse, Eating disorder, Death, Vomit, Animal death, Alcoholism, Toxic friendship, Panic attacks/disorders, Suicide, Self harm, Toxic relationship, Cancer, Drug use, Suicidal thoughts, Body shaming, Mental illness, Abandonment, Fatphobia, Infidelity, Violence, Addiction, Alcohol, Animal cruelty, Gaslighting, and Grief

Moderate: Sexual content, Adult/minor relationship, Injury/Injury detail, Fire/Fire injury, Chronic illness, Terminal illness, Racial slurs, Sexual harassment, Ableism, Homophobia, Misogyny, Antisemitism, Sexism, Cultural appropriation, Xenophobia, and Lesbophobia

Minor: War, Racism, Cursing, Abortion, Miscarriage, Classism, Confinement, Medical trauma, Islamophobia, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Medical content

helenaruby's review against another edition

dark emotional funny reflective sad 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

4.0

“the white fox in the meat freezer“. excellent. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault and Sexual harassment

explaining why i believe there is graphic sexual assault in the book:

the main character describes having a much older man sexually touch her without consent when she is 19. many explicitly described dubiously consensual encounters with men in the book — dubious because she is being emotionally abused or because of her extreme drug use. i’ve no idea why other readers didn’t see it fit to add these as content warnings!!!!!

rumay's review against another edition

dark mysterious reflective sad 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Grief, Death of parent, Sexual harassment, Vomit, Cancer, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, Sexual content, Mental illness, and Body shaming

Moderate: Alcohol, Suicide, and Pregnancy

Minor: Sexual assault

kazli's review against another edition

challenging dark reflective sad fast-paced

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

4.75

I never thought I'd find a someone who needs proper therapy more than me but I've been proven wrong. So much yet so little happened. It was a really accurate depiction of depression. As someone who's experienced almost exactly what the main character has, I can sympathise with her although she's not very likeable. The main star was definitely her best friend.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body shaming, Confinement, Drug use, Drug abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, Eating disorder, Suicide attempt, Addiction, Death of parent, Dysphoria, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Grief, Mental illness, Suicide, and Vomit

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship and Sexual content

Minor: Rape, Sexism, Sexual harassment, Pregnancy, Sexual assault, and Sexual violence

chilicrispy's review against another edition

2.75

I would sincerely like a review with quotes from someone who loved this book. Maybe I have just had enough white nonsense in my life. But this book really did not deliver form me. I wish we dug more into the main characters' relationships so we could understand her decision for her year of rest and relaxation. The concept of sleeping for a year is interesting but the delivery was lacking. 

The character was antisemitism, fatphobic, and made SA, jokes. It was extremely off putting and didn't serve a purpose (aka lead to personal growth or comment on larger world issues). I understand Moshfeg is trying to write a complicated character that is the antithesis to what we think a woman should be, but it isn't necessarily a skill to make some one despicable. The character was pretty one note which seems like the opposite of the authors intentions. Perhaps I wasn't big brain enough, but I think there are better books about female introspection. Definitely check the content warnings. 

On the pro side it was a cool concept, the writing style was snappy and did a good job of putting you in her world (sometimes to the reader's discomfort). There were some clever funny moments that I appreciated. It is clear Moshfeg is a very talented writer! I don't think her genre of books is necessarily for me. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Self harm, Sexual harassment, Body shaming, Sexual content, Toxic friendship, Suicide, Gaslighting, Suicidal thoughts, Addiction, Classism, Drug abuse, Sexual assault, Antisemitism, Fatphobia, Toxic relationship, Grief, Drug use, and Eating disorder

2122's review against another edition

challenging slow-paced

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

I did not like this book but the end saved it a little bit. It’s very slow and felt like I had to get further in the book to feel like it was going anywhere. It felt like I was reading a diary which isn’t a bad thing but I don’t think that’s what the author was going for. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Blood, Confinement, Fatphobia, Mental illness, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, Death, Drug use, Eating disorder, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Alcohol, Body shaming, Vomit, Cancer, Death of parent, Drug abuse, and Sexual harassment

Moderate: Classism, Grief, and Rape

Minor: Pregnancy, Abortion, Racism, and Sexual assault

cjmrand's review against another edition

2.0

Ok this one I took notes for while reading because I was having such a seesaw time, which I don't often do - but the scales ultimately landed on 'mediocre, and not worth keeping on my shelves'

I just want to put a little disclaimer here for the supporters of Let Women be Toxic in Books:
1. I agree that women should not be portrayed in the two dimensional, lack-luster ways they tend to be portrayed in literature under the patriarchal gaze, whether that's a submissive, meek, housewife or a sex object for men's enjoyment, ESPECIALLY when mentally ill (cough cough, The Queen's Gambit on Netflix - women don't tend to be sexy and put together in a way that is palatable for men when depressed). My review is not a criticism of the idea of letting women - especially those with mental illness - be a hot fucking mess. Ok, next.
2. I understand WHY every single one of these techniques, or motifs, etc were used in this text, I don't dislike this because I feel the author failed to connect these techniques to the character well enough - I dislike this because I don't like the techniques. They are not for me, they might be for you. Done.

Here is where I insert my notes, which sums everything up quite well:
"I'm thinking of giving this 2 stars right now. Not because it's bad, but because I'm not enjoying it - and I get that I'm supposed to not be enjoying it. I get that, I really do, but the main character is awful and I hate it. I know she is supposed to be awful and hated and that's why so many people give it 5 stars because it's wonderfully written but I just. Don't. Like it.
I don't like to explicit sexual descriptions, I don't like the 00s diet culture and slurs and misogyny.
I don't like the lack of empathy held by the main character, I don't like her selfishness, I don't like how she treats Reva.
I know that all of this is intentionally done, but I personally read to enjoy and to learn - this book just leaves me feeling a bit crap. So no, I'm not having fun."

There were points where I would doubt my judgement and think 'well maybe this is actually a good book, a book I can rate highly - look at this beautiful peace of writing, look at the emotions elicited in me when Moshfegh does x, look at this genius plotline - but that feeling always came crashing down quickly when it all became overwhelmingly unpleasant again.
I liked the end reasonably well, but the ending itself I would only rate at a 3 stars, the rest of the book drags it down to 2 though.

I was also worried that giving my copy to charity could lead to someone young picking it up, I can see this being really damaging for a secondary school aged kid, but I know that someone like me probably would've picked it up in secondary school. So, yeah. Look after your mental health. You don't need to read this book. If you did like it, I'm glad, but I hope you don't recommend it to anyone who can't cope well with the topics in these books. So yeah.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Body shaming, Death of parent, Alcoholism, Classism, Sexual content, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, Drug abuse, Drug use, Eating disorder, Mental illness, and Alcohol

Moderate: Grief, Death, Misogyny, Sexual harassment, Suicidal thoughts, and Sexism

hclin's review against another edition

dark reflective slow-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Terminal illness, Violence, Ableism, Addiction, Alcohol, Death of parent, Eating disorder, Misogyny, and Toxic friendship

Moderate: Sexual content and Sexual harassment

Minor: Animal cruelty

_bailey_reads_'s review against another edition

dark reflective 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

2.75

The writing style was good. The actual plot of the book was interesting from the stand point of observing what not to do regarding mental health. 

However this book is not in any way a good book to read for life advice or for finding a good way to cope with depression. Think of this book and everything the MC does as everything not to do. The MC is deeply troubled and in need of actual help from an actual professional which she does not get. I was very concerned with the ending of the book because it is not at all accurate to the realities of mental health and life itself. She doesn’t actually deal with anything she struggles with, she just avoids it… which is not possible in reality. 

PSA to everyone reading this: medication is not a problem solver and will not fix you. You cannot run away from your problems, that includes sleeping. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Abortion, Alcohol, Gaslighting, Confinement, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Grief, Panic attacks/disorders, Violence, Cancer, Death of parent, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child abuse, Death, Drug abuse, Fatphobia, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, Self harm, Sexual content, Sexual harassment, Suicide, Blood, Body shaming, Bullying, Drug use, and Suicidal thoughts

cosy_crow's review against another edition

challenging dark sad 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: Physical abuse, Mental illness, Medical trauma, Medical content, Injury/Injury detail, Gaslighting, Forced institutionalization, Dysphoria, Cultural appropriation, Terminal illness, Suicide attempt, Sexual violence, Sexual harassment, Racism, Pregnancy, Panic attacks/disorders, Misogyny, Grief, Drug use, Drug abuse, Death, Alcohol, Ableism, Eating disorder, Vomit, Toxic relationship, Sexual content, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Blood, Alcoholism, Cancer, Bullying, Suicide, Sexism, Toxic friendship, Self harm, Body shaming, Body horror, Abandonment, Rape, Abortion, Suicidal thoughts, Sexual assault, Fatphobia, Domestic abuse, Death of parent, and Addiction