Reviews tagging 'Sexual assault'

Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West by Gregory Maguire

14 reviews

thefooddater's review against another edition

The book was difficult to follow plotwise. The tone is also really dark. I shouldn't have bought this expected it would be a similar feel to the musical.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault

There is a strange scene in which

one of the classmates is in this sex show

alexandra_salisbury's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious sad medium-paced

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

2.5

I want to like it more than I did. This was my second attempt after a DNF. While I'm usually one for closed-door books, I could look past the explicit scenes if it wasn't for the blatant *completely unnecessary* sexualization of children which just made the book really sordid. 

There were very interesting things that happened that would bring you right to the precipice of something happening and then *surprise* - time jump, and it didn't happen. Or maybe it did and you missed it. It was disappointing. Someone needs to write a fan fiction of this fan fiction and do it better- although maybe that's what the musical did 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault, Grief, Sexual violence, Animal cruelty, Abandonment, Xenophobia, Police brutality, Ableism, Violence, Toxic friendship, Sexual harassment, Sexual content, Racism, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, Infidelity, Child abuse, Body shaming, and Animal death

Moderate: Torture, Fatphobia, Slavery, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Abortion, Trafficking, Fire/Fire injury, Excrement, Dementia, Death, Classism, and Child death

Minor: Sexism

recorderkfk's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense slow-paced

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

3.0

As someone who loves the musical and the OG Wizard of Oz, I found it rather cold and cruel - it's philosophically  interesting, but plot wise, plodding. Fun to read though as a musical fan. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content, Animal death, and Xenophobia

Moderate: Sexual assault, Body horror, and Animal cruelty

Minor: Mental illness, Terminal illness, Chronic illness, Ableism, Emotional abuse, and War

jadonmorgs's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional hopeful mysterious sad tense slow-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

3.0

Let me start this review by saying that I love and adore the Broadway musical. This book is nothing like the Broadway musical but I'm not opposed to it being more grim and less light hearted. I actually prefer the much more darker themes that's in this book, but I feel like the book did not really deliver on the character of Elphaba she just did not feel fleshed out enough. I couldn't really immerse myself in the story and it's characters even though I really wanted to.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Animal cruelty, Blood, Child death, Physical abuse, Violence, War, Racism, Self harm, Hate crime, Toxic friendship, Colonisation, Death, Death of parent, Rape, Gaslighting, Pregnancy, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Slavery, and Toxic relationship

monicats's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious slow-paced

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

3.75

I entered it already expecting it to be a departure from the musical (which is fine! I never have a problem separating an original work from the new media iteration, especially if the latter is already not intentionally a “faithful” adaptation). I do wonder about this kind of wall that’s built between us as readers and Elphaba in the first half of the book, which made her POV in the second half a little shaky to me. Can we really understand her intentions from other characters who don’t have a full understanding of her? Maybe that’s the intention! It just also makes me question the love between her and Fiyero - how can she bring herself to love him? How does she allow herself that kind of intimacy when it’s already difficult for even a family member to touch her? How is he shaped into the image of the beloved? Much to think about.

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: Xenophobia and Sexual assault

heart_strong500's review against another edition

I was 40% though and so much time was being spent on things I didn't care about. I looked at other reviews which I rarely do before or while I'm reading and they all said it's very different from the musical. So even if my favorite parts of the musical would have happened I didn't know with how much detail they were or weren't going to be covered. And then the three-way sexual assult(everyone's under magic or something so I see it as sexual assult) with the tiger (which animals are just another race and I knew that before reading) happened and I was done. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Violence, Sexual violence, Animal cruelty, Racism, Death, Classism, Sexual content, Sexual assault, Rape, Physical abuse, Infidelity, Gore, Death of parent, and Blood

rosalind's review against another edition

adventurous lighthearted 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

3.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Religious bigotry, Animal death, and Emotional abuse

Moderate: Sexual assault, Murder, Police brutality, Sexual content, and Violence

Minor: Child death, Infidelity, Animal death, and Body shaming

greenrequiem's review against another edition

adventurous dark slow-paced

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

3.75

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Xenophobia, and Sexual content

Moderate: Sexual assault

summerb's review against another edition

adventurous dark funny mysterious 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

4.5

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: Alcohol, Animal death, Classism, Grief, and Infidelity

Minor: Murder, Alcohol, Animal death, Death, Pregnancy, Suicide attempt, Vomit, Self harm, Blood, Child death, Cursing, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Injury/Injury detail, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, War, Kidnapping, and Medical content

sarah2438's review against another edition

2.0

I did not like this. I've heard the show is better-- it would have to be, right?
I don't consider myself easily scandalized by things like *nudity* or *infidelity* but this book took it so much farther than was necessary. I mean there's a freaking threesome with a tiger and it serves NO PURPOSE. All of these people just out here cheating on everyone with no consequences. And everyone, including kids, getting naked all the time for no reason. At one point even the landscape was described as being erotic-- what does that even mean?? It was just weird, made weirder by the fact that this all stems from a CHILDREN'S STORY. You can darkly retell a classic without taking it to this level.
If you can get past that, this book is still a mess. It needed to be trimmed down-- there was so much that felt unnecessary and just bogged down the plot. The plot itself was clunky and meandering. The characters, even Elphaba at times, felt shallow and under developed. The faux depth had me wondering "am I dumb or is this just... boring? And maybe doesn't make sense?" But my lovely buddy in this buddy read had the same issue.
It's really frustrating because there's glimpses where I can see what the author was trying to do, or there's a good line here and there, so I think he might actually be a good writer. But this just wasn't good.
Overall, I would've DNF'd if I wasn't doing a buddy read. I don't hate it, so it's not quite one star, but I wouldn't recommend this.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Infidelity, Sexual content, and Bullying

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Racism, and Child abuse

Minor: Child death, Genocide, Sexual assault, and Ableism