Reviews tagging 'Classism'

Moja mroczna Vanesso by Kate Elizabeth Russell

16 reviews

nina_mk's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad 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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness, Pedophilia, Child abuse, Misogyny, Sexual harassment, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Rape, Animal death, Sexual violence, Sexual content, Adult/minor relationship, Death, Grief, Sexual assault, and Suicidal thoughts

Moderate: Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Alcohol, Drug abuse, Drug use, Body shaming, Addiction, Gaslighting, Terminal illness, Alcoholism, and Chronic illness

Minor: Classism, Fatphobia, Stalking, Eating disorder, Bullying, and Lesbophobia

sedgewren's review against another edition

challenging dark slow-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

4.25

Only a truly masterfully written book could make me want to slap and shake the characters so hard to wake them out of their self-delusions, and yet still want to read it to the end. Russell managed to capture what it felt like to be 15 and sexualised, wanting love but not sure what that looks like, thinking you know it all and able to power through more than you can actually handle. It made me understand all the points of failure in a system, try and think what I would have done differently if I were Vanessa's friend, another teacher, or her parent.

I think it was painfully obvious the amount of self-delusion, romanticisation, and naivety that led to Vanessa's mis-interpretation of events, but I'm so glad that her therapist is able to pin them down and communicate with her to get her to see these events as what they really are; I also understand that Vanessa is only able to accept these truths when she is ready (she's been groomed and manipulated so long that she ends up manipulating herself so that she doesn't have to think too hard about anything that doesn't line up with her love story narrative).

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gaslighting, Pedophilia, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Child abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, and Rape

Moderate: Death of parent, Drug abuse, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual content, Stalking, Toxic relationship, and Classism

nineinchnails's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad 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

4.5

i feel weird reviewing and even rating this book considering the subject matter because even though it's technically fiction it feels horribly invasive, like reading someone's diary. it is very well written with beautiful prose and a protagonist who is extremely real and raw. the book did run a little long, especially considering there was little character development outside of vanessa but overall it was an extremely gripping read.

i would not recommend reading this as a survivor of rape and especially of child sexual abuse, more because of how adamant vanessa is that she was not abused than how graphic the abuse is written. it can be very hard to stomach her constant romanticisation and denial of strane's abuse, despite how obvious it us to us as readers that he manipulated her. 'manipulate' does not feel like anywhere near as strong of a word to portray how he controlled and exploited her.

vanessa is not a 'perfect victim' and she struggles with this well into adulthood; the idea that a woman must be perfectly chaste, perfectly humble, perfectly innocent, and perfectly untouched by the world to be believed or taken seriously as a victim is one that permeates our society to this day. what was she wearing?, she lead him on, she was asking for it, she wanted it. this novel does an incredible job at giving a voice to the many survivors who (unsurprisingly) don't fit that mould and showing a different perspective. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault, Toxic relationship, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Rape, Adult/minor relationship, Panic attacks/disorders, Gaslighting, and Pedophilia

Moderate: Physical abuse, Death, Animal cruelty, Death of parent, Addiction, Alcoholism, Drug use, Infidelity, Stalking, Suicidal thoughts, Bullying, Sexual harassment, Classism, Drug abuse, Grief, Body horror, and Abandonment

Minor: Animal death, Body shaming, Mass/school shootings, and Vomit

Grooming, Dissociation, Post traumatic stress disorder, Child sexual abuse, and Student/teacher relationship

withreveling's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Outing, Addiction, Pedophilia, Abandonment, Classism, Adult/minor relationship, Grief, Misogyny, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Mental illness, Self harm, and Toxic relationship

lemelyjerry's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad tense slow-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

4.25

I highly recommend listening to "The Lolita Podcast" by Jamie Loftus before reading this book as it give so much context to reading this and helped me to pick out some of the more subtler themes throughout.
I tried, and failed, to read/listen to this book 3 times, but am very happy I finished it on my fourth attempt. 
The subject matter is really difficult and Vanessa as a character is sometimes hard herself but the way the author engages with how we all internally rationalize and add meaning to events in our lives is very impactful. It delicately addresses how grooming relationships can be terrible and confusing and filled with need and longing and shame. It also did such a good job of presenting how complex Vanessa's internal world and how she understood herself both in the past and in the present.
Many scenes are very hard to get through and the spots where Vanessa describes her disgust at Stane I viscerally felt that. I found the parallel storylines really emphasized the thought patterns of Vanessa and expressed how she viewed her life through the lense of what Strane told her and how that seeped into some of her deepest believed truths and then when these truths begin to shift in the modern day storyline you can see how that takes time. There are also some beautiful aspects to the language of the book.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gaslighting, Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, and Emotional abuse

Moderate: Classism, Bullying, Rape, Toxic relationship, and Grief

Minor: Suicide, Suicidal thoughts, and Self harm

joaura's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Adult/minor relationship, Sexual violence, Gaslighting, Sexual content, Physical abuse, Violence, Pedophilia, and Mental illness

Moderate: Vomit, Death of parent, Classism, Cursing, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Addiction, Misogyny, Alcohol, and Grief

Minor: Animal death, Kidnapping, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, and Gun violence

lilacwhisker's review against another edition

dark emotional sad medium-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

4.5

pretty much every review talking about this book says it’s a “conversation-starter", and after reading this thing i understand why. my dark vanessa is a story about a girl who gets groomed by her teacher, but won't admit she was sexually abused. the whole thing (especially the start) is horrifying because of the events that occur but also because of vanessa's insistence that she wanted the whole thing to happen to her. this extra layer of denial is what makes this whole book so much more sad— seeing her call what they have "love" made me want to vomit, but i do think this can be accurate to how a lot of victims can feel. it's clear that russell did her research on this kind of abuse and trauma, and throughout we come to see how complicated both vanessa and her abuser are. it did get a little repetitive near the end, but this makes sense considering how such abuse works in cycles, and the length of their relationship. it really was a crazy book, and somewhat reminds me of notes on an execution by danya kukafka

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gaslighting, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Sexual content, Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Physical abuse, Emotional abuse, Sexual harassment, Pedophilia, and Rape

Moderate: Alcohol and Stalking

Minor: Classism, Death of parent, Suicide, Animal cruelty, Drug use, Incest, Infidelity, Addiction, and Animal death

alisonfaith426's review against another edition

dark emotional sad medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Mental illness, Adult/minor relationship, Animal death, Child abuse, Drug use, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Toxic relationship, Vomit, Dysphoria, Misogyny, Death, Emotional abuse, Sexual harassment, Gaslighting, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, and Suicide

Moderate: Classism, Cursing, Death of parent, Grief, and Medical content

amsswim's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

I think a lot of people could benefit from reading this (not to get political, ahem) , but I'm afraid they would only see what they want to see in Vanessa's character and take her for exactly what she says they will in the book. I thought this book had not only an important story to tell, but it was told incredibly well. The time jumps of Vanessa's high school experience to her "modern day", #MeToo era day-to-day gave the reader a large perspective of the stages of trauma and stages of abuse. 

As a someone who has experienced different kinds of abuse and trauma, I very much related with many themes. I would recommend looking through warnings and triggers contained here if you'd like to read, some themes may be upsetting for other survivors of similar experiences. I recommend to all however. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Alcohol, Violence, Suicidal thoughts, Stalking, Sexual violence, Sexual harassment, Rape, Injury/Injury detail, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Suicide, Abandonment, Sexual content, Sexism, Panic attacks/disorders, Misogyny, Mental illness, Grief, Domestic abuse, Death, Sexual assault, Alcoholism, Bullying, Child abuse, Toxic relationship, Pedophilia, and Emotional abuse

Moderate: Injury/Injury detail, Cursing, Classism, Body shaming, Death, Death of parent, Drug use, Grief, Bullying, and Infidelity

Minor: Classism, Blood, Body shaming, Vomit, Death of parent, Drug abuse, and Drug use

korolevakotykiv's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad medium-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Toxic relationship, Rape, Pedophilia, Grief, Adult/minor relationship, and Sexual content

Minor: Addiction, Animal cruelty, Bullying, Alcohol, Classism, Death of parent, and Drug use