Reviews tagging 'Sexism'

Moja mroczna Vanesso by Kate Elizabeth Russell

97 reviews

buchstabenmaedchen's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional inspiring reflective tense medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

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

Moderate: Mental illness and Sexism

momopup420's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring 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

This book is absolutely heart wrenching. Beautifully written and such an important message. It’s so important to understand how abuse can effect you long term. I sobbed while reading this book. This is not easy to read, as you’d expect. I would recommend this to everyone. Please read the triggers before engaging. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Violence, Grief, and Gaslighting

Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Death, Drug abuse, and Death of parent

helsbelle's review against another edition

dark

• Loveable characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Pedophilia, Rape, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual assault, and Gaslighting

Minor: Bullying and Suicide

chicagostupid's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Emotional abuse, Misogyny, Sexism, Toxic relationship, and Gaslighting

Moderate: Rape, Sexual assault, and Sexual violence

Minor: Suicide

queserasara's review against another edition

dark emotional 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

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

Minor: Death of parent

archaicrobin's review against another edition

challenging 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

4.0

My Dark Vanessa is not an easy read. It details the continued abuse that Vanessa suffers from her high school English teacher, Mr. Strain, beginning when she’s just 15. You read about the grooming, about the assaults, and follow Vanessa into adulthood as she tries to come to terms with the fact that she was abused and failed in so
many ways, by so many adults.  The author does an excellent job portraying PTSD and how the abuse that occurred continues to define Vanessa well beyond adolescence. 

This book is so well written and Vanessa is such a strong, damaged character that she pulls you in. You can’t look away even when things get horrific, and they get very bad.  The author doesn’t shy away from describing what Vanessa endures and there’s many points where I had to stop because Strain is so infuriatingly disgusting. 

Despite the difficulty of listening to some scenes, I loved the audiobook for this novel. The narrator brings Vanessa to life and it feels like she’s really there, sharing her story with you. The version I listened to also has an interview with the author at the end which I still need to listen to. This audiobook is a long one though, about 18hrs so it is a commitment. 

My only problem with this book is that it does drag on a bit in the second half. Once Vanessa starts to catch up to present day the story drags on quite a bit and I feel some of the later parts of the book weren’t really necessary. Despite the length, I enjoyed reading this one. It’s dark and to be honest it doesn’t end all rainbows and sunshine either. It’s very realistic in its bleakness and I would suggest this for those that can handle some very upsetting scenes. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Grief, Death of parent, Gaslighting, Alcohol, and Sexual harassment

kaiulanilee's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Cursing, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Gaslighting, Alcohol, and Sexual harassment

Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Bullying, Panic attacks/disorders, Suicide, Vomit, Medical content, Grief, Stalking, Death of parent, and Toxic friendship

tayylorbrowns's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense fast-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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Emotional abuse, Pedophilia, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Alcohol, and Sexual harassment

Minor: Drug use and Death of parent

gia666's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious tense

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

4.75

Truly one of the best books I’ve ever read and will reread. Perfectly dark and honestly somewhat traumatizing in a way that was flawlessly executed. They were points where I was terribly uncomfortable but just could not put it down. I was fully consumed in Russel’s beautiful work and can’t think of one bad thing other than the extremely prevalent triggers that you must look out for before reading. (I also really enjoyed the “Fiona Apple” and “Belle And Sebastian” references).

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Pedophilia, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, and Sexual violence

Minor: Fatphobia

whathannahread's review against another edition

challenging emotional inspiring reflective sad 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

It's hard to describe how much I love this book. Written from Vanessa's POV it starts off almost like reading a romance story that quickly disintegrated. I related and empathised with Vanessa. Her journey was complex and that's why it was so important. It opened my eyes to how accessible and integrated the Lolita effect is in our society, especially

her relationship later on with Henry, which even though 'legal' is dripped in that same fantasy of power dynamics and infantilism

All in all, this was an absolutely exquisite book.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, and Sexual harassment