Reviews tagging 'Rape'

Several People Are Typing by Calvin Kasulke

11 reviews

eiron's review

funny lighthearted fast-paced

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

3.25

A reasonably unique absurdist tale which, towards the start of the denouement has a single moment that completely ruined the entire thing for me.

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Content Warnings

Minor: Rape and Sexual assault

Added some content warnings to my review of this book because

I believe that if you are unable to consent to the use of your body for somebody else's sexual gratification - even if you might have consented should you have been able - then that crosses a line into uncomfortable territory. The book does not challenge this moment; rather, it turns it into a feel-good conclusion to a story arc between two of the characters

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sushmita_reads's review

funny lighthearted mysterious 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? No

3.25

Short easy read. The format is based on different message chains so not for everyone, I don't use Slack but I'm familiar enough that it wasn't that hard to follow...when it was actually words. There were some pages that were just emoji references, that felt lazy and boring to me. Story itself was fun except for one part. 

There was an uncomfortable plot line that might upset users below. 

The main character whose consciousness is not in his body has sex with the guy caring for him - also his coworker. Consent is very blurry, conveniently the two like each other in the end so it doesn't come up - what happens if that wasn't the case? Would it be rape?

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape

melchncookies's review

dark funny mysterious fast-paced

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

3.0

I just finished this book. My first thoughts are that the story was inventive. It was a very fast read too. It’s funny but probably not all that memorable. Great book to help boost your count.

Gerald works in a PR firm and has accidentally uploaded himself to the company slack program. There’s some great banter but when

slack’s help bot takes over Gerald’s body

the story takes a weird turn. There are some sort of rape light themes that only a man would think is ok to write about. 

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Content Warnings

Minor: Animal death, Sexual assault, Excrement, Sexual content, and Rape

wickedgrumpy's review

dark emotional funny hopeful mysterious sad tense fast-paced

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

2.5

I've read my share of epistolary style writings and this was definitely different from others.  I think the main reason I wasn't as keen on it was the use of emojis and gifs, but like the text representation rather than the actual thing.  If there was a way for the ebook to have the actual visual component represented exactly as intended then I think it would have been an improved experience.

It was a weird one for sure.

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Content Warnings

Minor: Bullying, Animal death, Sexual harassment, Toxic relationship, Toxic friendship, Cursing, Eating disorder, Rape, Child abuse, Confinement, Excrement, Gaslighting, Grief, Kidnapping, Abandonment, Body horror, and Body shaming

shaydream's review

adventurous emotional inspiring mysterious fast-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Minor: Rape

keira_reckons's review

funny lighthearted fast-paced

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

4.0

I found this uproariously funny and a very quick read. It's an unhinged modern epistolary novel, told via Slack messages.

Despite it's brevity there are complicated plots, not all of which are fully explained, in an excellent X-Files sort of way.

It would probably only be readable to users of Slack or Discord or similar thread and channel online communications apps, so it's not for everyone. 

As others have mentioned, there's a non consentual sexual encounter.  This would usually put me right off, but it didn't, I think because of the fact the people piloting the bodies involved were consenting. And the owner of the body was ok after the fact. That wouldn't be good enough in real life, or in a more realistic or darker fiction, but it didn't leave me with the upset such a scene usually would, I think because the whole plot was so absurd. It definitely would have been better without that though.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Rape

galaheadh's review against another edition

i was enjoying this so much right up to the fucked-up approach to consent (ie there was none, and it was apparently fine and romantic) at the end

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Rape

msprufrock's review against another edition

funny lighthearted fast-paced

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

3.25

This was a really quick, really weird read. Only because I've never had to use slack for work, to me it felt like a combination of a Welcome to Night Vale episode and a bizarre, ongoing Tumblr conversation - and mostly in a good way. I did laugh multiple times while reading, and I enjoyed most of the book.

Poetry nerd that I am, when I realized slackbot was quoting The Second Coming, I thought maybe it was leading to a broader message or world building - and then I realized it was probably all for a "second coming" joke. Fair. (Or :dusty stick:?) Also, it wasn't totally clear to me how what happened with Lydia tied in with everything, and Beverly's role in all of that.

I didn't like the major dub-con moment in the last third, and how that was glossed over, so that is one reason I didn't rate this higher.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement

Moderate: Rape and Animal death

tigger89's review

funny fast-paced

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

3.5

While this isn't high literature by any means, I found it to be an enjoyable, fast-paced satire of both the workplace and the human condition. I will say upfront that, if you're looking for a logical resolution, you won't find one here. Nothing is really explained with regard to the main hook, but that doesn't mean it isn't worth coming along on the trip. And a trip it is, with some of the logs being downright bizarre. My takeaway? Corporate capitalism is driving us insane, and we all need a vacation before we devolve to communicating solely via mangled emojis.

The main obstacle most readers would have engaging with this story is the way its told, in chat log form. You don't have to know Slack to understand the format. I've never used Slack myself, but if you understand Discord(#channels and DMs/private chats) then you'll be able to understand this. The book's strongest point was how well it executed this technique, with each character managing to be distinct despite only existing in the context of chat logs. I was particularly appreciative of the way the author gendered all of the characters near the start, by having a character request access to the #gents-only channel. It's hard to subtly slip pronouns into a pure dialogue situation, and I thought that was a clever solution!

I don't want to nitpick the plot too much because this wasn't really that kind of book. It's designed to play a little fast and loose with the logic. But there was one thing, a moral rather than a logical issue, that bothered me.

Toward the end of the book, a character knowingly has sex with a person whose body is currently inhabited by another consciousness, without seeking consent from the original owner of the body.

This isn't depicted as a violation and all parties wind up being cool with it, but I can't tell if it was a case of the characters being down with whatever or if the consent issue wasn't considered a problem by the author. Because of the unique format of the story I could see it going either way, because there's no good way to address it in-narrative if the characters aren't going to say it out loud to each other, right? So that was a thing that happened. If it'll bother you, brace for it, and I guess come to your own conclusion about what the author might have intended there.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Animal death

Minor: Rape and Sexual assault

emw025's review

adventurous mysterious fast-paced

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

2.0

I cannot ignore the fact that the intimacy in this book is actually rape and is just entirely blown off 

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Content Warnings

Minor: Rape