Reviews tagging 'Bullying'

The Girls by Emma Cline

12 reviews

mickraine's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad tense slow-paced

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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Sexual assault, Toxic relationship, Sexual violence, Gore, Addiction, Sexual harassment, Murder, Violence, Drug abuse, Adult/minor relationship, Mental illness, Sexism, Gaslighting, Misogyny, Sexual content, Injury/Injury detail, Fire/Fire injury, Emotional abuse, Drug use, and Toxic friendship

Moderate: Stalking, Panic attacks/disorders, Alcohol, Physical abuse, Bullying, Alcoholism, Classism, Death of parent, and Grief

Minor: War

jenny_d's review against another edition

dark tense slow-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual violence, Child death, Sexism, Sexual assault, Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Toxic relationship, Pedophilia, Violence, and Toxic friendship

knikchevich's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious tense 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

3.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content, Mental illness, Toxic friendship, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Rape, Child abuse, Blood, Ableism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Murder, Racial slurs, Abandonment, Adult/minor relationship, Alcohol, Bullying, Child death, Domestic abuse, Gore, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, and Violence

issyd23's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective relaxing sad tense slow-paced

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

4.0

Like a more interesting version of Once Upon A Time In Hollywood 4⭐️

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug use, Drug abuse, Grief, Hate crime, Rape, Addiction, Body horror, Blood, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Abandonment, Gaslighting, Mental illness, Pregnancy, Gore, Sexual violence, Violence, Trafficking, Toxic relationship, Toxic friendship, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Bullying, Death, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Mass/school shootings, Self harm, and Sexual harassment

autumnrevisited's review against another edition

dark medium-paced

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

3.75

The book was well written but the fact that it was the Manson story down to the smallest details made the suspense fade. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug use, Sexual content, Drug abuse, Violence, Death, Blood, Murder, and Adult/minor relationship

Moderate: Animal cruelty and Animal death

Minor: Bullying, Cursing, and Child abuse

emmasilvia's review against another edition

challenging dark reflective slow-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

2.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Adult/minor relationship, Alcohol, Drug abuse, Sexual content, Bullying, Classism, Drug use, Murder, and Sexism

greatexpectations77's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.5

The first couples pages of the book were over-the-top flowery language, and I wasn't sure if I was going to stick around, but it calmed down a little bit. I think the strongest parts were the descriptions of the very challenging time of pre-teen/early teenager-dom, when girls are really trying to just figure out how they fit into the world. I did not like the use of "Asiatic" to describe childlike banter - that feels.... not right and insulting to Asian languages. Just really unnecessary. I'm not sure if I'd read this author again because I might just not be able to get on her level of stuffed sentences. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug abuse, Toxic relationship, Adult/minor relationship, Blood, Body horror, Drug use, Sexual content, and Toxic friendship

Moderate: Gore, Murder, Rape, Sexual assault, Violence, Addiction, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Physical abuse, Alcohol, Bullying, and Excrement

Minor: Gaslighting, Child abuse, Fatphobia, Animal cruelty, and Animal death

reading_bear's review against another edition

dark mysterious 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Rape, Adult/minor relationship, and Drug use

Minor: Blood and Bullying

bethybooevans's review

adventurous challenging dark sad tense medium-paced

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

2.5

Just didn’t live up to the hype or my personal expectations at all. I felt that the present day Evie and the narrative surrounding Sasha and Julian was very irrelevant and a lots of unnecessary content just to give the comparison between younger Evie and Sasha.
The book would have been more engaging had the focus been on the cult and the facts surrounding it. 
However, the gruesome men were portrayed well and Evie’s relationship with Susanne was intriguing.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Drug use, Gaslighting, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Slavery, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, Blood, Child death, Death, Emotional abuse, Murder, Physical abuse, and Sexual content

Moderate: Child abuse, Blood, and Bullying

grboph's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• 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

This was the first book I finished in 2022, and it was a very good one!! I have been very fascinated with cults recently, and this was a good deviation from a lot of the nonfiction things I have been using to learn about them (the cult in this book is clearly based on the Manson Family). Emma Cline is a wonderful writer, and it is somewhat hard to believe that this was the first book she ever wrote. I found Evie to be a very interesting character, and I think she had a good arc. The thing I liked the most about this book was that Evie felt very relatable, which was nice for me since I hadn't really encountered many teenage-girl characters like that in adult novels before. Then that scared me a little because I realized that maybe I could have fallen into something like Evie did if I had found myself in the wrong place at the wrong time when I was that age. I don't know if this was something Cline did on purpose, but either way, it made the book all the more thought-provoking. Overall, The Girls was a unique and engaging book and I enjoyed every second I spent reading it. I would recommend this book to anyone interested in cults or the 1960s as a time period, or anyone looking to read a unique story of any kind.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Pedophilia, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Sexual content, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, Violence, and Child death

Moderate: Cursing, Excrement, Fatphobia, Infidelity, Mental illness, and Physical abuse

Minor: Bullying, Confinement, and Blood

This is a book about a violent, manipulative cult that culminates with a relatively graphic description of the murders of four people, one of whom is a young child. Also, the whole reason that the main character is drawn into the cult in the first place is because of someone she has an obsession with who is quite manipulative and cruel.