Reviews tagging 'Sexual violence'

Oryx and Crake by Margaret Atwood

54 reviews

baximus's review against another edition

dark slow-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

2.25

I really wanted to like this book. 

If it was written by a man I would have found it voyeuristic and grim, but I found myself forgiving the content more when I reminded myself that from a female perspective, Atwood was commenting on the toxic male psyche that is a side effect of the oversaturation of violent and sexually explicit content on the web; and the potential for radicalisation borne from apathy about the modern world. I mean a male author could have done that too but I’d have found it ickier.

Don’t take the trigger warnings lightly, some parts deal with very difficult subjects in a very matter of fact way.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Drug abuse, Pedophilia, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Slavery, Violence, Trafficking, Murder, and Alcohol

Moderate: Pandemic/Epidemic

egganimates's review against another edition

dark mysterious reflective medium-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? Yes

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Child abuse, Death, Drug use, Infidelity, Pedophilia, Sexual content, Violence, Medical content, Trafficking, Grief, Death of parent, Injury/Injury detail, and Pandemic/Epidemic

Moderate: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Animal death, Body shaming, Child death, Gun violence, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicide, Torture, Toxic relationship, Murder, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, and Classism

Minor: Alcoholism, Homophobia, Infertility, Mental illness, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Excrement, Vomit, Kidnapping, Medical trauma, Stalking, Fire/Fire injury, and War

fizzytizzy's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• 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

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Content Warnings

Minor: Sexual violence

absolute_mess's review

challenging dark mysterious reflective 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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death and Pandemic/Epidemic

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child abuse, Death, Pedophilia, Sexual violence, Trafficking, and Abandonment

Minor: Alcohol

fryln's review against another edition

dark funny mysterious reflective sad tense slow-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

4.0

hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm

i read this book very slowly.  i really enjoyed the pre-apocalypse world building but often found the post-apocalypse timeline pretty boring.  i  frequently felt upset and almost nauseated by the world and characters, especially jimmy's/snowman’s  fixation on oryx, and i wonder what my envisci friends who “loved it” took away from it.  hopefully not crake’s ecofasc worldview.

when i finished this book today i immediately turned to the internet for other people’s thoughts and explanations but was left only
partially satisfied.  it’s hard to feel like i fully understand a book when you’re in the perspective of a character who is missing so much information.

i ended this book being so so frustrated with jimmy.  

he didn’t know oryx, they were not in a relationship, also…. it really seems like crake just made her?  not buying the whole “she just happens to look like the girl we’re obsessed with” and it’s seems important that she insists she is not the girl from the video.

i think i would benefit from rereading this with the goal of understanding the oryx/jimmy’s mom of it all.  

most enjoyed the passage early on detailing the internet and video games of this future world.  how miserable.  

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Sexual violence, and Trafficking

really long passage detailing the logistics of systematic child sexual exploitation

katy_heath's review against another edition

challenging dark tense slow-paced

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

3.0

I read Year of the Flood first, and had hoped that this would fill in some gaps but I found Oryx and Crake lacking in any real substance. Basically it just tells the story of human greed through the corporate lens and also personally through Jimmy’s relationship with Crake. Oryx is barely in it and when she is, she is just some fantasy girl which I felt was disappointing coming from Atwood, who has a proven record of writing such strong male and female characters. 
Even though Year of the Flood got much worse reviews from people who read it in the correct order, I can’t help feeling like Oryx and Crake is the real let down. I don’t feel anything for these characters with the exception of Jimmy.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, and Sexual violence

emilianeyer's review against another edition

adventurous dark reflective sad 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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Violence, Blood, Trafficking, Grief, Death of parent, Injury/Injury detail, and Pandemic/Epidemic

Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child abuse, and Alcohol

Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Cursing, Drug use, Gore, Gun violence, Pedophilia, Rape, Sexual assault, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Kidnapping, and Suicide attempt

cameron_esbenshade's review against another edition

dark reflective 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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Misogyny, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Violence, Grief, Colonisation, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Rape and Sexual assault

Minor: Animal death, Slavery, Suicide, and Trafficking

randanopterix'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? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

For maximum mental torture, do what I accidentally did and happen to be listening to the Oryx’s childhood chapter while driving through a rainstorm. Extra points if you have a pathological fear of driving in rain and have been doing sort of mentally bad in recent months LOL. 

Anyways, great book, Margaret holds so many terrible worlds in her mind. Such awful and believable portents of the future. Queen of the feel-bad novel.

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Content Warnings

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

ems_bean's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child abuse, Child death, Chronic illness, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Infertility, Mental illness, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Terminal illness, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Xenophobia, Medical content, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Religious bigotry, Stalking, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Abandonment, Sexual harassment, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Body horror

Minor: Homophobia and Vomit