Reviews tagging 'Sexual assault'

The Natural Way of Things by Charlotte Wood

11 reviews

oliviakent's review

challenging dark emotional sad tense fast-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? No

5.0

Beautiful, harrowing, haunting. A book that brands you with searing rage, heartbreak, and a new sense of raw, wild sisterhood. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore

Moderate: Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Slavery, Suicide, Torture, Vomit, Trafficking, and Suicide attempt

_fallinglight_'s review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious tense medium-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? Yes

2.5

Charlotte Wood is a magnificent writer (at least she was here. It's my first time reading her stuff idk if this tracks lol) but not a very good storyteller. If you wanna read a BOOK book and are more knowledgeable about natural/animal symbolism and how it connects to the Adult Female™️ and into other basic (white) feminism then this is a book you might enjoy more than I did. I just liked the dystopian, shut-in setting but the rest was ugly and boring and had no real culmination. Also there are parts that can be a little transphobic (tbf, I don't think the author meant it like that, it just reads that way) so beware of that.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Confinement, Death, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, and Sexual harassment

Moderate: Sexual assault and Suicide attempt

Minor: Rape, Transphobia, and Pregnancy

sarahpopham's review

dark sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Death, Violence, and Kidnapping

Moderate: Sexual assault and Sexual violence

pseudoholly's review

challenging dark tense 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? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, and Torture

ratking's review against another edition

dark mysterious reflective 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: Animal death, Confinement, Death, Misogyny, and Sexism

Moderate: Drug abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Murder, and Pregnancy

Minor: Blood and Vomit

hanleest's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional tense medium-paced

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

2.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Body horror, Confinement, Death, Drug use, Gore, Hate crime, Mental illness, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Pregnancy, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Abortion

frogglin's review

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense slow-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? No

4.0

Waking in a dusty, crumbling building, Verna has no idea how she got there or why. In the middle of nowhere, somewhere in Australia, she and a group of other women have found themselves drugged and imprisoned. It's not until she connects the dots - high profile affairs, sexual assaults - that she realised they are there to be punished for their actions, and for being the kind of women who get involved in sex (either willingly or otherwise). Dressed in heavy, old fashioned clothes they are put to work in the compound. The threat of a belting or a kick to the stomach ever present. 

As the group decays, and the staff there to keep them in line start to fall apart, there is a strong sense of desperation. The losses of their previous lives and the inward turning minds of the women add a layer of sadness to the struggle and panic. The book is set in the here and now, it is not a mysterious dystopian future, it is a dystopian present.

It is hard to continue in places, the descriptions of injuries and the gutting of rabbits are detailed, but somehow this horror adds more than it takes away from the story.

If I had to sum it up in one word, that word would be "brutal". But it is also compelling, and one I suspect will stay with me for a long time. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Gore, Misogyny, Physical abuse, and Forced institutionalization

Moderate: Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, and Suicidal thoughts

Minor: Sexual assault and Suicide

heytayashleigh's review

challenging dark emotional tense fast-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Sexual violence, and Violence

Moderate: Rape, Sexual assault, Suicide, and Suicide attempt

Minor: Drug abuse

roxiw's review against another edition

dark slow-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Misogyny, and Physical abuse

Moderate: Body shaming, Drug abuse, Homophobia, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Suicide, Transphobia, Medical content, Kidnapping, and Grief

kingorgan's review

challenging dark tense medium-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexism

Moderate: Pedophilia, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, and Toxic relationship