Reviews tagging 'Sexual assault'

Under the Skin by Michel Faber

25 reviews

veliana's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Car accident, Sexual assault, Dysphoria, Blood, Classism, Medical trauma, Gore, Vomit, Kidnapping, Body shaming, and Death

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Sexual content, Confinement, Cursing, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Torture, Pregnancy, Animal death, Drug use, Excrement, Fire/Fire injury, Alcoholism, Gun violence, and Terminal illness

melitrophium's review against another edition

dark mysterious sad slow-paced

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

4.0

Lost one star because you can definitely tell it was written by a man from the way the protagonist is described (and the random bisexual comment??), but the reading is worthwhile 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Trafficking, Violence, and Body horror

Moderate: Sexual assault and Car accident

Minor: Death

hendriati's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense fast-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

5.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault, Blood, Rape, and Medical trauma

Minor: Murder

raydee's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious 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

5.0

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: Sexual assault

caleb_mercer's review against another edition

challenging dark reflective tense medium-paced

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

A somewhat rare example where I'd say I prefer the film adaptation to the novel. They're different enough to be borderline incomparable, but I prefer the more ambiguous and understated tone of the film. The novel goes into quite a bit of detail about the more alien side of things even though it never leaves Earth and I can't say that I was super into those sections. When it was just about Isserley learning more about humanity and struggling with the reality of what she does for a living and trying to justify it was when I think the book was at its best. Every scene in the car where the characters are sizing one another up was brilliant, and I'm glad that there were so many. Any description of the captured men was properly disgusting and every scene that they were in was uncomfortable to read in a manner clearly intentional.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault

There's a pretty graphic and prolonged scene in which

the main character staves off an attempted rape.

jelmervdl's review against another edition

adventurous mysterious reflective medium-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? It's complicated

5.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror

Moderate: Sexual assault and Sexual harassment

ellislilylovestoread's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

5.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Misogyny, Sexual assault, Injury/Injury detail, Death, Body horror, Murder, Kidnapping, Car accident, Rape, and Medical trauma

directorpurry's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious sad medium-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

3.5

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Colonisation, Emotional abuse, Classism, Death, Gaslighting, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Body horror, Car accident, Kidnapping, Misogyny, Murder, Rape, Confinement, Dysphoria, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Medical trauma, Suicidal thoughts, Trafficking, Violence, and Vomit

Minor: Animal death

joe_dmh's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious reflective sad 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

4.5

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Sexual assault, and Kidnapping

Moderate: Body horror and Confinement

gasmasquerade's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad tense slow-paced

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

5.0

Overview: Under the Skin is a provacative and challenging novel, beautifully written to capture both the majesty of it's serene setting and the complexity of undefinable emotions that simmer throughout the book. It is a great allegory for class struggle, gender inequality, and animal rights. Nothing like the movie but still very much worth the read.

PROS
• Beautiful writing - The descriptions of the environment are captivating and paint immaculate pictures, without being over the top or needlessly wordy. Same goes for descriptions of people's emotions and actions, beautifully written in a way you really could picture what people were feeling and thinking. 
• Complex main character who oscillates between being  sympathetic and abhorrent. Her struggle with her own sense of value in a world that does not value her is painfully relatable.
• Nailed the Human Experience - the descriptions of people's emotions and reactions were relatable, believable, and really captured the nuance of the human experience.

CONS
• Slow story - I think the slowness and the repetition capture the slow tedious experience of the protagonist, but at times I found myself wondering, "is this going anywhere?"
• Abrupt Ending - I don't HATE the ending, but I do feel a bit like the author didn't know how to end the story and so it rushes to a close quite quickly. It's the fastest part of the book and I left feeling it wasn't quite...done?
• Deliberate Obfuscation - a personal pet peeve of mine is when everyone in a book knows something but the author won't say it so you'll be sure to keep turning the page. Feels a wee bit manipulative. 

Overall I really enjoyed this book. It's not pleasant, but it's beautiful, and its discussions about class, gender, and taking our environment for granted are relevant now more than ever. Highly recommend. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual violence, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, and Sexism