Reviews tagging 'Sexual harassment'

Age of Vice by Deepti Kapoor

14 reviews

casualvamp's review

challenging dark emotional sad slow-paced

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

2.5

Deepti Kapoor is an immensely talented author, and this book is exceptionally well-written. From reading the synopsis, it’s not a book I would typically read, but I thought I would enjoy it much more than I did. It took me a really long time to finish because it's very lengthy and disorganized. The switches between POVs were jarring and got confusing in the second half, which made the storyline hard to follow. I found the vast majority of the characters unbearable (except for Ajay), so it was hard to be invested in the story. Ajay's POV had me absolutely enthralled, but once it switched over to Neda's and Sunny's POV, I was barely trudging through it. I almost had to put this book down several times due to its incredibly dark themes and GRAPHIC depictions of violence, which made me genuinely naseous. I felt that for the majority of the book, I was either almost asleep out of sheer boredom or incredibly disturbed by all of the unnecessary violence.  

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug use, Sexual assault, Animal cruelty, Blood, Addiction, Miscarriage, Violence, Drug abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Rape, Sexual harassment, Physical abuse, Suicide, Animal death, Self harm, Alcoholism, Gun violence, Murder, Car accident, Death, and Death of parent

editorsansserif's review against another edition

adventurous dark tense medium-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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Injury/Injury detail, Drug abuse, Addiction, Alcoholism, Violence, Kidnapping, Drug use, Cursing, Toxic relationship, and Classism

Moderate: Car accident, Grief, Blood, Death, Gore, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Alcohol, Child abuse, Sexual content, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Police brutality, Rape, and Colonisation

Minor: Torture, Pedophilia, Death of parent, Infidelity, Gun violence, Lesbophobia, Suicidal thoughts, Car accident, Confinement, Child abuse, Gaslighting, Abortion, Pregnancy, and Trafficking

acs8037's review against another edition

I got half way and there is so much sexual abuse that is very clearly elaborated on that it’s just too much for me. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual violence, Sexual assault, and Sexual harassment

booksreverything's review against another edition

challenging dark informative reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Sexual assault, Death, Addiction, Sexual violence, Sexual harassment, Suicidal thoughts, and Blood

Moderate: Abortion, Pregnancy, Animal death, Death of parent, and Drug use

grantsharpies's review

adventurous dark reflective tense medium-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

3.25

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Abortion, Addiction, Body shaming, Confinement, Drug abuse, Mental illness, Misogyny, Murder, Panic attacks/disorders, Death, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Child abuse, Child death, Classism, Colonisation, Cursing, Emotional abuse, Gore, Self harm, Sexual content, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Stalking, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Gun violence, Alcoholism, Abandonment, Animal death, Blood, Pedophilia, Trafficking, Violence, Animal cruelty, Grief, Kidnapping, Medical content, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Adult/minor relationship, Alcohol, Car accident, Forced institutionalization, Injury/Injury detail, and Medical trauma

just_one_more_paige's review

dark emotional mysterious 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

4.0

 

“He dared to dream at the roulette wheel of life and lost his shirt every time.” 

 

There was a bit of buzz around this one as it came out, just recently, which had it on my radar. And I also got an ALC version of it from Libro.fm, which helped keep it there. I was in the mood for something more...I don't know, entertaining, I guess? Like, I know that gangster books are not necessarily light reads, as they are likely chock full of violence and substance misuse and other tough topics, *but* they have that escapist/surreal vibe that I was looking for, so I decided to give this one a try. 

 

Age of Vice opens with a post-car crash scene, with multiple people dead and a rich man's car (being driven by a shell-shocked servant with no memory of the night's events) found by police on the side of the road in Delhi. As the novel unfolds, the reader follows three perspectives of people connected to the influential-from-the-shadows, loved and feared and power-hungry, Wadia family. Sunny Wadia is the heir to the Wadia family dynasty, young and idealistic and a well-known host of lavish parties and patron of upcoming arts and socialites. Ajay is a young boy from a background of poverty who has found himself as Sunny's most trusted servant. And Neda is a journalist who, after being pulled into Sunny's sphere, finds herself in an ever-more-complicated relationship with both Sunny and the Wadia empire. Their stories span the breath of contemporary India, both in location and class, and highlight social issues, complicated interpersonal and romantic dynamics, the drama and violence and expectations of gangs and gang families, as well as the general greed of humanity and the constant battle to stand against corruption and for morality. 

 

This was well-marketed. Absolutely a good old-fashioned, classic gangster style story. As indicated in the title, there is every kind of vice imaginable in these pages: money, substances, power, sex, and, of course, tons of intimidation and violence. I was really impressed with how well Kapoor combined all those vibes with (stunning) setting descriptions and full character development that stood up the the intensity of the plot. It would have been easy for those details to be lost or consigned to the background, but they weren't - it was a great balance. That being said, this book was also long. I was so glad for the audiobook, because while I really was invested, everything was quite compelling, there was also no conciseness in the language used to convey it all. Being able to listen helped keep me moving forwards through it.   

 

I don't read a lot of books of this genre, so I am not really sure how the stories usually unfold, but I do have to say this was surprisingly emotionally a downer. Like, yes, lots of terrible things happen, violence-wise, but I had gone in expecting that. It was the character's story arcs in particular that were all honestly tragic AF. I mean even though they all ended with a sort of eye toward the future, there was nothing happy or positive about any of it. At best, one could consider some of the "fresh(ish) start" vibes as a neutral place to leave these characters. But overall, the trajectory of the individual stories for Sunny, Ajay and Neda did nothing so much as demonstrate how this type of "age of vice" lifestyle takes advantage of/screws over everyone in its quest for power and oblivion and money, no matter how you're related, inside or out of it. There is just so much naïveté and idealism and best intentions and morals squashed. It was tough to watch the slow slide into...settling. 

Overall, this is an incredible combination of all the drama and violence of a true crime syndicate/corrupt affluent population/complacent government mystery-thriller plot, with the sweeping descriptions of the city and rural landscapes of an entire country, with the character development of an intergenerational family saga. Very much some quality escapist reading, with a satisfying dose of social justice commentary. 

 

 

 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Toxic relationship, Grief, Physical abuse, Car accident, Classism, Death, Drug abuse, Sexual content, Alcoholism, Kidnapping, Sexual harassment, Alcohol, Drug use, Misogyny, Murder, and Violence

Moderate: Blood, Suicidal thoughts, Stalking, Emotional abuse, Slavery, Trafficking, Abortion, and Bullying

Minor: Death of parent, Pregnancy, Rape, Religious bigotry, Vomit, and Torture

courto875's review

dark mysterious 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

2.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Drug abuse, Animal death, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Suicide, Torture, Alcohol, Car accident, Lesbophobia, Slavery, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, Trafficking, Alcoholism, Death, Death of parent, Homophobia, Rape, Drug use, Sexual assault, and Violence

bethanneguc's review

dark emotional tense slow-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? Yes

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Kidnapping, Rape, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Addiction, Bullying, Death, Murder, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Suicidal thoughts, Trafficking, and Violence

softacademia's review

challenging dark emotional medium-paced

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

3.0

I loved the premise and the setting and time period of the book but I didn't feel connected to most of the characters and there were too many description of what alcohol they were drinking (boring)

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Death of parent, Abandonment, Sexual harassment, Drug abuse, Violence, Emotional abuse, Suicide, Death, Car accident, Classism, Colonisation, Sexual violence, and Alcoholism

lindsayerin's review

adventurous challenging dark sad tense medium-paced

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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Abortion, Addiction, Classism, Sexual harassment, Slavery, Drug abuse, Medical trauma, Police brutality, Sexual assault, Torture, Alcoholism, Blood, Car accident, Child abuse, Child death, Grief, Gun violence, Rape, Violence, Alcohol, Gore, Animal death, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Sexual violence, and Death

Minor: Suicidal thoughts