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annajoybooks's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
reflective
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
4.5
Content Warnings
Moderate: Misogyny, Emotional abuse, and Gaslighting
Minor: Biphobia, Homophobia, Rape, and Sexual assault
jneverland's review against another edition
dark
funny
informative
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? It's complicated
2.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gaslighting, Domestic abuse, Rape, Sexism, Toxic relationship, Emotional abuse, Sexual content, Toxic friendship, Violence, Misogyny, and Sexual violence
litletters's review against another edition
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
4.25
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content
Moderate: Rape
Minor: Violence and Homophobia
ferdie's review against another edition
reflective
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.5
Acts of service is at once a story and a sexual treatise. It considers sex with all of its hang ups and freedoms, ultimately arriving at a grey space. With Romi, Eve uses the relationship to determine her worth and value (being with a "good" person). With Nathan and Olivia, Eve finds desirability and is understood for what makes her feel ashamed (she feels more wholly seen).
Sex is a tangled web of of all of this. At times, Acts of Service gets too in the weeds and you never really feel the sense of relief Eve tries to convince us she has, or it isn't worth the pay off for how tense and stressed she is for much of the book. But I suppose that is for Eve to decide herself and not me.
Sex is a tangled web of of all of this. At times, Acts of Service gets too in the weeds and you never really feel the sense of relief Eve tries to convince us she has, or it isn't worth the pay off for how tense and stressed she is for much of the book. But I suppose that is for Eve to decide herself and not me.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Infidelity
Minor: Biphobia, Sexual content, and Rape
klausington's review against another edition
dark
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Rape and Domestic abuse
glitterdeww's review against another edition
challenging
reflective
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
3.5
My feelings on this book went through so many iterations. I think there's a really salient point here that I finally placed in my update.
Acts of Service is primarily a study on sex. The plot is relatively thin from beginning to end, and serves to reinforce the psychological, cultural, and philosophical analyses of sex and sexuality through the main character, Eve. As her worldview shifts, Eve relates her personal beliefs to other characters, no matter how briefly they reside in the context of the story.
As one might expect, the scenes involving the act of sex are graphic, but it's the energy around these scenes... the ways in which sex is tied to attraction, class, vanity, monogamy, consent, kink, control, and freedom... That seemed, at least to me, to be the most challenging. And similarly, the additional characters of Olivia and Nathan are... Difficult. So many of their intentions were left walking the line between selfish, cruel, and pitiful.
The prose used throughout the book can be excellent, almost hypnotic. It both confused and fascinated me, very much like a slow moving car crash. I still don't know if or how I liked it.
~*EDIT from a week later*~
This book has been nagging at me for days now, and I think I've hit on a "more" conclusive review after remembering tiny aspects to the writing that, in retrospect, are very intelligent and very important.
There are a number of lines in this book that felt like throwaways as I was reading it... But I think they were intentionally placed to pull the reader back from reaching the same conclusions as the main character. When I said before that the plot of this book is thin... In regards to action in the plot, that still is true. The most notable events in this book took place within Eve's character, and the changes in her are meant to be unsettling. Initially I wasn't sure if the author meant to convince the reader of any argument the characters make, but when remembering those throw away lines...
A cult joke, a hint that Nathan may have actually been Olivia's college professor, comments about a LACK of communication being ideal, boundary violations all over the place, Olivia's visible anxious ticks...
...None of these are meant to convince the reader of anything, but they are all intentionally meant to pull the reader into discomfort just as Eve is choosing to disregard them. The book is also framed with two passages on feminism which painfully illustrate how Eve's beliefs have changed.
I saw another review where the individual asked, "Did any other lesbians read, and actually like, this book?" That comment put the final pin in my thoughts on the writer's intention, because who IS the audience for this book? It's fellow queer folks, women, progressively minded and sex-positive individuals that probably look a lot like Eve at the beginning of the story. The book is not meant to criticize any progressive cultural practices, like queerness, kink, nonmonogamy, etc, but rather to show how, when constant pressure is applied by systems like patriarchy, we can change our worldviews in such a subtle way that we don't even realize it. If you cease to think critically why you align yourself with particular groups or labels, your "ideals" are more easily corruptible. And that's terrifying. No, this was not an enjoyable read, it was damn depressing. That's the point.
Eve thinks towards the beginning that men like Nathan... Cold, calculating, privileged... had "gone out of style." This is a reminder that if you ignore a pervasive problem by acting like it has already gone away, it will eventually corrupt you.
Acts of Service is primarily a study on sex. The plot is relatively thin from beginning to end, and serves to reinforce the psychological, cultural, and philosophical analyses of sex and sexuality through the main character, Eve. As her worldview shifts, Eve relates her personal beliefs to other characters, no matter how briefly they reside in the context of the story.
As one might expect, the scenes involving the act of sex are graphic, but it's the energy around these scenes... the ways in which sex is tied to attraction, class, vanity, monogamy, consent, kink, control, and freedom... That seemed, at least to me, to be the most challenging. And similarly, the additional characters of Olivia and Nathan are... Difficult. So many of their intentions were left walking the line between selfish, cruel, and pitiful.
The prose used throughout the book can be excellent, almost hypnotic. It both confused and fascinated me, very much like a slow moving car crash. I still don't know if or how I liked it.
~*EDIT from a week later*~
This book has been nagging at me for days now, and I think I've hit on a "more" conclusive review after remembering tiny aspects to the writing that, in retrospect, are very intelligent and very important.
There are a number of lines in this book that felt like throwaways as I was reading it... But I think they were intentionally placed to pull the reader back from reaching the same conclusions as the main character. When I said before that the plot of this book is thin... In regards to action in the plot, that still is true. The most notable events in this book took place within Eve's character, and the changes in her are meant to be unsettling. Initially I wasn't sure if the author meant to convince the reader of any argument the characters make, but when remembering those throw away lines...
...None of these are meant to convince the reader of anything, but they are all intentionally meant to pull the reader into discomfort just as Eve is choosing to disregard them. The book is also framed with two passages on feminism which painfully illustrate how Eve's beliefs have changed.
I saw another review where the individual asked, "Did any other lesbians read, and actually like, this book?" That comment put the final pin in my thoughts on the writer's intention, because who IS the audience for this book? It's fellow queer folks, women, progressively minded and sex-positive individuals that probably look a lot like Eve at the beginning of the story. The book is not meant to criticize any progressive cultural practices, like queerness, kink, nonmonogamy, etc, but rather to show how, when constant pressure is applied by systems like patriarchy, we can change our worldviews in such a subtle way that we don't even realize it. If you cease to think critically why you align yourself with particular groups or labels, your "ideals" are more easily corruptible. And that's terrifying. No, this was not an enjoyable read, it was damn depressing. That's the point.
Eve thinks towards the beginning that men like Nathan... Cold, calculating, privileged... had "gone out of style." This is a reminder that if you ignore a pervasive problem by acting like it has already gone away, it will eventually corrupt you.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gaslighting, Sexual content, Emotional abuse, and Toxic relationship
Moderate: Classism, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Addiction, and Violence
honneyyy's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
mysterious
reflective
fast-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
3.25
This is a pretentious display of what white people believe to be introspection. To center a promiscuous poly relationship where the women are essentially members of the charmistimatic man's person sex cult and frame it as a deep dive into sex and sexuality is absurd. At times disturbing but undeniably interesting, this book tends to give you the same tug of war of mortality that the mc faces. All in all every single character in this book is incredibly privileged and either denies or abuses it. Also to have the sole voice of reason be the mc's poc roomate is definitely a display of the racist mammy caricature of bw, whether intentional or not. maybe i didnt get this book or maybe its simply answering questions i dont care to ponder.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Rape
loverofeels's review against another edition
reflective
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Loveable characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.25
horrendous in many ways but i enjoyed it very much so... 3 stars?
Content Warnings
Graphic: Infidelity, Sexual content, and Toxic relationship
Moderate: Sexual violence, Misogyny, and Lesbophobia
Minor: Rape
starswirlsheart's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
sad
tense
fast-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
4.5
this from the very beginning was a 5 star read. i had high expectations and was hooked instantly. passages were highlighted. sexuality and queerness and it’s power dynamics and feminism and gender are all topics i love. the frustration. i love all of it. but it leaves me with wanting more. i feel like it could’ve used a couple more pages. i don’t really know what is missing. but something is.
this book makes me so fucking sad.
i feel this sadness is inescapable.
feminist eve coerced into testifying for nathan. i definitely know this book is not for everyone and know that it will be either hated or loved or even a sad confused medium.
this book makes me so fucking sad.
i feel this sadness is inescapable.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Toxic relationship, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Gaslighting, Rape, Emotional abuse, Misogyny, Infidelity, Sexism, Sexual assault, and Sexual content
hulkytwobelts's review against another edition
dark
reflective
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
1.0
The story did not live up to the blurb or recommendations, quite bland and very toxic relationships on show.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content
Moderate: Rape, Sexual assault, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, and Gaslighting