Reviews tagging 'Toxic relationship'

Acts of Service by Lillian Fishman

42 reviews

camjam36's review against another edition

emotional reflective medium-paced

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

4.5

This is the first novel I ever started and finished in a day. It was hard to read. It was even harder not to read. Eve's own little world enraptured me as swiftly and securely as any fantasy from my childhood if not moreso. Eve's sexual identity was painfully relatable in ways I cannot describe. The choices she made were immoral, yet unavoidable. The book is steamy and intense all the way through—in some ways like sharing a sauna on your honeymoon, in others like humid summer's fish market. That is to say, it was as sweet as it was sickening. My lesbian perspective on such a deeply bisexual story is surely preventing me from engaging with it on a deeper level than I already have, but I've still closed this book feeling touched, maybe even a little gently violated. Fishman's prose is robust and extensive, sometimes to its detriment. Character dialogue sometimes reads a little too closely to the ramblings of Eve's mind. Also there are no quotation marks. I tolerated it, but I definitely didn't like it. At all. I did like the book though. I think. Probably.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Infidelity and Sexual content

Moderate: Toxic relationship

Minor: Misogyny, Sexual violence, and Gaslighting

dianavdavidson_'s review against another edition

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Toxic relationship

softboiledegg's review against another edition

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

4.0

But his attention was captivating, and he was unencumbered by hesitation or angst. I wanted to believe his control was ugly. Yet, faithfully, I was eager for it...

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content

Moderate: Emotional abuse and Toxic relationship

imrereads's review

medium-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

3.25

I have mixed feelings. I felt the writing was strong, but my perhaps the biggest issuenwas structural– or rather, in regards to time. I didn't feel like the amount of time that passed actually did pass. I was often thrown off, because it says a year has passed and it read to me like a few months.

Another thing that nagged on me, was the question of Nathan's charm. He's constantly described as charming, but I struggle to see it. 

In terms of the story at large, it was thoughtful and contradictory, very much an interesting book. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Infidelity, Sexual content, and Toxic relationship

dlynn07's review against another edition

challenging reflective medium-paced

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

3.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Toxic relationship, Gaslighting, Infidelity, and Sexual content

placeholder13's review against another edition

funny lighthearted reflective medium-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

3.25

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Sexual content, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, and Misogyny

Minor: Sexual harassment, Alcohol, Emotional abuse, Cursing, Biphobia, and Toxic relationship

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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gaslighting, Domestic abuse, Rape, Sexism, Toxic relationship, Emotional abuse, Sexual content, Toxic friendship, Violence, Misogyny, and Sexual violence

marieantoinette's review against another edition

reflective tense medium-paced

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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Infidelity, Toxic relationship, Cursing, Sexual violence, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, and Sexual content

Moderate: Alcohol

Minor: Physical abuse, Drug abuse, Eating disorder, Violence, and Mental illness

madelinequinnee's review

informative 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

2.5

I can’t really describe how I feel about this book. I understand the message it was trying to portray, that what you once believed your sexuality entailed can change, since sexuality is so fluid, and that love doesn’t necessarily mean you want to have a whole life with a person and involve them in everything, but i don’t know, it just feels like at times it missed the point slightly. 

There were some beautiful lines in this novel, so i did appreciate that, but i’m not a fan of books that don’t use speech marks when someone is talking, it always makes it so much harder to follow. 

I don’t really understand what Olivia and Eve saw in Nathan, it kind of just felt like a story about two women following a mediocre man just because he could fuck well? 

I just found this kind of boring at times, and i’m not a huge fan of lit fic so that probably had something to do with it. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Lesbophobia, Misogyny, Cursing, Sexual content, Sexual harassment, Infidelity, Toxic relationship, Sexism, and Homophobia

biobeetle's review against another edition

emotional 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

2.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content

Moderate: Mental illness and Toxic relationship