Reviews tagging 'Toxic relationship'

Savage Appetites: Four True Stories of Women, Crime, and Obsession by Rachel Monroe

5 reviews

mynameisrebecca's review against another edition

dark emotional informative mysterious sad tense medium-paced

3.0

This book doesn't live up to the promised title or introduction. Instead of looking at the four women's stories, it takes a deep dive into four crimes and leaves the women that are meant to be the focus as an afterthought. At times, the writing is dismissive to the women and larger audience of women who like true crime - treating them as airheads or stereotypes. It tends to veer off into stories about other topics such as prison reform which can make the book's cohesion lacking. However, there are many beautifully written quotes and the book is informative.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Suicide attempt, Gun violence, Toxic relationship, Suicidal thoughts, and Suicide

avidreaderandgeekgirl's review against another edition

adventurous challenging informative reflective fast-paced

4.25

Narrator Rating: 4.5 stars

    A look into women's relationship with true crime from four perspectives. The author looks into four points of contact with true crime and obsession.
    This book had a lot of social commentary which I enjoyed and made me think about my relationship with true crime. Luckily for me, I don't seem to be obsessed. I listen to many podcasts but avoid rabbit holes and obsessive searches into cases. 
    Overall, it is a great reflection on women's relationship to true crime and how it affects women and society overall. 

   Extra ratings: Fluff - NA   Heartfelt- 4/5   Helpful-2/5   Horror -NA    Inspiration -0/5   Love aka Romance- NA    Mystery - NA   Predictability - NA    Spice - NA    Suspense - NA   Tear- 3.5/5   Thrill - NA     Humor-0/5 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Misogyny, Murder, Toxic relationship, Death, Blood, Racism, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic friendship, Mental illness, Sexism, Suicide, and Violence

Moderate: Mass/school shootings, Sexual violence, Sexual assault, Gun violence, and Bullying

mfrisk's review against another edition

dark informative reflective slow-paced

2.75

I thought the premise of this book was interesting as someone who consumes true crime content and is working to learn to also be more critical of what I consume especially in this vein over time. That being said, the stories chosen I think were interesting to learn more about though I felt in their own chapters the lessons were a bit too neatly wrapped up and decided and the ending felt similarly too wrapped up and decided despite noting that there are shades of grey in these situations. I didn’t really enjoy much of the author’s commentary as I felt she often missed the mark and saw herself as above others who consume true crime content while also being incredibly overly empathetic towards Columbiners of all those highlighted in this book. While there were some interesting points made I felt this book missed the mark in the pacing and balance of the commentary and story aspects of this book and because of this the points made felt at times contradictory and at others not fully thought out. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Toxic friendship, Kidnapping, Rape, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Murder, Toxic relationship, Mass/school shootings, Gore, Sexual assault, and Blood

Minor: Antisemitism, Racism, and Bullying

amandaquotidianbooks's review

dark informative reflective medium-paced

3.5

I really enjoyed how this was organized into four mini-biographies on true crime adjacent women. The autobiographical elements worked well to process themes and questions.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Child death, Death, Murder, Violence, Toxic relationship, Suicide, Sexual assault, Mass/school shootings, and Gun violence

abbystevenson's review against another edition

dark informative reflective fast-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Body horror, Child death, Death, Gore, Grief, Gun violence, Mass/school shootings, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture, Toxic relationship, and Violence

Minor: Alcoholism, Child abuse, Confinement, Hate crime, Islamophobia, Kidnapping, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Rape, Sexual assault, and Sexual violence