Reviews tagging 'Sexual harassment'

Wake, Siren: Ovid Resung by Nina MacLaughlin

16 reviews

juliabristow's review

challenging dark emotional sad fast-paced

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

4.0

To be honest if I had read the content warnings on this I probably wouldnt have picked it up, so read at your own discretion BUT, I did still think it was really good. Some of the stories I didn't really vibe with stylistically but I think the author did a fantastic job giving each character their own voice and making it feel like you're just listening to a friend tell a story. Overall glad to have read it and thought it was really well done even if I wouldn't pick it up again

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual violence, Sexual assault, and Sexual harassment

Moderate: Violence and Rape

alymac42's review against another edition

dark mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape and Sexual harassment

Moderate: Blood, Body horror, and Domestic abuse

Minor: Eating disorder

georgiatancred's review

challenging dark emotional informative reflective sad tense 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? It's complicated

4.75

This collection of short stories focuses on the many women who were involved in ancient Roman mythology. Most were mistreated and poorly depicted, so expect to be enraged and depressed as you read a proper interpretation of their stories. This is disgustingly honest, and I love it because I hated how it made me feel about society.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness, Misogyny, Murder, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Suicide, Suicidal thoughts, and Suicide attempt

It's worth reading.

mmccombs's review

challenging dark emotional reflective medium-paced

2.0

I’m really disappointed in this one, it had all of the makings of a book I’d love. Some stories were great, but mostly it was repetitive and overwrought. All of the voices were basically the same, so it never felt like we were hearing from a cast of characters. I saw a reviewer describe this as “100 rape vignettes” and I think that’s accurate. And it was just so graphic, which I think makes it look “deep” or “meaningful” or “important” but just renders it traumatic for no real reason at all. I don’t think this was feminist and it is a cis, white perspective on gendered violence through and through. There’s a kernel of something here but I mostly just think it should have been at least half as long and much more selective in what stories to tell.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, and Violence

courtneyfalling's review

dark emotional tense fast-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? No

3.0

Dark feminist retellings of the myths in Ovid's Metamorphoses? Conceptually I'm so here. But this collection was... heavy and very viscerally in the characters' voices and experiences. I have to wonder who the intended audience is because people who pick up feminist Ovid retellings probably already agree that these stories are about gendered violence and likely have experienced gendered violence themselves, but this collection feels very sharp and potentially retraumatizing to that exact set of people. Not all the time, and not in an intentionally dangerous way, but still... this was pretty hard to get through at points and I had to wonder to what end. 

Edit a few weeks later: the more I think about it, the more that the equation of sexual violence and vulnerability to cis womanhood in this book feels gender essentialist and slipping into TERFdom...

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, and Sexual violence

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Blood, Domestic abuse, Incest, Infidelity, Stalking, Suicide, and Torture

Minor: Animal death, Cannibalism, Dysphoria, Lesbophobia, Pregnancy, and Transphobia

hunkydorky's review

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Body horror, Cannibalism, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Grief, Incest, Kidnapping, Misogyny, Murder, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Suicidal thoughts, Stalking, Toxic relationship, and Violence