Reviews tagging 'Sexual harassment'

Out of Love by Hazel Hayes

8 reviews

3ofclubs's review against another edition

emotional hopeful reflective sad slow-paced

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

4.75

An interesting subversion of the typical romance plot where they don't end up together in the end, but rather they end up breaking up in the beginning... The story is told in reverse chronological order, reviewing the entire history of their relationship, from breaking up for good to their first meeting, and I found it really cool to hear the bits of flashback that essentially act as foreshadowing for what bits of the story we get next. 

I listened to the audiobook version and the narration, by the author herself, was really good too. The prose is very poetic, to the point where I may have found it too flowery for my tastes were I reading the book with my eyes, but hearing the words read aloud was a very pleasant experience, and I found her Irish accent very relaxing as well. 

I did find it a little annoying how the main character doesn't seem to have a name: every time Theo refers to her, he calls her Angel, which could be a name or just a nickname. And while the ambiguity is kinda clever + fun, it feels a little forced at times, with a few situations where it's hard for me to imagine her not introducing herself by name. 

Also, a few things I'm dissatisfied with, 

the details about her ex seem to come out of nowhere in like the last third of the book, how

no one seems to address that she was probably raped by Claudine.

And there were a few other times where it seemed like the narrator had inconsistent opinions (like her feelings on wanting/not wanting kids), almost as though each chapter was actually about a different version of her. I'm sure the inconsistencies were realistic, but it was a little hard for me to follow when exactly she changed.

Overall I'd still recommend it.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual harassment and Sexual content

Moderate: Suicide attempt

chireadsandchill's review

emotional hopeful reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Eating disorder, Addiction, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Gaslighting, Alcohol, and Alcoholism

Moderate: Suicide attempt, Sexual assault, Animal cruelty, Adult/minor relationship, Physical abuse, Rape, Infidelity, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Pregnancy, Sexual harassment, and Sexual violence

lizaxwin's review

emotional funny reflective sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

The concept of this book is so unique and intriguing. However, I found it a bit difficult to basically read the story from end to start rather than the other way around. I found myself thinking of reading it in the opposite direction if I should ever pick up this book again and I‘ll probably do that sometime.

This book deals with so many important topics and so many horrible people (all or at least some of which all of us have had or sadly will have in our lives sometime or another). Theo was a walking red flag basically, although a lot of his toxic behaviour nearly went undetected. This, imo, was one of the strength of the „upside-down“ storyline. You knew what to look out for.

I‘m still unsure if I find it infuriating that we never find out the protagonist‘s name or if I think it‘s a clever way of showing that every woman could be her.

All in all, a clever story with lots of depth, ma be a few pages too many and definitely a book which practically screams to be read at least two or three times to be grasped in its entirety.

(Definitely check trigger warnings for this one)

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gaslighting, Toxic relationship, Emotional abuse, and Sexual harassment

Moderate: Rape

ceryswilliams's review against another edition

emotional funny hopeful reflective slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

dizzying, lovely, tender genius! thank you hazel for putting words to what i could not. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness, Miscarriage, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Abandonment, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Addiction, Alcoholism, Emotional abuse, Grief, Suicidal thoughts, and Panic attacks/disorders

Minor: Sexual violence, Animal cruelty, and Sexual harassment

iamnotclara's review against another edition

funny reflective medium-paced

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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Minor: Sexual harassment, Sexual assault, Self harm, Death, and Suicidal thoughts

kmcrossman's review against another edition

emotional reflective sad slow-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide, Suicidal thoughts, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Mental illness, Toxic relationship, and Suicide attempt

Moderate: Panic attacks/disorders and Infidelity

Minor: Alcoholism, Biphobia, Drug abuse, Eating disorder, and Sexual harassment

skudiklier's review against another edition

emotional hopeful reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

This book was beautiful and heartbreaking and so emotionally true. I wondered how it would pull off taking you through a relationship backwards, from messy breakup to romantic meeting, but wow Hazel Hayes did it so well. After finishing it I went back and reread the first chapter just to feel it all over again, and notice all the little things I now had so much more context for. Out of Love is all bittersweet nostalgia and new perspectives, and I loved it so much. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Panic attacks/disorders, Blood, Miscarriage, Emotional abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Alcohol, Misogyny, Suicide attempt, Toxic relationship, and Mental illness

Moderate: Eating disorder, Lesbophobia, Fatphobia, Infidelity, Xenophobia, Physical abuse, Sexual harassment, Death, Biphobia, Grief, Gaslighting, Alcoholism, Vomit, Violence, Sexism, Pregnancy, and Car accident

Minor: Cancer, Medical content, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Racism, War, Child abuse, Suicide, Drug abuse, and Abortion

shershenk's review

reflective sad slow-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

3.25

The “love story in reverse” approach appeals to me every time, and this one definitely had some really beautiful moments. This was not a cohesive story, however. It was disjointed and rambling in places and it was hard for me to understand how certain scenes behooved any semblance of plot. 

That being said, the individual chapters and moments were often beautifully executed and evocative…They just often seemed existent without purpose. 

I will also say that the characters did feel very real. I quite enjoyed our unnamed main character (the fact that she went intentionally unnamed went over my head for over half the book, but I can take responsibility for that oversight), and Theo and even Maya felt very fleshed out. 

All in all, I had a good time!

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Domestic abuse and Alcoholism

Minor: Child abuse and Sexual harassment