Reviews tagging 'Pedophilia'

Las chicas by Emma Cline

74 reviews

geesammy's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious reflective sad tense slow-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

2.75

 why was this 14yr old girl so lost and making such morally ambiguous choices?  Just to belong and be seen?  She never developed her own sense of self, dignity, decency or even hygiene….the idea that she questioned whether she would have stopped them is laughable …she clearly would not have.  

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Misogyny, Emotional abuse, Sexual harassment, Gaslighting, Drug use, Toxic relationship, Violence, Adult/minor relationship, Abandonment, Sexual assault, Pedophilia, Toxic friendship, and Murder

plumdustsuns's review against another edition

challenging dark sad tense medium-paced

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

1.0

I think Cline is a really talented writer and has a way with words that you come across only once in a while within books. I had picked up this book going off of some prompt/review saying it was about a lesbian and a cult. While that isn’t wrong, it didn’t quite encapsulate the entirety of the situation either. 
I think personally the book would have profited a lot from Evie being upwards of 17. While it would have taken away a bit of the hopeless lamb, but it wouldn’t have been that much. I think it would have lent to Evie and Suzanne’s relationship and Evie’s character in general.

There wasn’t much going on in their relationship besides Evie pining, not until Suzanne let Evie out of the car and visited her at boarding school, was some texture added. It would have made a more engaging story to have Suzanne a bit more fleshed out and receptive rather than this idealized character Evie was projecting everything onto. And the ‘connection’ she kept talking about in terms of her and Suzanne would have been justified and engaging. 
  Aside from that, all the SA on a 14 year old and this  promiscuity put upon them in literature makes me really uneasy and angry, honestly. I don’t think teenagers are ever that deliberate of sex in the way it’s presented in books like this. While it is shown that Evie is forced into it, it’s played off for the most part by her being like “oh well,” until the Mitch situation. Even that didn’t have enough anger or was presented in a bad light. I’m always aware in books of what writers project onto their characters and of what age because it is a choice, and not inspired off of true events ( entirely here anyway). 
I also found it really redundant that all of this happened over a fucking record deal. I wish it was something else and the bad blood between Russel and Mitch had more weight and tension, especially for the girls. (I read up and see  this is what happened in real life but just copy pasting these events without much of a weight or exploration just feels like a waste and triggering for no reason.) I wish it would have subverted the tale by instead having the girls turn on Russel somehow and kill him instead. That would have made a better story line.

 
I kept reading this book as it had a premise for having the opportunity to explore queerness, girlhood and the patriarchy in depth. However, besides from some insightfully written paragraphs on what it is like to be a girl, it feels rather flat in all the other departments. And it felt rather disappointing to finish this triggering book to get through with all the events just falling flat onto nothing overall and by the end. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug abuse, Pedophilia, Gun violence, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Death, Sexual content, Emotional abuse, Murder, Physical abuse, Adult/minor relationship, Gore, Toxic relationship, Child abuse, Death of parent, Sexual violence, Drug use, Rape, Blood, Gaslighting, Kidnapping, Suicidal thoughts, and Violence

frog_appreciator's review against another edition

2.0

I understand the point of the book is to be uncomfortable to read but I don’t think I enjoyed it. Feels a bit icky to have resemblance to a real life cult. While I appreciate the intent of showcasing the internalized misogyny of girls and the way the world treats them in general, reading it felt a bit too much like trauma porn. There were one or two pages that stood out to me like wow I felt that, but not enough to make it worth it. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug use, Misogyny, Sexual violence, Domestic abuse, Adult/minor relationship, Pedophilia, Rape, Sexism, and Sexual assault

Moderate: Child abuse and Murder

Minor: Eating disorder

liannaengland's review against another edition

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Pedophilia, Rape, Adult/minor relationship, Sexual assault, Blood, and Drug abuse

thisbookrox's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced

• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Pedophilia, Death, Drug abuse, Child death, Adult/minor relationship, Violence, Sexual content, Sexual assault, Blood, Murder, Toxic friendship, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Abandonment, Mental illness, and Child abuse

Minor: Death of parent

taliatalksbooks's review against another edition

challenging dark 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? No

3.0

The Girls by Emma Cline was a snapshot into the life of Evie and her involvement with a cult. I really wanted to love this book, but I felt like there were a few aspects that took me out of the story. First, the lens through with the story was told: and older Evie looking back at the past. While I didn’t mind the flashbacks, I thought the addition of these young characters who didn’t seem to care much about anything was out of place. I think the story could have been much more grounded if we were experiencing the traumas first hand for the entire novel, though I did like the added input from older Evie. I thought that the book was well-written, but the time jumps seemed random, more than planned. I also wish we had seen more of the progression of the cult behavior. It seemed to go pretty quickly from zero to one hundred and back again, with a lot of the middle ground feeling as though it lasted forever. Evie’s position on the outskirts created a blank space, that I wished we could have had filled in. A lot of the questions Evie had, especially about the other girls,were a lot of the same questions I had as a reader and these felt unanswered. Overall, it was an enjoyable read, but it was definitely a slower pace than I was anticipating with a cult novel.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Murder, Rape, Violence, Pedophilia, Domestic abuse, Drug use, and Adult/minor relationship

jordan21's review against another edition

dark tense fast-paced

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

4.5

I absolutely devoured this adaptation of the Manson family murders. Cline’s writing is stunningly immersive and addicting. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Pedophilia, Rape, Sexual assault, and Murder

Minor: Self harm

rachel24x7's review against another edition

dark 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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug use, Sexual content, Pedophilia, and Toxic friendship

Moderate: Murder and Cursing

Minor: Gore, Physical abuse, and Eating disorder

lindseyas's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark mysterious reflective tense fast-paced

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

4.0

More than the story of a girl becoming involved in a cult, this book is all about girlhood, growing up and growing into your own skin. Evie is a helpless girl that thrives off of male attention, validation and feeling accepted by the people around her. Russel's cult is a representation of this commonly feminine trait — he is able to use his charisma and air of acceptance to bring in naive women that want the same thing as Evie. He accepts them for who they are, gives the attention that they so desire and makes them feel special. The cult is much less a physical thing and more of a metaphor for this traditionally feminine idea, how young girls are desperately in search of a home where their flaws are considered beautiful, where their spirit can be free and where men are there to guide them and treat them like they are princesses. But, this cult of society has a dark after-effect — this validation only lasts for a small period of time and can results in violent, deadly and disturbing consequences.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Toxic relationship, Eating disorder, Child death, Pedophilia, Self harm, Alcohol, Death, Domestic abuse, and Drug use

definitely_bs's review against another edition

dark emotional 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

5.0

Genuinely mind blowing.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Pedophilia, Pregnancy, Sexual assault, Trafficking, Adult/minor relationship, Alcohol, Emotional abuse, Murder, Rape, Sexual content, Toxic friendship, and Toxic relationship