Reviews tagging 'Hate crime'

Bright Young Women by Jessica Knoll

13 reviews

juliareste's review

dark tense medium-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

4.75

 EDIT: THIS IS ABOUT TED BUNDY??? WHO WAS GOING TO TELL ME. This is insane I do not care who did it but more that this is based on a REAL STORY and I was blissfully (although, is any of this story blissful?) unaware that this was based on reality. I feel sick to my stomach. 

I really appreciated this book, especially as a girl who goes to a women's college interested in law. I appreciated how it chastised true crime as a concept and developed the story. I also really appreciate books with sapphic representation! This falls just short of five stars, as it didn't have the je ne sais quoi that five stars usually possess, but still, an interesting story I'm glad I read. (Honestly, trigger warning for literally everything. Protect your peace!)

4.75/5 stars

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death, Gore, Homophobia, Mental illness, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Murder, Lesbophobia, Outing, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Gun violence, Hate crime, Infidelity, Pedophilia, Forced institutionalization, and Kidnapping

Minor: Domestic abuse, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Incest, Dementia, and Alcohol

melio22's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional informative inspiring mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Hate crime, Homophobia, Mental illness, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Violence, Dementia, Murder, Lesbophobia, Outing, Gaslighting, and Sexual harassment

paeten_'s review

dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

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

4.5

I love that this book never shares The Defendant's name. So often, books are written almost worshipping serial killers. Making them out to be much more intelligent, good looking, cunning, etc. than they really are while their victims are made out to be weak and unable to protect themselves. It's very refreshing to read a book that does the opposite! He's not that smart, not that handsome, and not that charismatic. He was just a bad man who made it his life purpose to hurt women and girls.

That being said, I wish the survivors and families of the victims had been given a voice, rather than fictionalized versions of them. Would be 5 stars if they had been included!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death, Gore, Hate crime, Misogyny, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Violence, Blood, Dementia, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Torture and Stalking

Minor: Eating disorder, Pedophilia, and Kidnapping

basicwinebitch's review

I read about half or 60% of this book for a book club, it was the first time I read a thriller but it was too stressful and anxiety inducing for me.
I see the good points of this book - it centers the female experience of victims, family and friends of a serial killer targeting women and I really like the choice to never use the man’s name.
However, this book is a fictionalised story of the real murders and I personally don’t feel right about that. I think you could choose to tell the stories of these real women in a factual way, or write a fully fictional book about the topic but to so closely base a fictional book on the real events and real people does not feel right to me. It leads to people discussing real people and their decisions in a way we would discuss a made up character but these are extremely traumatic events.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Hate crime, Misogyny, Sexism, Sexual violence, Violence, Medical content, Murder, Gaslighting, and Abandonment

dishajetly_123's review

adventurous dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Biphobia, Child abuse, Cursing, Deadnaming, Emotional abuse, Hate crime, Homophobia, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Violence, Pregnancy, Lesbophobia, Gaslighting, and Abandonment

thefrizzkid's review

challenging dark reflective tense fast-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gun violence, Hate crime, Homophobia, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Torture, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Murder, and Lesbophobia

betag1013's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny informative mysterious sad tense 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? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Biphobia, Body horror, Body shaming, Bullying, Cancer, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Hate crime, Homophobia, Incest, Infidelity, Mental illness, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Dementia, Kidnapping, Grief, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Lesbophobia, Outing, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail

fancyjess_party's review

adventurous dark emotional inspiring mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Blood, Dementia, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Lesbophobia, Gaslighting, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Death, Domestic abuse, Hate crime, Homophobia, Incest, Infidelity, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, Rape, Sexism, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Medical content, Dementia, Kidnapping, Grief, Religious bigotry, Stalking, Death of parent, Lesbophobia, and Sexual harassment

strawburial's review

dark emotional mysterious sad slow-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? No

3.75

This book was a solid 3 for me until Tina. That mean lesbian means the world to me. I really appreciate how this book focussed on the victims and called out how the defendant really isn’t all that clever. Some lines however were a little cringy for me, but overall I enjoyed reading this. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Dementia, and Grief

Moderate: Hate crime and Injury/Injury detail

kierlopez's review

challenging dark emotional informative reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death, Hate crime, Misogyny, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Violence, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Emotional abuse, Torture, Forced institutionalization, Grief, and Outing