Reviews tagging 'Adult/minor relationship'

Bright Young Women by Jessica Knoll

67 reviews

molly_hohner's review

dark emotional fast-paced

• Strong character development? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Death, and Sexual violence

quinnjuliac's review

challenging dark mysterious fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes

2.5

This book was really unusual. I couldn’t get a handle on the characters or feel like I got to know them. It seemed like they were intentionally created to be very unpredictable as kind of a “gotcha” to say something about the way we see women as a monolith. I think this may have been partly because the voices of the characters were a bit anachronistic in my opinion — like if a woman today were living in the 70s. The views and ideas of Ruth and especially Pamela would be HIGHLY radical if a woman in the 70s had possessed them, but I don’t think the characters were meant to be highly radical. Tina was obviously portrayed as highly progressive and radical, but for the other two it just didn’t quite fit. 

It’s an interesting story and I appreciated the themes that came up of gender,  and the impact of our past. But ultimately the book kind of left me feeling like - what was the point of that? There was a lot of kind of bizarre detail that didn’t seem to add much. It was definitely unpredictable and a quick read, good for the beach I think!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Violence, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship and Forced institutionalization

Minor: Homophobia and Lesbophobia

lizzym126's review

challenging dark emotional hopeful informative sad 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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Mental illness, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Murder, Lesbophobia, and Injury/Injury detail

theresa_r's review

dark emotional funny mysterious 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? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Death, Domestic abuse, Homophobia, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Grief, and Death of parent

sunbearbeam's review

dark emotional sad slow-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? No

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Homophobia, Sexual assault, Murder, and Lesbophobia

Moderate: Rape, Sexism, and Death of parent

Minor: Adult/minor relationship and Kidnapping

_meganrose's review

dark emotional mysterious tense 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? It's complicated

4.0

Men and their fragile egos are an absolute disgrace. The actions. The inactions. The manipulation. The willingness to be manipulated. An absolute disgrace and I hope that everyone who played a role in the holes that enabled such a horrible human to do what he did live/lived the rest of their lives with a never-ending pit of shame consuming them. That, of course, would take having enough emotional intelligence and humility to recognize their mistakes. But I digress.

I respect that the author refused to use his name. Because quite frankly, it has always bothered me how he has been romanticized and portrayed in media. Only recently have I started to hear criticism on this, which means we are at least moving in the forward direction as a society (I hope).

4 stars because the perspective was refreshing, the belittlement of such a despicable human being was well overdue being warranted, and I couldn’t put it down.

That being said, it wasn’t an enjoyable reading experience so I don’t feel right giving 5 stars. This is no fault to the author. The darkness of this book was heavy and will haunt me.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Body horror, Cancer, Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Gore, Homophobia, Incest, Sexual assault, Blood, Excrement, Kidnapping, Grief, Death of parent, Lesbophobia, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Infidelity, Mental illness, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Terminal illness, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Vomit, Medical content, Medical trauma, Stalking, Abortion, Murder, Outing, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, and Sexual harassment

nobat11's review

challenging dark emotional informative mysterious sad medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Death, Gore, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Grief, Stalking, and Lesbophobia

correnreads's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious tense 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? No

2.75

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Content Warnings

Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Rape, Sexual violence, Violence, and Injury/Injury detail

hjb_128's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Homophobia, Incest, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Torture, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Vomit, Dementia, Kidnapping, Grief, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Murder, Lesbophobia, Gaslighting, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Alcoholism and Alcohol

uniquelymace's review

dark tense fast-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Body horror, Child abuse, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Homophobia, Mental illness, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Grief, Murder, Lesbophobia, Outing, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail