Reviews tagging 'Physical abuse'

Bright Young Women by Jessica Knoll

79 reviews

miabee12's review against another edition

dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Violence, Kidnapping, Grief, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

ilinki's review

dark emotional reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• 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

Moderate: Death, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Murder, and Lesbophobia

Minor: Incest, Vomit, and Dementia

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

catie_vl's review

hopeful informative inspiring reflective tense medium-paced

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

4.75

I really loved this book, I found it so thought provoking and important. I am someone who enjoys true crime and had an interest in The Defendant, so getting to hear that story from the women’s perspective was so eye opening. I thought that there were some problems with the plot in the sense that the author had too many good ideas and it got a bit jumbled, but I really I thought it was an important read and have already recommended it to a lot of people.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Physical abuse and Murder

Moderate: Sexism, Sexual assault, and Stalking

mlull's review

dark medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Kidnapping, and Murder

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

eitaliaander's review

dark tense fast-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

This is a must read! I couldn't put it down! Very cinematic in it's writing style. Cleverly split by characters/timelines.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death, Homophobia, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Kidnapping, Grief, Murder, and Gaslighting

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

_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

feelincelestial's review

dark emotional hopeful reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.25

Bright Young Women successfully pulled me out of a reading slump. It’s very engaging and well paced. There are a fair amount of side plots and a heavy focus of character development, which I enjoyed. Some of the storylines and details seemed superfluous to me, but I loved the characters and the focus on the women whose stories are often undercut by the tragedy of their final moments in the true crime world. Though the MCs are fictionalized, their plights are relatable and their personalities strong enough to completely pull the focus away from ‘The Defendant’.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Kidnapping, Grief, Murder, and Lesbophobia