Reviews tagging 'Alcohol'

Bright Young Women by Jessica Knoll

29 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

greenlivingaudioworm's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Child death, Death, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Torture, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Gaslighting, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

journeywithmeow's review against another edition

challenging emotional sad tense 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? Yes

3.5

It was an interesting and gripping read. I enjoyed the vocabulary and overall message/theme. I didn't enjoy the time/character jumping (hard to keep track of what was going on), and the ending felt somewhat rushed towards and abrupt.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Homophobia, Sexism, Sexual violence, Violence, Blood, Grief, Murder, Lesbophobia, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Pedophilia, Rape, Sexual assault, and Medical content

Minor: Gun violence, Dementia, and Alcohol

matmatmatty's review against another edition

challenging emotional mysterious 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? No

5.0

What a story. My god.

Please make sure you check out CWs but this is such a brilliant book, I do think everyone who can read it, should.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Homophobia, Rape, and Murder

Moderate: Misogyny, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Kidnapping, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Body shaming, Incest, Blood, Death of parent, and Alcohol

_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

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

glitterghostreads's review

dark medium-paced

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

2.0

I really enjoyed this book. It was a bit slow for me, but I was hooked. That is, until I realized the author simply took real life tragedy and repurposed it into a novel. It is one thing to take inspiration. It is another to use the exact stories of victims of unspeakable violence. I felt sick once I realized. Whatever message she wanted to share is ruined by the lack of respect for the real woman who were harmed.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Homophobia, Sexual violence, and Murder

Moderate: Domestic abuse, Gun violence, Forced institutionalization, 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

jamiemamie's review

4.0

 Bright Young Women follows two characters in different timelines: Pamela, a sorority house manager who wakes up to find that an intruder has brutalized her sisters, and Ruth, a woman who goes missing without a trace. This book makes a point of not naming the man who committed the murders, but it’s a historical fiction about a very well-known serial killer.

Overall, I enjoyed this book (as much as one can enjoy a book about women being victimized) and found it simultaneously empowering and unsettling. Please be aware of the content warnings before going into this book. It’s definitely not a light read! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Homophobia and Violence

Moderate: Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Blood, and Murder

Minor: Stalking and Alcohol

sierraclimbs's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

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

3.5

I enjoyed this book. It’s a very unique take on a fairly well known story. I think the author did a good job representing the complexities of grief (this opinion is as someone who hasn’t experienced anything close to as tragic as this story). 
I did think the character voices were a little strange. Mostly Pamela seems very autism coded. Which is not a bad thing, but it made her actions a little less relatable. Again not a bad thing, but I think I would have enjoyed the book more if I could relate to the main character’s actions more. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Blood, Grief, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Mental illness, Forced institutionalization, and Alcohol