Reviews tagging 'Violence'

Monsters: A Fan's Dilemma by Claire Dederer

11 reviews

hedgielib's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective medium-paced

3.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Pedophilia, Rape, Emotional abuse, Sexual violence, Abandonment, Alcoholism, Homophobia, Mental illness, Murder, Sexual assault, Violence, Child abuse, and Alcohol

thehungryartist's review against another edition

challenging emotional informative medium-paced

1.25

Full review coming soon, but there was a lot about this book I didn’t like/that did not resonate. Claiming Israel existed in the 30’s is one of them. 

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Content Warnings

Minor: Genocide, Violence, and Misogyny

emily_mae08's review against another edition

challenging dark informative reflective medium-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Mental illness, Sexual violence, Emotional abuse, Toxic relationship, Suicide, Abandonment, Misogyny, Grief, and Violence

hduc's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective medium-paced

5.0

This book deals with monstrous people. Of course there will be disturbing stories. But fear not, take one or two pages at a time. You would come out of this book a heart lighter.

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Content Warnings

Minor: Pedophilia, Self harm, Child abuse, Grief, Misogyny, Racism, Toxic relationship, War, Violence, Sexism, Hate crime, Physical abuse, Sexual violence, Suicide, Genocide, Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Cursing, Domestic abuse, and Drug abuse

princessjane's review against another edition

challenging emotional funny hopeful informative reflective fast-paced

4.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Violence, Sexual assault, Rape, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Suicide, Pedophilia, Gun violence, Alcoholism, Sexual violence, and Pregnancy

nicollej's review against another edition

challenging reflective slow-paced

3.0

I like the concept of the book and it definitely made me think a bit. A little slow paced at some points.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Sexual harassment, Violence, and Sexual assault

larajgriff1's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective slow-paced

3.0

Unfortunately my expectations and hopes for this book were vastly different than what I experienced.  I wanted a more broad view of how "monstrous" artists affect their fandom and what the group as a whole or individually moves forward.  This book is much more personal to the writer and more of a memoir of her life and how she relates to different artists than the effect of their actions on the world.  

However, I cannot fault the author for the book not being what I hoped.  It is written very well and does make some good points about how these moments and artists affect us.  Though in the middle of the book she seems to be "existential crisis-ing" in circles and it doesn't feel like there is momentum again until the last few chapters.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Physical abuse, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Violence, Sexual violence, Suicide, Racism, Abandonment, Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Death, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Abortion, Misogyny, Sexism, Sexual content, Antisemitism, Rape, Transphobia, Sexual harassment, Sexual assault, Religious bigotry, Pedophilia, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, and Toxic relationship

this is a book about people who do terrible things. It is hard to avoid anything, but I did skip a full chapter because I was so uncomfortable with the crimes of an artist.

bookmindedmag's review against another edition

challenging informative reflective medium-paced

4.75

For those who sensitive to certain subjects, I included content warnings. The writer discusses some of the terrible things done by the men/women she discusses in the book so take care. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Physical abuse, Abandonment, Domestic abuse, Violence, Alcoholism, Suicide, Sexual violence, and Sexual assault

serendipitysbooks's review against another edition

challenging informative reflective medium-paced

3.0

 In Monsters:A Fan’s Dilemma the author attempts to interrogate how fans should/could/might react to art produced by monstrous men. I have very mixed feelings about this book. The topic is certainly a timely one and the fact that the author didn’t reach a firm conclusion did not bother me at all. I’d much rather read information and the musings of others and reach my own conclusion than be told that there is only one correct response and that I must follow it. One of the main problems for me came in the second half of the book when the author shifted her focus from monstrous men (not a term I’m personally fond of; men who have done monstrous things is more nuanced and accurate, certainly less inflammatory) and starts looking at women. The crimes of the male artists included paedophilia; the crimes of the women she considered involved prioritising their art over motherhood and she explored her own feelings of mother guilt. Mothers who do not devote the entirety of their lives (or even their children’s childhoods) to their children are not monsters, although those who expect them to do so and judge them if they dare do something for themself might possibly be. I wish I’d DNF’d at this point. Things went meandering and issues got more than a little muddied in the second half, although the book did finish on a strong note. Overall the author raised some good points to consider, but for my money the worthwhile content (and my interest) ran to an essay or two rather than an entire book. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Misogyny, Rape, Violence, and Pedophilia

badmom's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful informative reflective fast-paced

5.0

Dederer tackles a seemingly impossible question - How do we separate art from artist? - with layers of other questions that made me think deeper than I ever have on this topic. She explores all of the ways she (and most of us) has tried to make sense of loving art created by monstrous people; she shares her own experiences along with research of how scholars and laypeople alike have approached this dilemma. The result is this compilation of painful truths & personal revelations kindly blended with psychology and brief portions of politics & economics. 
Despite its rich breadth & depth, this study flows beautifully and offers valuable insights in its trek to answers. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content and Rape

Moderate: Violence, Alcoholism, Suicide, and Domestic abuse

Minor: Pedophilia, Abandonment, Child abuse, and Transphobia