Reviews with content warning for Bullying - The Night Swim

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Reviews tagging 'Bullying'

The Night Swim by Megan Goldin

76 reviews

cassielaj's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
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

I cannot give this book a star rating. While the writing was good and the mystery compelling, this was a really challenging book to read, and it deserves more nuance than a 1-5 rating. This story is heavy. It is graphically detailed at times. It is tragic and disheartening and just the tiniest bit hopeful. And I honestly think it’s important. This book treats rape and sexual assault victims and trials in a way I haven’t seen enough in popular media, especially in the thriller genre, which often sensationalizes tragedy. It explores the challenges and injustices of the justice system when it comes to trying a sexual assault case. It explores class differences and politics in a small town and shows how power can be abused. It explores the guilt that can come with doing nothing to help someone in a time of need, and it explores redemption from the horrors of the past. I want to recommend it because it’s a good book, but I don’t want to because it was heavy. If you choose to read this, go in with as much information as you can, and be kind to yourself while you read it.

From a thriller perspective, I did find it a bit predictable, but overall I thought the mystery was well paced.

Content Warnings

minimicropup's review against another edition

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challenging dark sad medium-paced

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

1.5

Cathartic, critical, indignant.

We follow a podcast journalist as they cover an ongoing rape trial in a small-town while dealing with a potential stalker convinced their sister was murdered after being sexually traumatized and wanting our MC to cover the case on their podcast.
🇺🇸 Set in a fictional coastal town in North Carolina, USA

Narration 🔇: The narration was expressionless and monotone, so I switched to text. However, the text was also expressionless and monotone, so I don't blame the narrator.

Growls, Howls, and Tail Wags 🐺🐕:

Realistic in how survivors of sexual crimes are re-traumatized by the black-and-white approach to legal proceedings.
Simplistic, robotic writing style. The dialogue is flat because we have no context. Did someone say "no comment" angrily, smirking, begrudgingly etc? It reads like a script with a textbook, flat writing style.
Potentially lacklustre commentary on sexual crimes. We get the worst-case scenario (obvious evidence of rape occurring + legal loopholes that entirely depend on what the jury believes). This story isn't new to you if you are a regular true crime consumer. The legal system is broken, but how can we fix it? This isn't touched on in this novel. Instead, everything that could go wrong does. That is okay and a meaningful, realistic narrative. Still, it was diluted because our MC was so distracted to avoid the depth of the issue. We are just told that it's awful instead of experiencing it for ourselves.
The podcast trope fails for me. Given in snippets that were anecdotes of the MC's life and not related at all to the case she was covering. But it's not like the case she covered was told to us from her POV earlier, either. She barely paid attention, and we didn't get much in the way of testimony; we were just told someone did well or didn't do well (lawyers, witnesses etc).
Frustrating MC. She has a critical job giving her listeners the details of crucial evidence in the trial. Still, she walks out of the court when a NURSE WHO EXAMINED THE VICTIM IS TESTIFYING to take a call on a side case instead of letting it go to voicemail.
Maybe just me, but it seemed like Rachel was trying to find a way to be as traumatized as the victims instead of reporting their stories.
Frustrating stalker. Hannah - who invested so much time and energy to get Rachel (our MC) to cover her sister's mishandled case - suddenly disappears and becomes uninterested once Rachel is willing to cover it. Hannah sends her self-centred memoir to Rachel instead of the evidence and background on why she believes her sister was murdered.

Mood Reading Match Up:

Direct commentary about the problems with the court and legal systems handling sexual crimes
Contemporary fiction with touches of courtroom attendance
Journalism (podcaster) investigation drama

Content Heads-Up: Rape (descriptions on page), Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Death of a parent (terminal illness)

Format: Scribd Digital

Content Warnings

zianna_reads's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional mysterious reflective sad 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? Yes

4.0

Content Warnings

gen_wolfhailstorm's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

3.0

The Details:
Narrated by Bailey Carr, January LaVoy, Samantha Desz
Unabridged

One of my late netgalley arcs, I decided to listen to via my library app.

This was riveting and harrowing read following a dual sexual assault case, one in the present day and one set in the mystery of a cover up that happened some years before.

We follow a podcast presenter investigating both cases and it was interesting to see the perspective of varying characters of what, to me, is an obviously awful crime.

The acts done to the body was so graphic and really hard to read, so please bear that in mind.

Overall, I'm glad to have finally read this, but it was a heavy, difficult read.

Content Warnings

ruthypoo2's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense fast-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

4.75

Content Warnings

leebeeloves's review against another edition

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challenging 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

Content Warnings

alliskarathe's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional mysterious medium-paced

Loveable characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.25

first megan goldin book and pleasantly surprised but admittedly, there were some slow parts though not an excruciating drag ; worth a read if you like this genre or the idea of a podcaster and law/court proceedings (discusses in detail tw: rape and elements of contention/discussion include justice system and feminism)

Content Warnings