Reviews tagging 'Body shaming'

Sharp Objects by Gillian Flynn

101 reviews

livbeveridge's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious 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

3.0

This book was such a let down. I loved gone girl and thought I’d be just satisfied with this one … I was wrong. I had already guessed the “twist” and who the murderer was so there was no surprise there and the reveal/end was so subpar. On top of that I couldn’t like or connect to a single character even Camille who we are meant to root for. A lacklustre whodunnit that uses vulgar and stomach churning imagery to try to cover up its flaws.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Body shaming, Gore, Rape, Self harm, Alcohol, Cursing, Kidnapping, Sexual assault, Vomit, Bullying, Child death, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Violence, Addiction, Alcoholism, Child abuse, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Murder, Sexual content, and Grief

januaryghosts's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious fast-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? Yes

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Sexual content, Child abuse, Child death, and Self harm

Moderate: Sexual violence, Body shaming, Addiction, Alcohol, Vomit, and Rape

Minor: Animal cruelty and Suicidal thoughts

anushka_17's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug use, Alcoholism, Vomit, Violence, Toxic relationship, Suicidal thoughts, Alcohol, Blood, Body horror, Body shaming, Death, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Grief, Torture, Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Bullying, Child abuse, and Child death

whimsicalish's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad fast-paced

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

3.0

Unfortunately, I watched the HBO show before I read this book. I did enjoy reading it, even though I knew the big twists. The book does have the better ending (imho).

This book deals with many major dark themes, namely: child death, child abuse, mental illnesses, self-harm, violence towards girls, and sexualizing of young girls. We have situations where young girls and tweens are preyed upon. That is fine to discuss; this sadly happens in real life. Nothing wrong having conversations about that.

But I do not like the constant sexual descriptions of these young girls. The main character is the sister of one of those girls. She describes her sister (and other young tweens) in detail about their bodies. It's disgusting and wholly unnecessary. Multiple times this grown woman is pointing out how attractive these girls look and bringing up sex. It's awful!

Here's examples of some descriptions:
 

 

Her flushed face had the roundness of a girl barely in her teen and her hair was parted in ribbons, but her breasts, which she aimed proudly outward, were those of a  grown woman. A lucky grown woman.

But the piggy middle child, who now waddled dazedly into the room, was destined for needy sex and snack-cake bingeing.

All those milk-fed, hog-fed, beef-fed early years. All those extra hormones we put into our livestock. We'll be seeing toddlers with tits before long.

I pulled her nightgown over her head. Her nakedness was stunning... the slightest down in a wilted thatch between her legs. Full voluptuous breasts. Thirteen.
 

This could have been written better, but the over-sexualization of girls is too much to overlook.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Sexual content, Child abuse, Child death, Mental illness, Adult/minor relationship, Murder, Body shaming, Bullying, Self harm, Sexual assault, and Violence

Moderate: Alcoholism, Emotional abuse, Rape, Sexual violence, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail, and Panic attacks/disorders

kaaaaaaaa's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad medium-paced

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

4.0

This is the first of Flynn's books that I've read, and it's the first of her books to be published. It was good, I just wasn't able to emotionally connect to the characters for some reason. In general, the mystery kept me interested more than the characters. To me, this book reminded me of Stephen King and Shirley Jackson, but it didn't have whatever secret sauce Jackson and King have that pushes the writing and the characters into top-tier. That disconnect makes some of the "disturbing small town details" come off a little forced, despite the fact that I'm well aware of and familiar with disturbing small-town details. I find them believable, but they're missing... something... that integrates them fully into the story; so instead, IMHO, they give a Hostel-style "violence for violence's sake" vibe.

I have a couple more of Flynn's books on hold from the library, so it will be interesting to see how she grows as a writer and if she can clear whatever this je ne sais quoi hurdle is.

Also, this isn't a real make-or-break thing, but how flexible is Camille

that there's only one spot on her back missing the words? How good at writing backwards while looking in a mirror can she be?

 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Medical trauma, Physical abuse, Dysphoria, Gaslighting, Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Mental illness, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Drug use, Murder, Body shaming, Bullying, Chronic illness, Domestic abuse, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Child death, Incest, Self harm, Addiction, Death, Classism, Drug abuse, Terminal illness, Body horror, Rape, Sexual content, Emotional abuse, and Grief

Moderate: Vomit and Infidelity

Minor: Eating disorder, Animal death, Animal cruelty, Suicidal thoughts, and Fatphobia

loujanae's review against another edition

1.5

I don't have an issue with dark subject matter. In fact, I tend to be drawn to media with fucked up plots and traumatized characters, but this was just ridiculous. There was such an overwhelming amount of horrible shit occurring on every page... and for what? I truly don't think Flynn has a single idea what the point of it all was. I could have enjoyed myself if I believed Flynn was trying to say literally anything. This felt like a teenage boy attempting to be as edgy as possible to get in with the big boys. It was just gross.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Body horror, Grief, Medical content, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Rape, Sexism, Vomit, Sexual content, Child death, Physical abuse, Child abuse, Cursing, Drug use, Murder, Self harm, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Addiction, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Adult/minor relationship, and Body shaming

catsonthewindowsill's review against another edition

dark mysterious sad tense fast-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

3.5

I had a good time, sure the plot twist was  not as twisty as intended. (Maybe I’m too shrewd?) and I also almost wished for more focus on Amma but ultimately the book is a good time. I saw criticism for the way the book approaches teen and pre-teen bodies, I concur it’s in a nearly brutal always graphic way I think this is just a reflection of the brutality Camille unloads on others. She didn’t escape her mother by turning inwards fully so her tone when describing the tween girls around her is a super imposition of what was done to her body when she was their age, she’s projecting what she thinks others saw in her as a justification, to make sense of herself. And maybe to make a point about how especially Amma is trapped between beguiling childishness and weaponising her own body. It didn’t bother me so much that I feel the book fell underneath this internal narrative but I’m still glad it’s over. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Blood, Body horror, Sexual violence, Rape, Grief, Gore, Murder, Mental illness, Body shaming, Child death, Sexual assault, and Self harm

leckner_library's review against another edition

dark mysterious 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? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault, Mental illness, Self harm, Child death, Murder, Bullying, Body shaming, and Drug use

Moderate: Animal cruelty

lvosler21's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness, Alcohol, Blood, Addiction, Body shaming, Injury/Injury detail, Sexual assault, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Alcoholism, Body horror, Medical content, Medical trauma, Murder, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Drug abuse, Dysphoria, Kidnapping, Torture, Infidelity, Gore, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Self harm, Sexual violence, Vomit, Toxic relationship, and Suicidal thoughts

Moderate: Body shaming, Chronic illness, Dysphoria, Terminal illness, Bullying, Panic attacks/disorders, and Pregnancy

Minor: Animal death and Animal cruelty

auggiebug's review against another edition

dark emotional tense medium-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Blood, Body horror, Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Chronic illness, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Eating disorder, Sexual harassment, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Forced institutionalization, Grief, Infidelity, Medical trauma, Murder, Misogyny, Infertility, Medical content, Panic attacks/disorders, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Suicide, Pedophilia, Stalking, and Suicide attempt

this book is HEAVY! don't read without checking the trigger warnings first!