Reviews with content warning for Sexual assault - The Writing Retreat

Reviews tagging 'Sexual assault'

The Writing Retreat by Julia Bartz

30 reviews

itsheyfay's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

2.75

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stayshomeandreads's review

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2.0

The Writing Retreat was such a letdown and it made me really sad. The book felt like it should have had another edit, but ultimately the prose itself was clunky. The characters are supposed to be grown women but all think and talk like they’re insecure teenagers. I liked that the book explored abusive dynamics between women, I just wish that theme wasn’t muddled by the other elements that didn’t work well.

One element that did not land in any way was the political message, which was shoved in so badly that it ruined the book for me and I’m not even conservative. Alex was an absolutely unbearable person to be inside the head of. Her thoughts read like a shallow HR diversity seminar at work. She brought up issues like race and sexual orientation constantly, but never actually explored them in any depth, so it all just felt performative and inorganic.

Ultimately this book felt like a decent thriller stitched together with an obnoxious Twitter thread and a poorly-written erotica. The premise is so cool and so interesting but it was not executed well in my opinion.

Add this to the list of “books that did not live up to the Booktube hype.”

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arijones91's review against another edition

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dark mysterious tense fast-paced

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

4.0

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greatexpectations77's review against another edition

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dark mysterious 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

4.0

This kept me interested, and I thought that the plot was written well. I was a little less jazzed about the inner lives of the characters, particularly Alex. Something felt a little too spelled out for me, and then when I read that the author is a therapist, I could nail it down. Sometimes the inner monologue feels too clinical. It's like the author knew what was normal for folks to think and go through and just listed those out. But people are messier than that and usually don't, in the moment, make those connections. It just took me out of the story a little bit.

Also, the sexual encounter that Alex talks about sounds non-consensual. She told her roommate to stop, the roommate didn't, and that's not consent. I was miffed that this wasn't specifically called out. Especially by a therapist?

Oh, also the narrator was too breathy, and I had to turn it up really loud, and I didn't think that was great. I felt like I missed words a lot and had to rewind.

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