Reviews tagging 'Sexual violence'

Trust Exercise by Susan Choi

19 reviews

rani's review

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Adult/minor relationship, and Sexual harassment

melchong's review

dark reflective medium-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

1.5

i wanted to dnf this book so badly, but it was short enough that i saw it through. i didn’t love the long, meandering sentences, but that’s just personal preference. i think the concept of this book is interesting and compelling. it very well captures

the self-absorbed perspectives of high schoolers, an unreliable narrator, how we draw the lines between fact and fiction, and the exploitation of young generations, especially women and across generations.

in fact if it was approached differently i might have actually loved it. 

my biggest issue is that there is just far too much gratuitous underage sexual content that feels so icky!! i understand that’s part of the point -

these kids have been exploited and abused while coming into their own

, but i just don’t think it needed to be this explicit, detailed, or frequent. because of that, it doesn’t matter how interesting the overall concept was, i would never recommend this book to anyone. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Pregnancy, Adult/minor relationship, and Physical abuse

mandi_lea's review

mysterious sad slow-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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Pregnancy, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Toxic friendship, Sexual assault, and Gun violence

Moderate: Alcohol and Drug use

travisppe's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective tense 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? Yes

3.75

The format of this book is going to stick with me for a long time. Very cool. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gaslighting, Sexual assault, Emotional abuse, Pedophilia, Alcohol, Outing, Sexual content, Sexual harassment, Drug use, Incest, Pregnancy, Rape, Bullying, Domestic abuse, Adult/minor relationship, Gun violence, Toxic relationship, Toxic friendship, and Sexual violence

campjamie's review

challenging dark mysterious

3.0

I’m gonna be thinking about this one for a while, because it was a bit of a confusing read

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Sexual violence, Child abuse, and Sexual assault

ravensalwaysreading's review against another edition

challenging dark sad tense slow-paced

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

2.0

I feel so divided on this book. The first half was incredibly painful for me to read and I was anxiety ridden about where the protagonist was going. When the twist came I was intrigued because I thought it would be about this tangled friendship, but was quickly let down. If it had ended there it would have been okay but a poor encapsulation of supposed symbolism. But then the third section ended, as did the overall book, and now I'm left feeling grimy and sad and still don't not understandin  what the point of it was. The harm men can do to women that chases them through not only their adult lives but their children's adult lives? Why did you rupture our view of the first character to set up the next character? Why leave off after giving us the shortest time with the most likable character just to traumatize her and us and then run away after that? I guess my final question is still what is the point?

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault and Sexual violence

Moderate: Pedophilia, Toxic relationship, Vomit, Stalking, Adult/minor relationship, and Eating disorder

gcarlson94's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious tense slow-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Sexual violence and Child abuse

tracey1981's review against another edition

challenging sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• 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

3.25

There’s a lot going on in this book and it would make for a great book club selection with much to discuss. I haven’t decided fully yet how I felt about it but I have definitely thought about it a lot while reading and since finishing and probably will for awhile yet. I think this book wanted to provoke conversation and shed light on the harms done by sexual predators in schools and I think it succeeded at that but as many reviewers have said it’s also a challenging, confusing, maybe somewhat elitist read that I read two articles about after to make sure I’d understood it. So I dunno. I’d suggest checking the content warnings, and also deciding if you’re up for a unique somewhat challenging structure, before picking this one up…

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Pregnancy, Adult/minor relationship, Sexual assault, and Sexual violence

mia_merrill's review

emotional mysterious reflective 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Child abuse, Adult/minor relationship, Sexual assault, Toxic relationship, and Sexual violence

Moderate: Toxic friendship, Drug use, Alcohol, Vomit, and Bullying

Minor: Pregnancy and Terminal illness

lucinotlucy's review against another edition

dark mysterious reflective slow-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Alcohol, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Toxic friendship, Sexual harassment, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Rape, Alcohol, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, and Pregnancy