Reviews tagging 'Sexual violence'

Advika and the Hollywood Wives by Kirthana Ramisetti

1 review

babayagaofficial's review against another edition

reflective

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

2.5

Killer premise, clunky prose. The narrative voice doesn't trust the reader's ability to make connections or inferences, which is one of my biggest pet peeves. This needed one or two more editorial passes to cut overly explanatory narration and raise the stakes.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Toxic relationship, Grief, Sexism, Emotional abuse, and Confinement

Moderate: Stalking, Abandonment, Racism, Classism, Misogyny, and Domestic abuse

Minor: Sexual harassment, Drug abuse, Sexual violence, Addiction, Violence, and Pregnancy

Spoilers:

I was surprised by the mildness of Julian's villainy and the film reel's revelation. Yes, it's all horrible; that said, since 2017 we've learned of such outsized monstrosity from Hollywood bigshots in reality that Julian's actual M.O. and motivation are almost quaint in comparison. They certainly don't live up to such a wonderfully sensational, splashy premise. And narratively, if a premise evokes Bluebeard? Then the husband's big secret has to be bigger than "it turns out he sucks." There should probably be a murder somewhere, at least. (If this were a different book, I might say it's implied that he murdered his second wife, but this book leaves just about nothing unsaid, so I doubt that we're meant to understand that.)