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Reviews tagging 'Bullying'
Only Say Good Things: Surviving Playboy and Finding Myself by Crystal Hefner
5 reviews
nil033's review against another edition
4.0
Graphic: Pedophilia, Sexism, Sexual violence, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Death of parent, Toxic relationship, and Death
Moderate: Fatphobia, Body shaming, Cancer, Terminal illness, and Bullying
Minor: War
liesthemoontells's review
4.5
Having watched a few episodes of The Girls Next Door when it first aired, I found the lives and motivations of the women at the Playboy Mansion completely alien and inexplicable. I wanted this book to provide answers as to what compels a young woman to enter into a public relationship with a man 60 years her senior. I was also hoping for an incisive and condemnatory look at Hugh Hefner's wielding of power and treatment of the women in his orbit. This book gave me exactly what I wanted.
Crystal doesn't shy away from discussing some of the more unsavoury aspects of her life in the mansion. While confronting, it didn't come across to me as exploitative, which I feared going into the book. Instead, Crystal connects these experiences to the way Hefner treated his relationships with women in smaller, more insidious ways. The book goes even further, drawing a through line between Crystal's experience of dehumanisation and abuse at the hands of Hefner and the Playboy Corporation, through to the way society manipulates and degrades women in myriad ways.
Crystal isn't a natural narrator, and at times she seemed to stumble over sections of the text, but overall it was satisfying to hear her story in her own voice.
I would have eaten up a few more chapters about Crystal's life beyond the mansion, the steps she took to reacclimatise to life outside, and the process of recontextualising her experience with Hefner in the context of the #metoo movement, but you can't have everything!
I would thoroughly recommend this book to anyone and everyone who has had any interaction with the Playboy brand over the past 70 years.
Graphic: Death, Death of parent, Drug use, Infidelity, Body shaming, Bullying, Medical content, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Confinement, Domestic abuse, Fatphobia, Misogyny, Sexual assault, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Dysphoria, Grief, Mental illness, and Chronic illness
Moderate: Animal cruelty, Panic attacks/disorders, and Animal death
Minor: Rape, Cultural appropriation, and Abortion
growintogardens's review against another edition
3.0
Graphic: Sexual content, Misogyny, and Toxic relationship
Moderate: Sexual assault, Bullying, and Rape
lovelymisanthrope's review
"Only Say Good Things" is a memoir from Crystal Hefner, Famous Playboy founder Hugh Hefner's final wife. This novel sheds some light on Crystal's life before the mansion, and how she found herself living what everyone believed was the dream life. It also chronicles Hugh Hefner's final days.
Overall, I thought this book was organized well, was well written, and was informative as well as entertaining. I think Crystal did a great job at trying to explain herself and share the mental state she was in during her time at the mansion. Hearing her perspective on what was happening at the mansion during her time there gave me more sympathy for the atrocities she went through.
I continue to be fascinated by the world of Playboy, and I look forward to indulging in more media like this in the future.
Graphic: Abortion, Toxic relationship, Death of parent, Sexual content, Bullying, and Death
Minor: War
theappendices's review against another edition
1.0
How it's written/pacing: It's ok. It does seem like it is more "dear diary" style than professionally written and edited. It is a very fast read but also because of how dark it is can be jarring.
My ratings system: 1,3,5 only
1 star - read thru/not dnf
3 star - liked the book
5 star - left an impact/vibes were vibing
Graphic: Panic attacks/disorders, Bullying, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Confinement, Toxic friendship, Chronic illness, Fatphobia, Grief, Misogyny, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Violence, Abandonment, and Child abuse
Moderate: Body shaming, Death of parent, Medical trauma, Medical content, Gaslighting, Addiction, and Mental illness
Minor: Incest, Pedophilia, and Adult/minor relationship