Reviews tagging 'Rape'

Aesthetica by Allie Rowbottom

26 reviews

ohennui's review against another edition

emotional reflective slow-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug abuse and Drug use

Moderate: Sexual assault, Toxic relationship, Alcohol, Death of parent, Sexual content, Sexism, Cancer, Eating disorder, Medical content, and Rape

lowbrowhighart's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Gaslighting, Alcohol, Dysphoria, Chronic illness, Toxic friendship, Drug abuse, Sexual violence, Body shaming, Death, Death of parent, Rape, Medical trauma, Vomit, Eating disorder, Addiction, Toxic relationship, Emotional abuse, Misogyny, Drug use, Medical content, Terminal illness, Sexism, and Sexual assault

Moderate: Body horror, Fatphobia, Injury/Injury detail, Bullying, Sexual content, and Cancer

Minor: Car accident and Infertility

tamtasticbooks's review against another edition

dark reflective sad 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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Drug abuse, Sexual assault, Rape, and Death of parent

jennastopreading's review against another edition

dark sad slow-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cancer, Toxic relationship, Eating disorder, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Rape, and Death of parent

Moderate: Sexual content, Medical content, Injury/Injury detail, and Grief

tigger89's review

dark reflective medium-paced

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

3.5

This book is a lot in a very small package. I went into it thinking it would be more of a sci-fi medical horror title, but there was very little focus on the Aesthetica procedure itself. Rather, the focus of the story was on Anna's descent into social media addiction, body alteration and abuse. Aesthetica was an off-screen plot device, a method by which to press a magical reset button.

Something I appreciated about this title was how realistic the portrayal of social media addiction was, specifically the slide into seeing everything — no matter how personal — as something to be exploited for internet points. I've never gone for instagram, but I've experienced enough dopamine hits on other platforms to recognize the danger there. She was also spot-on when describing diet culture, particularly how it's passed inter-generationally from mother to daughter. The way this was written was chilling enough that it could be a source of horror to some, though it was a little too close to my own experiences growing up for it to land that way for me.

I don't think that I agree with what appears to be the author's message, that women can't be truly empowered when under misogynistic influences — which is all of us, everywhere, all the time. But this argument winds up removing agency from the oppressed even as it claims to protect it, as it merely replaces those harmful influences with a different set of boilerplate rules for "how to be empowered," which might not be a good fit for every individual! I think the concerns raised in this book are good to be aware of, as it certainly is a thing that happens, but there's no clear answer here with regard to what to actually do to fight this effect.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Death of parent, Drug use, and Alcohol

Moderate: Cancer, Fatphobia, Sexual assault, Chronic illness, Eating disorder, Grief, Rape, Vomit, and Medical content

Minor: Infertility

jaimee_reads's review

dark sad slow-paced

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

2.75

I feel like the book box I got this from mis-represented the book. This book is not about the procedure. The procedure is covered in a single paragraph about 2/3 of the way through the book. This is about a very specific 6 month or so period of Anna's life that is supposed to give the reader an idea of why she wanted this procedure. It seemed very tech dystopian when I was reading the summary, but it's not. It's very literary and sad. I love the author's writing, but this isn't what I expected.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gaslighting, Dysphoria, Death of parent, Alcohol, Addiction, Toxic relationship, Sexual assault, Medical trauma, Grief, Body shaming, Medical content, Emotional abuse, Eating disorder, Drug use, Rape, Misogyny, and Drug abuse

Moderate: Mental illness, Gore, Body horror, Cancer, Bullying, and Chronic illness

mondovertigo's review against another edition

emotional reflective sad fast-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Medical content, Rape, Body shaming, Cancer, Misogyny, Eating disorder, Death of parent, Medical trauma, Drug abuse, Addiction, Toxic relationship, and Sexual assault

freshprincessofmelayers's review

dark reflective sad medium-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Eating disorder and Addiction

Moderate: Drug abuse, Drug use, and Rape

amanda_marie's review

dark emotional reflective sad slow-paced

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

4.0

This exceeded my expectations for what it is. I found the prose well-written and borderline satirical, an encapsulation of the way women are taught to find fault with their lives, illustrated by someone clearly still in it. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Drug abuse, and Drug use

Moderate: Rape and Eating disorder

mamawantsbooks's review against another edition

dark sad slow-paced

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

2.75

This book should have either been heavily edited or shorter than the 256 pages it was. It felt like it tried to have two different stories but wait let’s and a third and maybe a fourth story and have no satisfying ending. It just reminded me that social media is fake and curated, that “perfect” bodies aren’t real, and you shouldn’t take your mother for granted. Or something. Disappointing read.  

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Vomit, Toxic relationship, Toxic friendship, Drug use, Rape, Death of parent, Eating disorder, Sexual assault, and Addiction