Reviews tagging 'Sexual violence'

Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel

27 reviews

alexeireads's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional hopeful inspiring tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

finished reading on august 26, 2021

i almost gave up on this book last year because i couldnt handle reading a book about a pandemic while i was living through one, but i finally picked it up again a week or two ago and im so fucking glad i did. instead of painfully reminding me that im currently living in a world ravaged by a pandemic, this book made me fall in love with the world; with humanity, with the compassion and serendipity and continuous need to *live* that exists in all of us—“because survival is insufficient.” what a beautiful, beautiful book.

 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Child death, Death, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Terminal illness, Violence, and Death of parent

Minor: Alcohol, Animal death, Chronic illness, Drug use, Gun violence, Kidnapping, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Adult/minor relationship, and Sexual violence

BIG content warning for pandemic. If you have been having a hard time dealing with grief or other mental health issues related to the COVID pandemic, be careful with this book. In my opinion, it actually helped me cope with the past several months because the last third of the book becomes more focused on hope and human survival and is actually very uplifting. But there are definitely some sections that made me close the book and go "nope. can't read about this, way too real." It was worth it, though.

pastelkerstin's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional hopeful mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Blood, Child death, Cursing, Death, Emotional abuse, Grief, Gun violence, Infidelity, Medical content, Mental illness, Murder, Suicide, Violence, and Confinement

Moderate: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Child abuse, Death of parent, Gore, Kidnapping, Misogyny, Pedophilia, and Religious bigotry

Minor: Cancer, Chronic illness, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Excrement, Panic attacks/disorders, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, and Terminal illness

whatellieread's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious medium-paced

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

3.75

While at its core this is a post-apocalyptic/dystopian novel, this book is about so much more. It's very character driven, and it ultimately a narrative about the ways we touch each other's lives - sometimes in the most unexpected ways - and the marks we leave behind.

I first read this circa 2016 (I was 17), and have recently just reread it. I don't tend to reread books normally, but I could remember really loving this one and could remember very little of the plot.
I had low expectations the first time around as I didn't expect it to my "thing", but I was very pleasantly surprised and LOVED it. I regularly talk to people about this book and use it as an example of why reading outside of your parameters can sometimes be the best thing to do. 

A few plot points came back to me as I started rereading, but mostly it felt as though I was reading a book I hadn't read before. Although I didn't end up loving it as much this time as I had the first time around, it was still a really good, enjoyable read and one that has a special place in my heart - for the aforementioned reasons. 

Seeing as it's set in a post-pandemic world, in which a virus has killed most of the population and civilisation has collapsed, it was interesting to reflect on it in a way I wasn't able to previously, in light of the last year.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death

Moderate: Death, Gun violence, Suicide, and Violence

Minor: Rape, Sexual assault, and Sexual violence

amyrandles1's review against another edition

adventurous dark 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? No

3.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Murder, Medical content, Gun violence, Sexual violence, and Violence

mishi543's review against another edition

emotional hopeful sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence and Death

Minor: Sexual violence, Pedophilia, Domestic abuse, and Trafficking

s_p_a_r_k_s's review against another edition

emotional reflective sad slow-paced

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

3.5

I really struggled with the star rating for this book. On the one hand, the writing is drop-dead gorgeous, the worldbuilding and epic sweep of the story are impressive, and the story does an incredible job of making you realize just how precious life as we know it truly is. On the other, the characterization is weak, the plot is full of contrivances, and many of the individual storylines feel underbaked (even if they contribute to a beautiful whole). I ultimately ended up giving 3.5 stars because, for all its flaws, Station Eleven is compelling enough that it still sticks with me to this day.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Infidelity, and Terminal illness

Moderate: Chronic illness, Death, Gun violence, Kidnapping, Suicide, and Violence

Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Rape, Sexual content, and Sexual violence

This story is about a flu pandemic that wipes out 90% of the population and human civilization along with it. Some main characters die of the virus. There are sequences where characters know they are infected and must chose how to spend their last days on Earth. Grief pervades every inch of this story. We see characters grieving relationships, careers, dead and dying loved ones, and the end of a world. One major character has been married three times, and every marriage has ended with him cheating on his wife with someone else.

We later read about his first wife's discovery of his infidelity from her point of view.

Another character is revealed to have cheated on her previous boyfriend. While her actions aren't *quite* portrayed in a positive light, it's also clear she feels very little remorse, and she's treated as a hero by the narrative for her other actions.

One chronically ill character, unable to travel, decides to take his own life so his brother will be free to escape the rapidly collapsing city they live in.

In the parts of the story set after the apocalypse, violence is relatively common. Several characters are killed with throwing knives, bows and arrows, guns, and other lethal weapons. There are references to sex, but no graphic sex scenes. The main villains of the post-apocalyptic timeline are a group of cultists. It is strongly implied the cult leader coerces female members of the cult to sleep with him, including minors. This is depicted as horrifying and completely wrong.

Two side characters are kidnapped by a band of cultists. One is ultimately rescued, but the other dies of wounds sustained during the kidnapping.

carolined's review against another edition

sad slow-paced

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

3.0

Station Eleven made me feel intensely homesick because one of the characters had a very similar childhood to me on an island in BC Canada. Because the author is also from there she evokes it very vividly, the trees, the hippies, the stairs down to the sea, building dens in the woods. However it turned out to be just a bit of backstory and the rest of the story didn't make me feel much of anything. The challenge of any post apocalyptic fiction is whether it makes the survival of the human race seem worthwhile and this cast of luvies, cultists and suspicious midwesterners did not convince me of this. Maybe the rest of the world was faring better or maybe the octopuses should have their chance at being the dominant species.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Chronic illness, Death, Gore, Gun violence, Religious bigotry, Terminal illness, and Violence

Moderate: Emotional abuse and Suicide

Minor: Adult/minor relationship and Sexual violence