Reviews tagging 'Violence'

The First Bad Man by Miranda July

8 reviews

rachaelwho's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional funny hopeful 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

Sad, abject, revolting, surprising, funny, hopeful, tender, heartbreaking. This book was so fucking weird and so very Miranda July and I really loved it. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Medical content, Mental illness, Toxic relationship, Sexual content, Emotional abuse, Adult/minor relationship, Bullying, Domestic abuse, and Toxic friendship

Moderate: Violence and Pregnancy

lexigrce's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional funny hopeful 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? It's complicated

2.5

thought it couldn’t get weirder and then it did again and again and again

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Toxic relationship, Sexual content, Sexism, Rape, Physical abuse, Misogyny, Emotional abuse, Adult/minor relationship, Mental illness, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Sexual assault, Pregnancy, and Violence

lilmor's review

challenging dark emotional funny tense slow-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

one of my best friends, a deeply enigmatic middle-aged woman named Aura, emphatically recommended and lent me this book. in retrospect it is exactly the type of thing she would recommend. almost didn’t finish multiple times, powered thru 4 her. experiencing a lot of complex emotions rn; disgust, pity,  tenderness feature prominently. i cannot recommend this book and i cannot give it a star rating. miranda july is a talented writer.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content, Abandonment, Violence, Pregnancy, Adult/minor relationship, and Medical content

Moderate: Alcohol, Domestic abuse, Gore, Bullying, Child death, Toxic relationship, Incest, Infidelity, Sexual assault, Blood, and Emotional abuse

Minor: Grief, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Panic attacks/disorders, and Abortion

siriface's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Loveable characters? No

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Toxic relationship, Physical abuse, Pedophilia, Pregnancy, Emotional abuse, Sexual violence, and Violence

grannycat's review

medium-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

0.5

Honestly, this book made me feel sick. Take the content warnings seriously - it depicts some very disturbing sexual relationships. One such relationship is between a

man in his late 60s and a 16 year old girl, described in explicit detail and never once portrayed as something harmful. In fact, the young girl seems to exist only as a romantic rival for the older female protagonist.

The protagonist

has detailed sexual fantasies about becoming various men and raping the much younger woman who lives with her. One of these men is the girl’s own father.

All of this is glossed over and just used as character development for the protagonist (who doesn’t develop meaningfully anyway). I really wouldn’t recommend this book to anyone. It has its sweet moments, but most of it is weird and fucked up and not worth anyone’s time.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Physical abuse, Pregnancy, Rape, Sexual violence, Abortion, Adult/minor relationship, Medical content, Pedophilia, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, Sexual harassment, and Incest

Moderate: Blood, Body shaming, Child death, Infidelity, Misogyny, Domestic abuse, Sexism, and Violence

Minor: Vomit, Self harm, and Antisemitism

alexdunkie's review

dark emotional funny 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Fatphobia and Violence

hbear21's review

challenging medium-paced

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

3.0

What a strange book. Having read some of July’s other work I knew I was in for something unusual but I could not have anticipated this. Though the characters were difficult to like most of the time and their behaviors were bizarre and even repulsive, I found the writing so compelling that I wanted to keep reading. This book will live in my head for some time to come. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Violence, and Sexual content

Moderate: Pregnancy

jonathanlynch's review against another edition

dark funny reflective sad fast-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

2.0

It was okay! Emphasis on the exclamation point. Some of the language was so grotesque it turned me off from the characters at an early point. Needless to say my relationship with this book started off on the wrong foot.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Medical trauma, Toxic relationship, and Violence