Reviews tagging 'Sexual content'

Sharp Objects by Gillian Flynn

276 reviews

gwynnfox's review against another edition

Absolutely disgusted with how sexualized the 13 year old girls are. It's not like the narrator consistently speaks against this sexualization, she even takes part in it, when she speaks of her 13 year old sister's body, calling it perfect. There are times this is basically child porn. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Emotional abuse, Religious bigotry, Child abuse, Gaslighting, Grief, Torture, Incest, Mental illness, Murder, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body shaming, Homophobia, Infertility, Kidnapping, Racism, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexism, Sexual harassment, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, Adult/minor relationship, Bullying, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual violence, and Sexual content

chilivanilli28's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious fast-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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content, Torture, Self harm, and Murder

Moderate: Suicidal thoughts

jjgerend's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense fast-paced

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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Toxic relationship, Mental illness, Body horror, Alcohol, Child abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Murder, Body shaming, and Child death

Moderate: Vomit, Sexual content, Medical content, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Bullying

livbeveridge's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad medium-paced

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

3.0

This book was such a let down. I loved gone girl and thought I’d be just satisfied with this one … I was wrong. I had already guessed the “twist” and who the murderer was so there was no surprise there and the reveal/end was so subpar. On top of that I couldn’t like or connect to a single character even Camille who we are meant to root for. A lacklustre whodunnit that uses vulgar and stomach churning imagery to try to cover up its flaws.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Body shaming, Gore, Rape, Self harm, Alcohol, Cursing, Kidnapping, Sexual assault, Vomit, Bullying, Child death, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Violence, Addiction, Alcoholism, Child abuse, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Murder, Sexual content, and Grief

jdcorley's review against another edition

dark emotional medium-paced

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

4.5

It's an accident of history that this grody, grimy, lurid exploitation book materialized at a time when film and TV was going through a self-imposed stylistic minimization. This kind of book needs a De Palma adaptation circa 1983, where the emotions grow and corruption is in every corner until finally the agonizing endings cascade insanity in escalating wildness, then drops the curtain in a couple hundred words of a curtsey to the audience. Plenty of "troubled lady with modern haircut returns to small home town with secrets" books before and after this one , but this one relentlessly, wildly, screams in your ear that she shouldn't have done that. It's frankly great, a bravura debut.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content, Suicide, Child abuse, Child death, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Murder, Sexual violence, and Self harm

harleyqueen's review against another edition

dark mysterious fast-paced

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

3.5

Good plot twists.  A book about am up and coming reporter who goes back to her hometown to report on missing girl. She must manage her family past . However there is so much uneeded sexualisation of teenage girls that isn't needed an  makes you feel wrong for reading it 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Medical trauma, Child abuse, and Eating disorder

Moderate: Sexual content and Sexual assault

januaryghosts's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious fast-paced

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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Sexual content, Child abuse, Child death, and Self harm

Moderate: Sexual violence, Body shaming, Addiction, Alcohol, Vomit, and Rape

Minor: Animal cruelty and Suicidal thoughts

mariebrrr's review

challenging dark mysterious tense fast-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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Drug use, Rape, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, Medical content, Murder, Physical abuse, Blood, Mental illness, Self harm, Sexual content, Sexual assault, Child abuse, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Bullying, and Addiction

csalloway's review against another edition

dark emotional funny mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• 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: Alcoholism, Self harm, Child abuse, Child death, Murder, Sexual violence, Sexual content, and Torture

whimsicalish's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious 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

3.0

Unfortunately, I watched the HBO show before I read this book. I did enjoy reading it, even though I knew the big twists. The book does have the better ending (imho).

This book deals with many major dark themes, namely: child death, child abuse, mental illnesses, self-harm, violence towards girls, and sexualizing of young girls. We have situations where young girls and tweens are preyed upon. That is fine to discuss; this sadly happens in real life. Nothing wrong having conversations about that.

But I do not like the constant sexual descriptions of these young girls. The main character is the sister of one of those girls. She describes her sister (and other young tweens) in detail about their bodies. It's disgusting and wholly unnecessary. Multiple times this grown woman is pointing out how attractive these girls look and bringing up sex. It's awful!

Here's examples of some descriptions:
 

 

Her flushed face had the roundness of a girl barely in her teen and her hair was parted in ribbons, but her breasts, which she aimed proudly outward, were those of a  grown woman. A lucky grown woman.

But the piggy middle child, who now waddled dazedly into the room, was destined for needy sex and snack-cake bingeing.

All those milk-fed, hog-fed, beef-fed early years. All those extra hormones we put into our livestock. We'll be seeing toddlers with tits before long.

I pulled her nightgown over her head. Her nakedness was stunning... the slightest down in a wilted thatch between her legs. Full voluptuous breasts. Thirteen.
 

This could have been written better, but the over-sexualization of girls is too much to overlook.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Sexual content, Child abuse, Child death, Mental illness, Adult/minor relationship, Murder, Body shaming, Bullying, Self harm, Sexual assault, and Violence

Moderate: Alcoholism, Emotional abuse, Rape, Sexual violence, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail, and Panic attacks/disorders