Reviews tagging 'Sexual content'

Ripe by Sarah Rose Etter

10 reviews

dumbcumpster's review against another edition

dark emotional funny sad tense slow-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

this book reminded me a lot of my year of rest and relaxation by ottessa moshfegh. it was a quick read, but a tough one; I genuinely sobbed throughout a lot of this book, but it also made me laugh. the narrator's internal monologue reminds me a lot of my own, and it was both eerie and comforting to see it reflected elsewhere. I tore through this book in just over a day. 

it was almost ergodic in how the author uses black holes and black pages and "e.g.:" and definitions throughout to mirror the content of the book. the black hole metaphor was a little heavy-handed for my taste, but the pomegranate metaphor really struck me. it's very heavy on internal monologue, childhood memories, and the narrator's internal thoughts feelings etc. 

I've seen multiple reviews mention how Cassie, the main character, sucks or is a bad person or whatever, which I think is strange. I think the whole point is to draw attention to how capitalism ruins people's lives and turns them into something they never wanted to be, out of sheer economic necessity. Cassie is vain, competitive, cowardly, irresponsible, pathetic, an addict, lacks self control, the whole shebang, but so are we all. Cassie being directly impacted by being mistreated at her job, abused by her mother, half-heartedly committed to by her kind-of boyfriend, extorted by her landlord, put at risk by the virus, etc, all makes her want to shrivel up and hide and die. I think that's all of us. Cassie is all of us. that's what makes her so uncomfortable to understand and to see her inner machinations laid bare.

I think you'll either get this book or you won't, and you'll know pretty quickly which camp you fall into. if you have any experience with depression or poverty, you'll probably get it. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abortion, Panic attacks/disorders, Drug abuse, Eating disorder, Injury/Injury detail, Addiction, Child abuse, Mental illness, Drug use, Pandemic/Epidemic, Police brutality, Pregnancy, Suicide, Misogyny, Emotional abuse, Grief, Infertility, Religious bigotry, Sexual content, and Vomit

sarahrosebooknook's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious reflective sad medium-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Fatphobia, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Toxic relationship, Transphobia, Animal cruelty, Infidelity, Addiction, Murder, Panic attacks/disorders, Body shaming, Alcoholism, Alcohol, Abortion, Pregnancy, Suicidal thoughts, Emotional abuse, and Bullying

wild_rose_reads's review against another edition

challenging dark reflective sad medium-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide, Abortion, Addiction, and Mental illness

Moderate: Gaslighting, Child abuse, Sexism, and Classism

Minor: Infertility and Sexual content

virgcole398's review

dark emotional funny reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.75

If you’re struggling with your mental health or healing from narcissistic abuse, please don’t read this book. It just hit too close to home…

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Drug use, Gaslighting, Gore, Panic attacks/disorders, Blood, Mental illness, Suicidal thoughts, and Emotional abuse

Moderate: Alcohol, Classism, Fire/Fire injury, Medical content, Suicide, and Pandemic/Epidemic

Minor: Police brutality, Toxic friendship, and Sexual content

dustghosts's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious reflective sad fast-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Toxic friendship, Fire/Fire injury, Pregnancy, Abortion, Addiction, Drug abuse, Drug use, Panic attacks/disorders, and Suicide

Moderate: Body horror, Sexual content, Misogyny, Pandemic/Epidemic, Alcohol, and Emotional abuse

Minor: Toxic relationship, Toxic friendship, Police brutality, Child abuse, Infertility, Emotional abuse, and Physical abuse

leefox's review

dark emotional sad tense fast-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug use, Panic attacks/disorders, Abortion, and Alcohol

Moderate: Child abuse, Suicide, Self harm, and Sexual content

Minor: Vomit

rachaelwho's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad medium-paced

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

5.0

Deeply depressed and depressing. Everything felt inevitable, though for a brief shining moment here and there I thought that

Cassie would destroy the company before she died

.  That was the main will she/won't she of the book for me, otherwise I could see it all in front of me, but not in a bad way. It did take me a weirdly long time to realize that

Cassie had reproduced her relationship with her parents in her friends

.
I would not have called this magical realism. There's no indication that the black hole is literally, physically there.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness, Toxic friendship, Abortion, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Infidelity, Suicide, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Drug abuse, Misogyny, Infertility, Pandemic/Epidemic, Panic attacks/disorders, Police brutality, Racism, Addiction, Colonisation, Sexism, and Sexual content

moonthinker's review against another edition

dark emotional sad medium-paced

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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Suicide, Mental illness, Drug use, Abortion, Suicidal thoughts, Sexual content, and Emotional abuse

lexim's review against another edition

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Abortion, Drug use, Pandemic/Epidemic, Pregnancy, and Sexual content

Minor: Fatphobia and Police brutality

caseythereader's review against another edition

challenging dark funny fast-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

Thanks to Scribner Books for the free copy of this book.

 - RIPE is one of those books that's satire, but only just barely. I work in marketing, and though luckily I've never had this horrific a job, I see elements from the larger field taken to their logical endpoints all over this book.
- I loved the slight fantastical element of the black hole that follows Cassie around. I'm not sure the device got used to its full potential, but it kept the book from being simply a rote recitation of horrors.
- Although I think the black hole plot thread and the dictionary definition framing device didn't quite work as well as intended, we do a love a book where a character gets an ab0rtion simply because she just cannot have a child right now. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual content, Cursing, Medical content, Pandemic/Epidemic, Police brutality, Abortion, Alcohol, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Pregnancy, and Suicide

Moderate: Vomit

Minor: Domestic abuse