Reviews with content warning for Police brutality - Ripe

Reviews tagging 'Police brutality'

Ripe by Sarah Rose Etter

11 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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madelinemartin's review against another edition

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dark emotional reflective sad medium-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

For anyone dealing with changing jobs and burnout, this book is almost too relatable.

The book juxtaposes the situation Cassie finds herself in and the surrealistic depiction of her mental health issues in sharp contrast to one another, providing a sinister air to the shady corporate dealings she is forced to do, and an edge of realism to her very asbtract mental health issues. The tone shifts as her issues worsen, and while there isn't a whole lot of plot, her spiral seems scarily, worryingly relatable.

While the way her thoughts and actions escalate at the end of the novel implies she is going to end her life, it could also be interpreted as choosing to embrace the black hole as a pathway to starting over, changing her reality — a new job, new city, or ending her complicated situationship.

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errie's review against another edition

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dark emotional

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated

4.5

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virgcole398's review

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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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dustghosts's review against another edition

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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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rachaelwho's review against another edition

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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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