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thatgamertiffani's review
3.25
Graphic: Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Murder, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Stalking, Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Sexual assault, and Self harm
abstractedal3x's review
Graphic: Pedophilia, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Rape, Adult/minor relationship, and Sexual assault
Moderate: Stalking, Sexism, Toxic relationship, and Sexual harassment
porporina's review
- 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
3.0
Graphic: Abandonment, Adult/minor relationship, Addiction, Blood, Body shaming, Stalking, Violence, Classism, Death of parent, Death, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Sexual assault, Toxic relationship, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Bullying, Child abuse, Pedophilia, Gaslighting, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual content, Sexual harassment, and Sexual violence
thebigemmt505's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
This is one of the most disgusting, predatory, uncomfortable, unacceptable, depraved pieces of literature I have ever read. I thought it was pretty good!
A Lolita-type novel from the female point of view isn’t unheard of but certainly less common than stories involving male predators (which, in fairness, does reflect reality), so this book brings an interesting (if disturbing) concept to the table. What keeps the book from being completely unreadable garbage or entirely rape-porn is…
1) Celeste as a character is not only intentionally funny and occasionally cracks jokes that have a tendency to make me nervously laugh then cringe, but her narrative at times is often so over the top and obsessive it becomes comedic. Her droning on about how fixated she is with the bodily fluids of teen boys is far from fun to read, but often becomes as funny as it is distressing because of just how relentlessly obsessed she is. Not to mention how much a MATERIAL GWORL she is, getting depressed over not having expensive skin care products in…well…spoiler situations.
2) There is important commentary on the way women are seen when they are predators vs how men are seen. Obviously men have a MUCH higher tendency towards predations, particularly when it comes to pedophilia, but there is far from an absence of women who prey on children and when they are outed, those why were preyed upon are seen as “lucky” or as if they “wanted it” much more than for those who were preyed on by men. There’s a really dangerous double standard in general, as when we see women so horrific acts it’s often much more of a spectacle. “How could someone so attractive do this?!” “I bet the victims wanted/enjoyed this. You know teen boys!” “Oh my god, a WOMAN sociopath?’ Unheard of!” And so on.
I do have critiques though. While in reading this book I obviously signed up for disturbing sexual content, I REALLY did not need to read multiple graphic scenes of statutory rape. One or two get the point across, and even then it still felt a bit too much.
Overall this was an interesting read, but I feel a strong desire to take a shower and bleach my eyes now that I’ve finished it. I can’t say it horrified me or even disturbed me like it aimed to ; I more just felt uncomfortable and surprised at how over the top it is. I do recommend it though if you have the stomach.
Graphic: Child abuse, Death, Emotional abuse, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, and Sexual content
cbabione's review against another edition
- 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
Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, and Toxic relationship