Reviews tagging 'Toxic relationship'

Dykette by Jenny Fran Davis

28 reviews

itstheesilvie's review

dark emotional funny hopeful reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

Fortunately or unfortunately this book made me reflect on myself and previous relationships I had with some of the women in my life. It was definitely a book that every character was so relatable yet unhinged and fucked up. It was incredibly raw writing.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug use, Gaslighting, Injury/Injury detail, Self harm, Sexual content, Blood, Body horror, Toxic relationship, Gore, Infidelity, and Toxic friendship

kelkelkelkelly's review

challenging dark tense medium-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

I’m rating this book right in the middle because I’m not sure what to make of it. I believe it’s satire but even then I’m not sure it’s even particularly good satire. But it’s definitely unique and I will be thinking about it for a long time.

The story is like if White Lotus read a bunch of queer theory, spent 50+ hours on lesbian TikTok engaging in discourse, then declared it could be the voice of a generation. It’s hyper-niche - I think the only people who could get through it are upper middle class queers in major metropolitan areas of North America. The references are so specific and trend driven that it already feels dated to read, and will probably be illegible in ten years.

The POV character Sasha is deeply unlikable, self-obsessed, manipulative, performative, controlling, and vain. The other characters are all thinly drawn, and it’s hard to tell if that’s to underscore Sasha’s self-obsession or bad writing. Lou, the only character of colour, is a particularly egregious example of this, seeming to be mostly ignored in the story as though the author couldn’t decide what to do with them, or otherwise demonstrating by omission that Sasha doesn’t care about anything she can’t fuck, control, or hate.

The novel is an uncomfortably frank look at how power works in queer social dynamics, albeit a very narrow sampling of the highly wealthy, mostly cis, and butch/femme conforming. It depicts the ways femme identity can be weaponized to conceal manipulation and controlling behaviour, brushed off as games and “high femme camp antics”, and insisting that if you don’t get you simply must not be smart enough. The book misapplies therapy speak and queer theory citations constantly, blurring the line between critique and asinine nonsense.

In all this, it’s impossible to tell if this was the author’s intent or if she’s just done a sloppy job at writing a complicated character. Either way, it gets points for originality and entertainment value.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Fatphobia, Classism, Sexual content, Body horror, Body shaming, Bullying, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Infidelity, and Toxic relationship

Minor: Excrement

Explicit kink content needle play

orchidd's review against another edition

dark tense slow-paced

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

this was like reading about poorly adjusted people on reality TV

tags: lesbian gender, butch/femme, homonormativity, performativity (and inability to stop performing), construction of femme gender as in opposition to butch gender

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Sexual content, Torture, Cursing, and Body horror

Moderate: Drug use and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Excrement

butlerebecca's review against another edition

reflective tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• 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

Idk about this one - not what I expected but had very poignant reflections on gender and performativity throughout
- Update a month after reading, I keep thinking about this so I'm upping in from 3.25 to 3.75, left some lasting thoughts about queerness and the performance of desire

Main character is insufferable and wish she was reflective about this sooner than the last 5% of the book

First time I read a book with a character that uses he/she pronouns interchangeably throughout - I want a book from baby Jesse’s perspective!!!

And Jules was totally Rachel Maddow, right?

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Sexual content, Sexual violence, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Homophobia

irenemarie's review against another edition

tense medium-paced

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

2.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Torture, Toxic relationship, and Sexual content

Moderate: Infidelity, Alcohol, and Drug use

Minor: Excrement

m_onalisaa's review

hopeful inspiring lighthearted relaxing

• Loveable characters? Yes

0.25

i no longer identify as a lesbian

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Infidelity, Lesbophobia, Bullying, Sexual content, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Alcohol, Animal cruelty, Cursing, Abandonment, Body shaming, Medical content, Blood, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Biphobia, Sexual violence, Body horror, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Homophobia, Injury/Injury detail, Torture, Drug use, and Toxic relationship

icmcmx's review

challenging fast-paced

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

0.25

Don't. Just save yourself the time and just go straight to therapy. 

It's like the writer took the most absurd things she could think of & threw them together in this grotesque mess of words. 


This is not being queer.  Please don't think that this is it. 

Also would love to call the RSPCA for that poor dug. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Antisemitism, Body shaming, Drug use, Sexual content, Torture, Ableism, Alcohol, Animal cruelty, Biphobia, Classism, Gaslighting, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Homophobia, Medical content, Infidelity, Lesbophobia, Medical trauma, Sexual violence, Toxic friendship, and Toxic relationship

mstrouse's review against another edition

emotional tense slow-paced

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

2.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Torture, Body horror, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Toxic relationship and Sexual content

Minor: Dysphoria

britt_zonnebloempit's review

tense medium-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

0.25

I wish I could give this minus stars. The quarter star is for Vivienne and Vivienne only. 

As a lesbian, this book is full of the most fucked up bullshit I have ever read in my entire life. There is so fucking much wrong with these characters. I'm pretty sure Sasha has about a million personality disorders that she refuses to acknowledge and get help for, instead behaving like the most toxic ass bitch I have ever read about in my entire life.

I'm also very much wondering where she gets the idea that she's a gold star lesbian (an outdated as fuck term imo) when she also mentioned sucking dick in the park after dark, identifies as "straight for butches," and keeps calling Jesse her boyfriend, NOT TO MENTION that Jesse is expressed as wanting testosterone but it being too expensive (and thus, identifying as trans? Making Sasha bisexual at best?)

And then that fucking livestream between Jesse and Darcy? For fucks sake, if I could somehow erase these images from my fucking brain I would give just about ANYTHING. I did NOT need to read that. At all. 

What the fuck was up with that "can i come inside" bullshit too????? Some r@pe kink shit.

Also, a list of the extensive and healthy meals the dog gets from her owners: 
- eye goop from her own eyes
- eye goop from her owners' eyes
- diabetic cat food
- a raw meatball (with herbs) 
- a meatball baked in sauce
- leftovers from a plate

Not once did I see them give Vivienne dog food. Not. Once.

And then there is the constant, blatant fatphobia. Not just towards the women, no, towards the DOG too. Jesus fucking Christ.

Idk where this author got all these ridiculous ideas, but again, as a lesbian, none of this shit is true for most of the lesbians I know. Literally none of it. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Fatphobia, Alcohol, Animal cruelty, Injury/Injury detail, Dysphoria, Gore, Infidelity, Sexual content, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Rape, Toxic relationship, and Transphobia

23phaces's review

tense

• 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

1.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Toxic relationship