Reviews tagging 'Physical abuse'

Monsters: A Fan's Dilemma by Claire Dederer

15 reviews

ktdakotareads's review against another edition

informative slow-paced

3.5

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: Addiction, Death, Grief, Infidelity, Drug use, Misogyny, Toxic relationship, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Sexism, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Antisemitism, Bullying, Death of parent, Drug abuse, Suicide, Alcoholism, Domestic abuse, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, and Racism

mmccombs's review against another edition

challenging informative reflective medium-paced

4.5

This is a book made up of feelings and no answers and a whole lot of questions. It’s a book where I didn’t necessarily agree or resonate with everything the author brought up, but one that has made me think in new ways about consuming art, celebrity, biography, personal ethics, capitalism, and how all of those things intersect in a messy cacophony of emotion. How, ultimately, the question of what we do with monstrous celebrities/artists/public figures  boils down to the question of how we can still love someone when they’re a bad person (and if it’s possible to love ourselves when we are also imperfect).

 I do think the conclusion, which more or less boils down to “there’s no ethical consumption under capitalism” is kind of a weak way out. Some people might come out of this saying “phew, I can watch X movie and not feel bad about it” and I’m just unsure if that’s exactly the most productive outcome of a book like this. Sure, we can’t consume/not consume our way out of a huge systemic issue of abuse in the art industry, but what other method, as individuals, can we leverage in an attempt to show the industry (and our peers) that we do not condone behavior like this? I would have liked to see her push beyond her “well, what can you do?” ending to do something more constructive, it was not super satisfying and felt like a cop out.

I think I’ll be reflecting on this one for a while, I’m already excited to come back to it!

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Physical abuse, Pedophilia, and Rape

dexkit10's review against another edition

challenging emotional informative medium-paced

3.75

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Sexual violence, Gun violence, Abandonment, Rape, Sexual assault, and Pedophilia

bi_n_large's review against another edition

challenging emotional hopeful reflective fast-paced

5.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Physical abuse, Emotional abuse, Domestic abuse, and Abandonment

Moderate: Racism, Death, Murder, Antisemitism, Drug abuse, and Alcoholism

brunonadamas's review against another edition

challenging emotional informative reflective sad tense

4.0

An excellent book, very well written. I can’t agree with the concept that it doesn’t make a difference if I still support an artist that has done terrible things. It makes a difference in my life. 

The fact is that there are so many great artist that have made the choice to not do things as a result of their torment. 

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: Grief, Misogyny, Abortion, Adult/minor relationship, Alcohol, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Death, Physical abuse, Toxic relationship, Violence, Abandonment, Addiction, Alcoholism, Antisemitism, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Gaslighting, Kidnapping, Pedophilia, Rape, Racism, Sexism, and Suicide