Reviews with content warning for Sexual harassment - Small Game

Reviews tagging 'Sexual harassment'

Small Game by Blair Braverman

7 reviews

brooke_marcum's review against another edition

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adventurous mysterious tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Loveable characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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erinoconnor's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional hopeful reflective sad tense fast-paced

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

3.75

I read an advanced uncorrected proof copy - so I’m not sure if anything changed with publication, that being said - I really enjoyed the story. I wanted more and wish there was a more fleshed out ending, but I appreciate the mirror image of the beginning at the end. Some things seemed rushed and not fully answered - I want to hear EXACTLY what happened to Lenny and the crew, while I think it’s probably their last theory about money but STILL! - but I thoroughly enjoyed this read.

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filey's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional funny informative mysterious medium-paced

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

3.75

I expected this book to be closer to Welcome to the Goddamn Ice Cube and was initially surprised that it wasn't. As an #uglydogs fan and an occasional Survivor/Naked and Afraid enjoyer, I was excited to read Blair's (fictional) take on survival reality TV!

I burned through this novel in a single 3 hour session and thoroughly enjoyed my time with it. I don't know if Mara is meant to be a likeable protagonist, but I did like her a lot.

The ending did feel a little frustrating. I was less bothered by the missing resolution of the mystery—

I think it's heavily implied that one character's theory was spot on

—and more by the montage-like ending.

Part of me feels like it was fine, because the characters had done what they needed to do by that point, but part of me wishes I could've joined them for that last stretch of their journey as well.

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alreads420's review

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adventurous medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated

3.0

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allfawkesgiven's review

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adventurous challenging emotional reflective tense medium-paced

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

4.0

This book wasn’t quite what I was expecting, and I’m mostly glad. I initially read it via audiobook and there two things that drew me to it—the performer was Kristen Sieh (I liked what she did with Romantic Comedy) and the fact it seemed to be a fictionalized Survivor gone wrong. My attitude going in was something along the lines of steeling myself for campy writing and hoping that the story captures all of the absurdness of the mess that is Survivor/production. (I hate-watched some when I was ill and god is it absurd and terrible!) I also thought maybe it would go very Lord Of The Flies with full gruesome abandon. I would say it ended up being quite a bit more quiet, somber, and even reflective on humanity than I anticipated.
Most of the character development was around Mara, who felt like a very solitary sort of person. There was a lot of restraint in her, or some kind of distance I felt between her outward and her inner self. At time I felt almost ambivalent about her, and then there were others where what she was experiencing and realizing stirred some deeper feelings in me.
After reading it, I was not surprised to learn, after a quick skim of the author’s other titles, that the author has outdoor “survival” experience. The detailing of daily life felt personally lived. I liked that

it got dark without the main characters going full Lord of the Flies with cannibalism and such.

The story was scary but not because it was relying on the same overplayed individualism that seem to drive many stories where people have to do dark stuff to survive. One thing that kept me reading was hoping we’d learn what happened to strand the castaways there.

I found it dissatisfying that we don’t learn what happened to Lenny and the crew!!! Why did they disappear?I guess we’re supposed to assume that Ashley’s theory was correct? Give us, like, one sentence when we heard there were lawsuits at the very end! It ended and I felt unresolved. I wanted that little thrill of knowing. It seems like a lot of people felt the same, from perusing the reviews.

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knenigans's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional tense fast-paced

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

4.0

I really like the way this was obviously written by an author who knows her subject well but I personally struggled to connect with the characters. The sense of foreboding was extremely good and all the situations were realistically terrifying which earned the 4 stars.

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lisbethleftwich's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced

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

3.75

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