Reviews tagging 'Sexual harassment'

Annie Bot by Sierra Greer

17 reviews

deadwhiterabbit's review against another edition

dark emotional sad fast-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body shaming, Confinement, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Misogyny, Sexual content, Torture, Toxic relationship, Vomit, Grief, Gaslighting, and Sexual harassment

sabrinaleaf's review against another edition

emotional reflective medium-paced

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

4.0

For something which only had one location and followed mostly the mundane life of one person, I found this enthralling. 
This is more of a character study of someone who isn’t human but, after an incident occurs, starts changing and learning how to be human. 
Its an allegory for all the woman who have been trapped by the men in their lives, who have had their credit taken from them, who have had to please their men and make sacrifices, but who have had the courage to change that path.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Misogyny, Sexual content, and Sexual harassment

danie_joye_breit's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body shaming, Bullying, Cancer, Confinement, Domestic abuse, Infidelity, Misogyny, Sexism, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Gaslighting, and Sexual harassment

For anyone particularly tired of "Men Writing Women," Annie Bot is a unique and refreshingly solid take on the complicated relationships between romantic partners and with oneself. I feel like I learned about my own metacognition from this book, and given how painfully relatable the content was, I laude the author for keeping the story brief (<250 pages). It packs a punch, but every adult should read Annie Bot.

bandysbooks's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional 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? It's complicated

5.0

I had heard good things about this book from some friends who have similar tastes in books, so I went in with high expectations. Somehow, this still far exceeded said expectations.

Annie Bot is a brilliant novel that follows an AI who is auto-didactic and programmed to be a personal companion. As she experiences more and more, her consciousness begins to grow and shift to the point that people no longer can tell that she’s not human. What follows is a musing on sentience and bodily autonomy. 

Ugh. Some of these scenes in this book were hard to read. Some heartbreaking things happen to Annie and the author does not shy away from depicting them. As a woman reading this, there were certain aspects that made me cringe and have to take pauses while reading.

Midway through the book the tone of things start to change and I had an “oh shit. This author is going to ruin this book with some cliche ending” I’m glad I stayed with it though because the twist at the very end was a gut-punch. It was such a fresh and satisfying ending for a book that really digs into some uncomfortable places.

Consider me a new fan of Sierra Greer’s writing. This absolutely won’t be the last of her books that I pick up. And if you are interested in themes of power dynamics, sexism, bodily autonomy, sentience, and artificial intelligence, this is a must read. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body shaming, Bullying, Confinement, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Slavery, Torture, Toxic relationship, Grief, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, and Sexual harassment

mountainstobeach's review against another edition

DNF. This book has a great start and premise but turned too much into sex scenes between man and robot.  It is disappointing that the author focused more on that then the interesting complications that can arise when “owning” and being in a relationship with a robot.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content

Moderate: Sexual assault and Sexual harassment

kaelilili's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional tense fast-paced

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

5.0

Being unhappy implies that she has a capacity to be happy, but she does not have the right to be happy.

This is the best book I have read in a long time. It is a representation of having a narcissistic partner, and how your sense of self is tied to their perception of you. This was a powerful and challenging read that makes you question what it means to be a human with free will.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Rape, Toxic relationship, Gaslighting, Abandonment, and Sexual harassment

Moderate: Death and Fatphobia

Minor: Terminal illness, Transphobia, and Vomit

Vivid depiction of Annie being trapped in a closet with her libido set to 10. She is in agony until she lets her battery die, and as a result has some sexual trauma. She is then left in the closet for 7 weeks.

Very controlling and emotionally abusive “partner.”

sweill803's review against another edition

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Misogyny, Sexism, Sexual content, Gaslighting, and Sexual harassment

Moderate: Infidelity and Medical content

ashyq's review against another edition

emotional hopeful reflective sad fast-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body shaming, Confinement, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Infidelity, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, and Sexual harassment

Moderate: Slavery, Torture, and Gaslighting

Minor: Cancer and Death

melissaslibraryy's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful reflective sad medium-paced

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

4.75

This book was so good and, everything I expected and more. The complexity of AI bots intermingling in society and how they are not that far off from humanity as one might’ve thought, is a scary feeling to realize especially with how far AI is progressing in real life.  

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body shaming, Bullying, Confinement, Cursing, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Infidelity, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Vomit, Medical content, Grief, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Sexual harassment, and Classism

Moderate: Sexual content

gabs_parr's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional reflective tense medium-paced

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

5.0

Annie is an autodidactic robot who was created to be the perfect girlfriend for Doug, her human owner. She’s always learning and getting smarter and more “human”. Doug initially loves that she’s not perfect and wants her to be like a real woman and to challenge him, but the smarter she gets, the more complicated their relationship grows. 

It’s kind of like Stepford Wives in the sense of perfect robot wives, but with more emphasis on power dynamics/control, autonomy, intimacy and what we actually want from relationships, romantic and platonic. This book is less a critique on the patriarchy, which was pretty much the main theme of SW, and instead it dives more into observations of what it means to be human and live the human experience. 

I’ve only just finished and I already know that I’m going to be thinking about this book for months to come. The relationships were just so dynamic and complex. Every character was various shades of morally gray depending on the scene we were in. No one was ever purely “good” or “evil”. There is no true good or bad guy. There are just complex emotions and relationships and deep rooted questions about autonomy, love, sex, and power. 

Annie’s inner relationship with herself is just as compelling as her relationship with Doug and both relationships will keep you guessing as to what her next move will be. I know I will certainly be thinking about her final choices for months to come (and Doug’s too, they both grew enormously and changed into almost unrecognizable characters by the end of this book). 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Slavery, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Body shaming, Fatphobia, and Misogyny

Minor: Sexual content, Vomit, Death of parent, Alcohol, and Sexual harassment