Reviews tagging 'Death'

Bright Young Women by Jessica Knoll

218 reviews

theresa_r's review against another edition

dark emotional funny mysterious tense 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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Death, Domestic abuse, Homophobia, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Grief, and Death of parent

sunbearbeam's review against another edition

dark emotional sad slow-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Homophobia, Sexual assault, Murder, and Lesbophobia

Moderate: Rape, Sexism, and Death of parent

Minor: Adult/minor relationship and Kidnapping

_meganrose's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.0

Men and their fragile egos are an absolute disgrace. The actions. The inactions. The manipulation. The willingness to be manipulated. An absolute disgrace and I hope that everyone who played a role in the holes that enabled such a horrible human to do what he did live/lived the rest of their lives with a never-ending pit of shame consuming them. That, of course, would take having enough emotional intelligence and humility to recognize their mistakes. But I digress.

I respect that the author refused to use his name. Because quite frankly, it has always bothered me how he has been romanticized and portrayed in media. Only recently have I started to hear criticism on this, which means we are at least moving in the forward direction as a society (I hope).

4 stars because the perspective was refreshing, the belittlement of such a despicable human being was well overdue being warranted, and I couldn’t put it down.

That being said, it wasn’t an enjoyable reading experience so I don’t feel right giving 5 stars. This is no fault to the author. The darkness of this book was heavy and will haunt me.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Body horror, Cancer, Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Gore, Homophobia, Incest, Sexual assault, Blood, Excrement, Kidnapping, Grief, Death of parent, Lesbophobia, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Infidelity, Mental illness, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Terminal illness, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Vomit, Medical content, Medical trauma, Stalking, Abortion, Murder, Outing, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, and Sexual harassment

sweetlilly93's review against another edition

dark reflective sad 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

Oh, this definitely passes the Bechdel test.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Domestic abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Dementia, and Grief

Moderate: Emotional abuse, Violence, Death of parent, Lesbophobia, and Gaslighting

Minor: Body shaming, Child death, Cursing, Drug use, Eating disorder, and Car accident

antoinetteshelf's review against another edition

dark emotional informative mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

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

2.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Rape, Sexual assault, and Murder

jessexallanna's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious sad tense fast-paced

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

4.0

This was my first time reading a true crime type of book. I don’t usually consume that genre of media, so I don’t know how this fares compared to other books of its kind. But I think this book was extremely well-written and patient with its characters, providing their full thought processes and motives most of the time. I think the pacing was generous to getting to the bottom of Pam and Ruth as characters. The book is tragic but also gives hope and meaning to (inevitable?) horrifying, dark, damning circumstances. And I appreciated the breakdown of the POVs and years. I would’ve loved to hear more specifically about Ruth’s father and Pamela’s overall life (though we get a lot, I still would’ve liked more) and more of Tina’s journey overall. I loved the framing of the defendant as non-special. Just a horrible human being, not cunning or sexy. Just vile.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death and Rape

Moderate: Homophobia

cadyjean's review against another edition

challenging emotional hopeful mysterious 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? It's complicated

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Eating disorder, Homophobia, Sexual assault, and Murder

cagey11's review against another edition

dark emotional sad medium-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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Misogyny, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Violence, Grief, and Murder

livbell's review against another edition

adventurous dark inspiring mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death, Gore, Mental illness, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Blood, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

The description of the night of the event is very graphic.

hardcover_hazel's review against another edition

challenging informative inspiring 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? It's complicated

3.0

This is a powerful book. We follow the true crime story of serial killer Ted Bundy but told from a fictional perspective. Pamela survives the onslaught left behind in her sorority dorm when he murders and maims two sorority sisters.

We follow a lot of his true crime story here, and see how much praise and credit he got from the press which was definitely not deserved. 

I enjoyed it, and I enjoyed the feminine take on how things were in the world at this time. I listened to this as an audiobook and the details of the law proceedings and admin details read by this reader was just not for me 😩 I might have enjoyed it more as a physical copy. The reader was perfect though, giving a wonderful voice to Pamela.

The rest of the story was incredible. Pick it up if you:
- love true crime
- want more victim focus than praising the serial killer focus
- are a feminist 
- support woman’s rights (and wrongs - not that there are many in the book)

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Body horror, Death, Emotional abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Violence, Blood, Grief, and Murder