Reviews with content warning for Sexual assault - Promising Young Women

Reviews tagging 'Sexual assault'

Promising Young Women by Caroline O'Donoghue

26 reviews

gingerlocks25's review against another edition

mysterious sad medium-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

3.0

I usually reserve the right of audiobooks to strictly nonfiction, but audible plus bios and memoirs section this month had slim pickings so I had a look at their fiction section instead. I enjoyed “the Rachel Incident”, so decided to give this one a listen.

It all starts out very Bridget Jonesy. (Especially on audiobook with the English narrator) We meet Jane, post break-up, she learns her ex has moved on with a more successful woman, a barrister no less and how she somehow muddles through and wins the pitch of her life at work. The company goes out to celebrate and here lies a conundrum of which man to go home with, the Mr. Darcy type or Daniel Cleaver. We all know where this is going to go, yet O’Donoghue doesn’t want to give us that. We are led down a different path. One of unexplained weight loss, blackouts, bald patches, carpet burn and sex she can’t fully remember.

Jane is the lovable protagonist, who doesn’t write a diary, but rather a blog called Jolly Politely, where she acts as an agony aunt, dishing out advice. As the book continues, we, the reader as well as her followers wonder if she really has the right to. We see her be promoted, ravaged and dismembered before our eyes. This is a book about promising women sometimes losing their way. The concept of women having it all but also being on the brink of losing it all, whether it’s because of a relationship, because a certain career hasn’t worked out, familial pressure, gender pressure etc.

It’s an easy listen, but definitely prefer The Rachel Incident.

Spoiler: O’Donoghue really seems to like the character to have an affair with an older married man. Sensing a theme but will still read Scenes of a Graphic Nature soon!

Content Warnings

kashila's review against another edition

Go to review page

dark funny hopeful reflective tense fast-paced

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

4.5

Content Warnings

wowsmeows's review against another edition

Go to review page

reflective sad 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

4.0

Content Warnings

cecereads__'s review against another edition

Go to review page

4.5

I read the first chapter, then decided I was more in the mood for a mystery so I read Kala (loved it). Then I came back to this one, and I’m really surprised how I just kept turning the pages. (We all know that sometimes a book can drag and you just need to reach that next chapter to take a break) - well, I didn’t expect that this would be the very opposite. The writing was excellent; I raced through it. Even though I’ve read similar books in terms of the premise (office setting, three female friends-ish, younger woman/older man, a twenties London girlie, you get it), I was still so gripped by this one. And yes, I’m sorry for sounding so surprised but I had such high expectations for the Rachel incident (unfairly so) and went in with none for this one. I just know that Scenes of a graphic nature is fully calling my name now (from the shelves bc ofc I got these two after reading the Rachel incident bc I still really enjoyed it! - Just thought it’d be a five star and a bit different than it was).
Anyway, really loved the writing and the story was told so well imo, I couldn’t look away

Content Warnings

danajoy's review against another edition

Go to review page

dark reflective sad tense

4.0

Dark. At times, surreal. Infused with toxic environments and mindsets. Promising Young Women follows the time-old tale of a young woman becoming entangled with an older, married, man at work. The way it undoes her and the way she puts herself back together.

Jane makes horrible, infuriating decisions. She seems a little too passive in her own life (at times I feel like I do this too, perhaps we all do) and it gets too far out of her control. She wants things that don't serve her.

Reading this felt like a horror novel. I saw the bodily changes and deterioration, the appetite loss and vague mentions of things neither Jane or we as the reader knew about as horrifying.

The Agony Aunt aspect was quite interesting and I did like the way it made Jane reflect.

The book ends without tying up all its loose ends. Consent and assault aren't completely considered by Jane throughout but one has to hope with time and more clarity she'd be able to recognise what was happening.

I do recommend it. This falls into that category of troubled twenty-something women behaving self-destructively which I do tend to resonate with.

Content Warnings