Reviews tagging 'Sexual assault'

Kink: Stories by Garth Greenwell, R.O. Kwon

21 reviews

wngwendy's review against another edition

2.5

some stories are amazing, and some of them fell very flat. 
Read the tw's before starting this books!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual violence, Sexual assault, Sexual content, and Rape

Moderate: Blood

violetends's review against another edition

dark tense fast-paced

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

2.25

Check Content Warnings before reading this review or this book!

I have a full bag of mixed feelings about this, ufff. First of all, I have been active in kink and kink communities for a while now and consider many of the people I have met in these contexts or ventured into them with, as my found family. Therefore, I do consider myself to have some knowledge and experience on the overall topic of kink, even though it is obviously a very very broad field in which many experiences can be made that are vastly different.

There were some stories I enjoyed a lot.  "The Voyeurs" for instance, was a great albeit painful narrative about being othered as a trans person and craving the care and closeness of loved ones. And the reocurring use of 'being looked at' at a theme, chef's kiss! 

However, a majority of stories shows kink as something that lacks consent and consideration, care and empathy and just general kindness for the people engaging with each other. Foundational kink practices like aftercare, safewords or negotiation talks were pretty much missing from all of the stories. Several of the stories even contained scenes in which a dominant partner intentionally crossed boundaries to play with their partner or 'challenge' them. Characters were oftentimes rude, inconsiderate or outright violent to each other and I got the feeling that the authors mostly perceived kink as something that goes along with bad communication and boundaries as well as a heightened possibility for interpersonal violence. 
Naturally, there will be people who practice kink in these ways. And in my opinion its important to also portray characters whose struggles transfer to the way they show up to kinky situations with their partners. However, I find it to be insensitive (at best) to show kink in this continously unfriendly light. People who have not had contact with kinky communities and individuals who value communication, the well-being and joy of everyone involved and consent, might just find a whole lot of stereotypes reinforced. And that makes me so so angry and so so sad.

Lastly, one story made me so angry that I briefly wanted to throw the book against a wall. (CW for r*pe going forward.)

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body shaming, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Racism, Sexual content, Rape, Stalking, Toxic relationship, Transphobia, and Body horror

thebookfangirl's review against another edition

slow-paced

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

2.5

I was really underwhelmed by a lot of these stories. They tended to drag and I felt myself skimming the pages at points. There were certain stories that I loved, which is why this book is a 2.5 but the good ones were few and far between. Also, I'm all for kink but when one story had a surprise incest plot... No, thank you. I'm glad this book has introduced me to more authors to check out and read their works.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Dysphoria, Rape, Self harm, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Sexual content, Blood, Body horror, Death of parent, Incest, and Sexual assault

ecnolte's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional sad tense medium-paced

4.0

I absolutely loved some stories (specifically Alexander Chee, Callum Angus, Roxanne Gay, Carmen Maria Machado, Melissa Febos, and Kim Fu) and the others I absolutely did not like (basically all others I didn’t list). I simply do! not! care! about how a cishet man relates to kink!!! Also, someone needs to get Brandon Taylor to therapy!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual violence, Physical abuse, Violence, Sexual assault, Homophobia, Sexual content, Body horror, Blood, Emotional abuse, Toxic relationship, Racism, Lesbophobia, Alcohol, Sexism, Rape, Abandonment, and Injury/Injury detail

bashsbooks's review against another edition

adventurous emotional reflective medium-paced

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

3.25

A wide range of short stories from some of the most well-known contemporary authors. Due to the nature of being a collection, some of these stories were better than others, but they all did give me a lot to think about regarding relationships, sexuality, and human connectivity. My favorite story from the collection was "The Lost Performance of the High Priestest of the Temple of Horrors" by Carmen Maria Machado.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content, Sexual assault, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Classism

emilybanks's review against another edition

2.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Sexual harassment, Body horror, Fatphobia, Sexual violence, Sexual content, and Sexual assault

toffishay's review against another edition

challenging emotional funny mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

3.0

I really appreciated what this book was seeking to accomplish; even if I didn't love all of the stories individually, I appreciate this as a body of work that can help us better understand what kink is telling us when we are too busy to listen. My favorite stories were "Trust" by Larissa Pham, "Best Friendster Date Ever" by Alexander Chee, "The Lost Performance of the High Priestess of the Temple of Horror" by Carmen Maria Machado, and "The Voyeurs" by Zeyn Joukhadar.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Sexual harassment, Violence, Transphobia, Blood, Sexual violence, Sexual assault, Sexism, and Body horror

Moderate: Incest, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Alcohol, Gaslighting, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Stalking, Torture, Racism, Injury/Injury detail, and Infidelity

thewrongkenna's review

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense slow-paced

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

1.5

Not as celebratory as I thought. A lot of sadness and shame. Lots of TWs. I enjoyed a few of the stories, much less than I’d hoped. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault, Violence, Transphobia, Sexual violence, Hate crime, and Homophobia

norawise's review against another edition

2.0

As a general fiction collection this book is fine, obviously a lot of talented writers were involved, but to say they are exploring kink is quite a stretch. A lot of these stories don't even involve anything kinky, and I have a very broad definition of what kink can be. And when kink is written about, it too often involved terrible communication, dangerous practises, or was just outright sexual assault. There just seems to be a massive rift between what the introduction sets the book out to be and then what the actual stories contained. Overall a big disappointment.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape and Sexual assault

lisakate1126's review against another edition

challenging dark sad medium-paced

2.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual violence, Sexual assault, Rape, and Sexual content