Reviews tagging 'Sexual violence'

Search History by Amy Taylor

6 reviews

natalieba's review against another edition

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emotional funny hopeful mysterious 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? Yes

5.0

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water_and_shade's review

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funny lighthearted reflective 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

4.0

A funny, lighthearted, engrossing debut about love in the digital age and the pitfalls of millennial life. Taylor's writing is wry and engaging and her characters were likeable and realistic. A quick read that I finished in a day. I found it really easy to empathise with a lot of Ana's thought processes and anxiety, as a female millennial myself, particularly how she relates to the male gaze and it's impact in her self esteem. Themes of feminism and the patriachy throughout which weren't heavy handed, although didn't always tie in smoothly with the narrative. Trigger warning for strangulation/non consensual sexual acts in the first chapter. Would recommend if you're looking for a quick, fun read with a bit of heart. 
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cartridgepink's review

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

3.25

Not the type of novel I normally read. Seems pretty good at what it's aiming for. Perhaps I was expecting to find a book about a young professional woman in Melbourne a bit more "relatable" or whatever but romance drama just isn't my thing and no amount of strong, witty prose could overcome that. Excellent dialogue and the whole story flowed naturally so even though I wasn't really into it, still couldn't put it down. Refreshing to read an Australian book which is unapologetically set here without being self-conscious about it. A lightly funny, reflective drama about people a bit too normal for me to truly invest in.
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anntharai's review against another edition

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

2.0

I hated this book, but not necaserily because its BAD just....ughhh. 

It starts with the MC losing interest in a sexual encounter during the act but not feeling like she can really extract herself from it and  disassociates so hard she doesn't notice
the half drunk chef choking her so hard she fucking passes out and wakes up to him panicking and thinking he's killed her.
(in spoiler quotes not because it's a spoiler, it's literally the first thing that happens, but because of triggering content)  then it's basically just a depressing spiral about how shit the world is and how terrible people are to each other. I kept waiting for it to turn in to something interesting but hey look it's just more people lying and cheating and being fucking weird about it. The stuff she talks about isn't WRONG it's just depressing: yes the wage gap is fucked up and very much still alive, yes men in alleyways at night are terrifying, no it's not *all men* but its enough of them to warrant *all men until proven not a r@pist*, yes emotionally abusive people are shit. 
Like I said. Not wrong. Just. Ughhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh. 

 AND THEN AT THE END OF IT when she's finally supposed to have realised something, she most likely sets her own ass on fire again. 

Or at least the dangling ending makes you question if she does, and honestly considering the whole theme of this book seems to be *people are, by and large, maliciously  deceptive arseholes who never change their shitty behavior* imma guess she does the thing. 

But if slice of life relationship drama with constant reminders that women are systemically fucked, blamed for the crimes committed against them, and the we all desperately need to find a #Good Man and Be Happy# then yeah. It sure is that. 
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ree333's review

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funny lighthearted reflective 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

4.0

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imrath's review

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emotional lighthearted medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? No

1.5

Tedious and formulaic with a main character who wasn't much more than a mouthpiece for Points the author wanted to make about things. A small number of two-dimensional "diversity" characters make appearances - a gay hairdresser and an elderly Greek neighbour who cooks things and wants to marry off her son. 
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