Reviews tagging 'Toxic relationship'

Sarahland by Sam Cohen

9 reviews

leah_alexandra's review

challenging dark emotional lighthearted tense fast-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? Yes

4.0

Very weird and immensely readable! I think my favorite was The First Sarah. Some of it went a bit over my head, but it’s clear Cohen has a strong command of her voice and point of view!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Body shaming, Eating disorder, Fatphobia, Incest, Infertility, Mental illness, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Rape, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicide, Toxic relationship, and Pregnancy

courtneyfalling's review

dark emotional reflective medium-paced

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

4.0

This is definitely a recent standout in the "post-grad angst dark feminist short story collections" genre, but I'm also recognizing it's a heavy genre I keep struggling with, and I think I need to take a step back for a bit before reading anymore. I am glad I got to this before trying to set that moratorium... and maybe this will inspire me to read some of the personal essays and theory from sex workers that I have on my list. 

Sarahland: sexual content, body-shaming, toxic friendship, anti-Semitism

• For obvious conceptual reasons this makes sense as a title, but I also think this short story sets a solid precedent for the collection and makes sense as the title in that way too. 

Naked Furniture: sexual content (sex work), misogyny, pedophilia mentions/allusions 

• Grapples with why college-educated leftist femmes can turn to sex work, doesn't really give easy answers on alternate systems/worlds/reasons to live

Exorcism, or Eating My Twin: toxic relationship, transphobia, cannibalism

• Ugh the voice in this! Sam Cohen crafts amazing obsessive main characters

Dream Palace: sexual content

• The extra trippy, abstract short stories didn't hit as hard for me

The First Sarah: sexual content, infertility, kidnapping, toxic relationship, misogyny, lesbophobia, incest

• What a weird but good example of a Bible mythical retelling 

Gemstones: mental illness, sexual content 

Gossip: sexual content, breakup (bad breakup? idk this isn't a toxic relationship but it's something), misogyny, infidelity

• Probably the most conventional of these stories?

Becoming Trees: suicide (kind of), rape (mention of Daphne story)

• Very speculative, kind of reminded me of The Seep

All the Teenaged Sarahs: isolation from parents, hazing/toxic friendship, sexual harassment/assault, physical assault, toxic relationship, suicide attempt 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Misogyny and Sexual content

Moderate: Toxic relationship and Toxic friendship

Minor: Incest, Pedophilia, and Suicide attempt

pang's review against another edition

emotional funny mysterious reflective medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Suicide

Minor: Body shaming and Eating disorder

jmcordero's review

dark emotional reflective 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: Sexual content

Moderate: Addiction, Body horror, Cursing, Drug use, Incest, Sexual assault, Toxic relationship, Stalking, Pregnancy, Toxic friendship, and Alcohol

Minor: Gore, Pedophilia, and Sexism

anettainkeri's review

challenging emotional reflective tense fast-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Mental illness, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, and Toxic relationship

suzyreadsbooks's review

dark emotional funny fast-paced

I read this book so quickly & yet I kind of have no idea how I feel about it. As expected, it was weird and sexy and gross and queer. interesting observations on obsession, misogyny, gender, sexuality, the environment.

But, I went in w really high hopes and I’m not sure if it was as perfect of a fit as I had been anticipating. I often felt confused with where stories ended. & I was thrown off by the inclusion of casual, unchecked fatphobia & body shaming in many of the stories.

🤷🏻‍♀️🤷🏻‍♀️ I’ll let my feelings sit for a bit.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body shaming, Fatphobia, Incest, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Misogyny, Self harm, and Suicide

sfbookgirl's review

emotional funny 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

I am a big fan of short stories and Sam Cohen’s short stories are a hooooot! The themes are genuinely human, a little weird, but also quite fun, exploring what it means to be Jewish, femme, and queer. I found myself in Sarahland among its Jewish themes and being called one of the “Sarah’s.” And while my name isn’t Sarah, it might as well be based on how many times people assume that is my name. 😆 

 

But really, we are all Sarah’s attempting to figure out how to live our lives and navigate our way through the weird thing called humanity. So even if you aren’t named Sarah, you will find yourself in Sarahland. 

 

Thank you Grand Central Pub for my gifted copy! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body shaming, Drug abuse, Eating disorder, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual content, and Toxic relationship

agradstudentreadsforfun's review

challenging dark emotional funny mysterious reflective sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? N/A
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• 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 horror, Drug use, Fatphobia, Mental illness, Self harm, Sexual content, Sexual violence, and Toxic relationship

girlonbooks's review

challenging dark emotional funny reflective fast-paced

• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

👑👑👑👑👑 (five stars as rated in crowns because "Sarah" means PRINCESS, y'all! Don't @ me cuz it's true.)

Okay, I was really hoping to love this book. But, people, I LOVED this book. I laughed, I cringed, and I related to SO, so much. This is a book for anyone who has experienced an awkward phase/decade/existence. I really can not recommend it highly enough. I would give five stars to every story minus one that, truth be told, actually really bothered me.

I am just not into biblical retellings, especially when excuses seem to be made for the more problematic themes of said story? i.e slavery, forced servitude and less than consensual surrogacy?? Um... what?? Yuck.

Next to all the other, wonderfully progressive tales, I was very disappointed and disturbed by that one. Like, REALLY disturbed. THAT BEING SAID, the rest of the book was marvelous. So much so that I didn't dock any stars for the one bothersome one. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body shaming, Bullying, Drug use, Eating disorder, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Slavery, Toxic relationship, and Antisemitism

sex work, bdsm, breath play