Reviews tagging 'Sexual harassment'

Age of Vice by Deepti Kapoor

15 reviews

ionarachel's review against another edition

challenging dark medium-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Child death, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gore, Gun violence, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Violence, Blood, Police brutality, Kidnapping, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Abandonment, Alcohol, Colonisation, and Classism

Moderate: Homophobia, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Self harm, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Transphobia, Trafficking, Suicide attempt, Lesbophobia, and Sexual harassment

casualvamp's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad slow-paced

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

2.5

Deepti Kapoor is an immensely talented author, and this book is exceptionally well-written. From reading the synopsis, it’s not a book I would typically read, but I thought I would enjoy it much more than I did. It took me a really long time to finish because it's very lengthy and disorganized. The switches between POVs were jarring and got confusing in the second half, which made the storyline hard to follow. I found the vast majority of the characters unbearable (except for Ajay), so it was hard to be invested in the story. Ajay's POV had me absolutely enthralled, but once it switched over to Neda's and Sunny's POV, I was barely trudging through it. I almost had to put this book down several times due to its incredibly dark themes and GRAPHIC depictions of violence, which made me genuinely naseous. I felt that for the majority of the book, I was either almost asleep out of sheer boredom or incredibly disturbed by all of the unnecessary violence.  

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gun violence, Miscarriage, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Suicide, Violence, Blood, Car accident, Death of parent, Murder, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail

editorsansserif's review against another edition

adventurous dark tense medium-paced

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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Cursing, Drug abuse, Drug use, Toxic relationship, Violence, Kidnapping, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Moderate: Child abuse, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Blood, Police brutality, Grief, Car accident, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, and Colonisation

Minor: Child abuse, Confinement, Gun violence, Infidelity, Pedophilia, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Trafficking, Car accident, Abortion, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Lesbophobia, and Gaslighting

acs8037's review against another edition

I got half way and there is so much sexual abuse that is very clearly elaborated on that it’s just too much for me. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault, Sexual violence, and Sexual harassment

booksreverything's review against another edition

challenging dark informative reflective sad tense medium-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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Death, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Blood, Murder, and Sexual harassment

Moderate: Animal death, Drug use, Abortion, Death of parent, and Pregnancy

grantsharpies's review against another edition

adventurous dark reflective tense medium-paced

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

3.25

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body shaming, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Mental illness, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Medical content, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Grief, Medical trauma, Stalking, Car accident, Abortion, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Abandonment, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, Colonisation, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

just_one_more_paige's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious 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? It's complicated

4.0

 

“He dared to dream at the roulette wheel of life and lost his shirt every time.” 

 

There was a bit of buzz around this one as it came out, just recently, which had it on my radar. And I also got an ALC version of it from Libro.fm, which helped keep it there. I was in the mood for something more...I don't know, entertaining, I guess? Like, I know that gangster books are not necessarily light reads, as they are likely chock full of violence and substance misuse and other tough topics, *but* they have that escapist/surreal vibe that I was looking for, so I decided to give this one a try. 

 

Age of Vice opens with a post-car crash scene, with multiple people dead and a rich man's car (being driven by a shell-shocked servant with no memory of the night's events) found by police on the side of the road in Delhi. As the novel unfolds, the reader follows three perspectives of people connected to the influential-from-the-shadows, loved and feared and power-hungry, Wadia family. Sunny Wadia is the heir to the Wadia family dynasty, young and idealistic and a well-known host of lavish parties and patron of upcoming arts and socialites. Ajay is a young boy from a background of poverty who has found himself as Sunny's most trusted servant. And Neda is a journalist who, after being pulled into Sunny's sphere, finds herself in an ever-more-complicated relationship with both Sunny and the Wadia empire. Their stories span the breath of contemporary India, both in location and class, and highlight social issues, complicated interpersonal and romantic dynamics, the drama and violence and expectations of gangs and gang families, as well as the general greed of humanity and the constant battle to stand against corruption and for morality. 

 

This was well-marketed. Absolutely a good old-fashioned, classic gangster style story. As indicated in the title, there is every kind of vice imaginable in these pages: money, substances, power, sex, and, of course, tons of intimidation and violence. I was really impressed with how well Kapoor combined all those vibes with (stunning) setting descriptions and full character development that stood up the the intensity of the plot. It would have been easy for those details to be lost or consigned to the background, but they weren't - it was a great balance. That being said, this book was also long. I was so glad for the audiobook, because while I really was invested, everything was quite compelling, there was also no conciseness in the language used to convey it all. Being able to listen helped keep me moving forwards through it.   

 

I don't read a lot of books of this genre, so I am not really sure how the stories usually unfold, but I do have to say this was surprisingly emotionally a downer. Like, yes, lots of terrible things happen, violence-wise, but I had gone in expecting that. It was the character's story arcs in particular that were all honestly tragic AF. I mean even though they all ended with a sort of eye toward the future, there was nothing happy or positive about any of it. At best, one could consider some of the "fresh(ish) start" vibes as a neutral place to leave these characters. But overall, the trajectory of the individual stories for Sunny, Ajay and Neda did nothing so much as demonstrate how this type of "age of vice" lifestyle takes advantage of/screws over everyone in its quest for power and oblivion and money, no matter how you're related, inside or out of it. There is just so much naïveté and idealism and best intentions and morals squashed. It was tough to watch the slow slide into...settling. 

Overall, this is an incredible combination of all the drama and violence of a true crime syndicate/corrupt affluent population/complacent government mystery-thriller plot, with the sweeping descriptions of the city and rural landscapes of an entire country, with the character development of an intergenerational family saga. Very much some quality escapist reading, with a satisfying dose of social justice commentary. 

 

 

 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gun violence, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Violence, Kidnapping, Grief, Car accident, Murder, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Moderate: Bullying, Emotional abuse, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Blood, Trafficking, Stalking, and Abortion

Minor: Rape, Torture, Vomit, Religious bigotry, Death of parent, and Pregnancy

courto875's review against another edition

dark mysterious slow-paced

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

2.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal death, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Homophobia, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Slavery, Suicide, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Trafficking, Car accident, Death of parent, Lesbophobia, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, and Sexual harassment

bethanneguc's review against another edition

dark emotional 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? Yes

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Bullying, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Murder, Alcohol, and Sexual harassment

softacademia's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional medium-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

3.0

I loved the premise and the setting and time period of the book but I didn't feel connected to most of the characters and there were too many description of what alcohol they were drinking (boring)

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Death, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Sexual violence, Suicide, Violence, Car accident, Death of parent, Abandonment, Sexual harassment, Colonisation, and Classism