Reviews tagging 'Fatphobia'

Off the Record by Camryn Garrett

35 reviews

ghostlyprince's review against another edition

inspiring reflective tense fast-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Pedophilia, Sexual violence, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual harassment, and Sexual assault

Moderate: Body shaming, Racism, and Rape

Minor: Biphobia, Classism, Eating disorder, Fatphobia, Vomit, and Alcohol

booksawyer's review against another edition

challenging emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective medium-paced

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

5.0

Off The Record is Camryn Garrett’s sophomore novel, which captivated me from the first chapter. The story follows Josie, a black, plus size teen who aspires to be a journalist. Her talent leads her to win a prestigious writing contest, and her prize is the opportunity to write a profile on an up-and-coming movie star for her favorite magazine. 

As Josie starts her journey, she also discovers the horrific, yet unspoken, issue of sexual abuse in Hollywood. When faced with these injustices, Josie is asked to write a piece exposing a serial abuser in the industry, putting her journalism career at risk as it is just beginning.

Off The Record is the kind of book you will never get bored of reading. There are so many things going on in the story: the profile, the sexual abuse story, a romance, complicated family relationships, body insecurity, discussions of race, and more. This story is rich with details and conflict, and I felt truly captivated the whole time. 

As a plus size reviewer, I loved seeing a book about a plus size heroine that was evenly balanced between conversations of her size and her just living her life. Yes, Josie deals with her own insecurity and faces scrutiny from others, but she is also given a fully-fleshed out story where she has talents and struggles that are beyond her size.

This book contains so much great representation, and not just for plus size individuals and survivors of SA. There is so much BIPOC representation and two major characters (including the MC) are bisexual. It is so amazing to see a book with such a diverse set of characters! 

I didn’t expect this book to have a romance, but I was pleasantly surprised that it did! Honestly, the romance was one of my favorite elements of the story. The chemistry between the couple made me swoon and I couldn’t contain my anticipation for them to finally get to together! 

I really can’t say enough good things about Off The Record. I highly recommend this book to everyone! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Fatphobia, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual harassment, Sexual assault, and Body shaming

Moderate: Biphobia, Bullying, Racism, and Rape

Minor: Vomit, Alcohol, and Homophobia

I also want to include a moderate trigger warning for toxic diet culture and a minor trigger warning for conversion therapy.

sfomera's review

challenging emotional tense medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault and Sexual harassment

Moderate: Fatphobia, Sexism, Panic attacks/disorders, and Racism

asiantomato's review against another edition

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Sexual harassment, Sexual assault, Bullying, Fatphobia, Racism, Panic attacks/disorders, Body shaming, and Homophobia

Moderate: Eating disorder and Self harm

christina26's review against another edition

adventurous emotional informative inspiring medium-paced

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

3.25

Not a fan of the rushed ending. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Fatphobia, Sexual assault, Racism, Panic attacks/disorders, and Sexual harassment

Minor: Vomit

abookandaspotoftea's review against another edition

challenging emotional reflective 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? Yes

2.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Fatphobia, Panic attacks/disorders, Bullying, Sexism, Sexual assault, Misogyny, Sexual harassment, and Body shaming

tinytrashqueen's review against another edition

dark emotional inspiring medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, and Panic attacks/disorders

Moderate: Eating disorder and Fatphobia

Minor: Vomit

lqvekanej's review against another edition

challenging emotional fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

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

Moderate: Fatphobia

Minor: Biphobia and Vomit

kelseyjoreads's review against another edition

dark emotional medium-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Fatphobia and Sexual assault

legalplanner's review against another edition

dark emotional informative inspiring reflective tense medium-paced

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

5.0

Holy crap did this one take me by surprise. I knew going in what the heavy/triggering topics were going to be. I was not prepared for how they were handled in this novel. 

 

Josie is our anxious narrator in this novel, we meet her in her senior year of high school. She’s working on getting into her dream school, winning a journalist competition, and surviving the holidays. Once she wins the contest she meets the teen actor and realizes journalism isn’t always objective. 

 

The writing of this was great. I liked that Josie didn’t feel like having anxiety was just a “thing” to have. We literally saw her having panic attacks and anxiety attacks because she was overwhelmed. This was not just a throwaway illness. I liked that she was constantly trying to over come it and deal with her own body issues. 

 

I knew the majority of the action was in the second half. But wowzers I was not prepared for the last 25%. I stayed up far too late in the evening to finish this because I had to know what happened. 

 

The way sexual assault and harassment was handled was very well done. It was interesting that even when we’ve been assaulted we try to reframe it in our own mind, rather than admit assault. I also think that we forget that sometimes what’s right for one survivor is not right for all. People in positions of power should not be able to take advantage of individuals like in this novel. 

 

I’m left feeling some tears in my eyes, a bit of hurt in my heart for all survivors who have experienced something like the characters in this book, and a desire to share this with anyone who will listen. 5/5 stars

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual harassment, Mental illness, and Fatphobia

Moderate: Rape, Sexual assault, and Sexual harassment

TW: rape, sexual assault, fat phobia, anxiety, ptsd, harassment