Reviews tagging 'Sexual assault'

Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen

14 reviews

lprelei's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful mysterious sad tense fast-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

4.25

the ending bumped it up a full extra star for me

“Dear God. Not only am I unemployed and homeless, but I also have a pregnant woman, bereaved dog, elephant, and eleven horses to take care of.” (Gruen, p.317) 

the twist concerning rosie landed veryyy satisfyingly. also the fact that the majority of the book’s plot took place over just 3 and a half months is insane. i love a book that weaves in its ends. wish i could love marlena’s character a bit more though! 

“And then I laugh, because it’s so ridiculous and so gorgeous and it’s all I can do to not melt into a fit of giggles. So what if I’m ninety-three? So what if I’m ancient and cranky and my body’s a wreck? If they’re willing to accept me and my guilty conscience, why the hell shouldn’t I run away with the circus?” (Gruen, p.331)

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, and Death of parent

Moderate: Sexual assault and Sexual harassment

Minor: Vomit

celery's review against another edition

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Cancer, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Mental illness, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racism, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Forced institutionalization, Excrement, Vomit, Antisemitism, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Car accident, Death of parent, Murder, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

alyssatuininga's review against another edition

dark informative sad slow-paced

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

2.5

I have had this book for years and never got around to reading it. The story was all over the place- a sweet story of memories from an old man, a scathing story about the rampant (graphic) animal abuse in a circus, a romance,  a sad testament to the dangers of Prohibition for alcoholics. Honestly throw in the super raunchy prostitution and rape of the main character and I didn't know what to feel or think. It was a strange book, the ending wrapped up in a neat sweet bow. Overall it was just ok and I kept finding I didn't want to pick it up. Guess I should have left this one on the shelf.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Domestic abuse, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Violence, and Death of parent

ibadella's review against another edition

dark sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

why was this listed as a historical romance? i did not get romance vibes. it was like coming of age thriller shitshow

i understand that this book has a very narrow and subjective point of view from the flawed main character but i would have like to see a tiny bit more attention paid to the background characters (who tended to have more marginalized identities and were generally homogenized by jacob’s narration). also sometimes felt like the author was forcing themself to write how they think a straight man thinks and it made us both feel icky

made me emo about zoo animals

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Animal cruelty, Domestic abuse, and Violence

Moderate: Racial slurs, Racism, Sexual assault, Xenophobia, Antisemitism, Murder, and Sexual harassment

vivilevone's review against another edition

adventurous dark tense

4.0

VERY DIFFERENT FROM THE MUSICAL. hachi machi. good book, though. dark and gritty. not exactly inspiring. tragic. hopeful ending. really much more about unlikely found family than any romance. elephant was the best character. 
standout line: "is where you're from the place you're coming from, or where you have roots?"

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Sexual assault, and Sexual content

Moderate: Rape

nellzzzz's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny lighthearted mysterious sad medium-paced

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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Death, Sexual assault, Blood, and Death of parent

Minor: Alcoholism, Domestic abuse, Misogyny, Sexual content, Violence, Car accident, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Pregnancy, and Alcohol

alex_grace1's review against another edition

adventurous emotional funny reflective tense fast-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Sexual assault, and Violence

Moderate: Animal cruelty and Sexual content

Minor: Ableism, Racial slurs, and Racism

Some warnings about the sexual content

There is essentially a drunk rape scene. it’s not treated as such by the characters but it is mentioned briefly to be non-consensual and where the main character was nearly blackout drunk. Theres also a pretty graphic stripping scene, a brief masturbation scene, and sexual content all up the wazoo.

adisiki's review against another edition

I hated this and was gonna force myself to finish but why bother. It was written well and the story was constructed well, but I hated the subject matter. The circus sucks and people involved should burn in hell for how they treat those animals. I just can’t do animal cruelty so I couldn’t continue reading this. Also, Jacob was basically sexually assaulted and that’s it? I didn’t enjoy how graphic some of it was, it felt gratuitous and unnecessary, not like it was adding to the story at all.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty and Animal death

Moderate: Sexual assault

annmierl's review against another edition

adventurous fast-paced

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

1.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Terminal illness, Vomit, Antisemitism, Car accident, Death of parent, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Alcohol, and Sexual harassment

itsessbee's review against another edition

adventurous emotional 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? It's complicated

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Domestic abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, and Sexual content

Moderate: Alcoholism and Alcohol

Minor: Mental illness