Reviews tagging 'Sexual assault'

1984 by George Orwell

50 reviews

brethetech's review against another edition

dark reflective medium-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? It's complicated

2.5

I know it’s a classic for a reason and that it laid the foundation for so much more but please don’t go into this book thinking you’re going to gain much from it like I did. 

At several points it felt like I just had to get through it to keep my promise to myself that I would read at least one classic this year. 

The pacing was nice it skipped large swaths of time and lingered in moments but it always felt right.

But I was never attached to the main character, or any character at all, I didn’t learn anything, and I wasn’t entertained for more then a brief 50 or so pages where I wanted to know what would happen next.

If you want to read this for antiauthoritarianism, or because it’s a dystopia there are better picks nowadays that are both going to be more interesting and dive deeper into the topic. And in fact that is my main gripe with this that the facts that it presents are not novel to me, and it just keeps hammering them in instead of going deeper. I know they were novel at the time and even perhaps for a while after, or to a specific audience where this is a new topic but not to me, or probably anybody interested in reading books on this topic today.

Or maybe I’m just stupid and am missing something idk.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Torture, Violence, and Xenophobia

Moderate: Suicide, War, and Classism

Minor: Sexual assault and Vomit

ash_havent's review against another edition

Graphic descriptions of fantasies about rape are not for me

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Misogyny, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, and Sexual harassment

mnm2003's review against another edition

dark sad 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

3.25

Great start, good going, not well ending .

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Body horror, Body shaming, Bullying, Child death, Confinement, Death, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gun violence, Hate crime, Mental illness, Racism, Sexism, Sexual assault, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Police brutality, Kidnapping, Death of parent, Murder, Cultural appropriation, Abandonment, Alcohol, War, and Injury/Injury detail

emblane's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective slow-paced

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

3.5

This book probably deserves most of its star rating based on when it was written. The most interesting thing is how creepily relevant it still is. The actual ending was a bit lack luster but it was in a way educational and ill think about it alot.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault

emmagreenwood's review against another edition

challenging dark medium-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Hate crime, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Slavery, Suicide, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Police brutality, Kidnapping, Stalking, Murder, Gaslighting, Abandonment, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

kailiyahknight's review against another edition

challenging dark hopeful informative mysterious reflective sad tense 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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Confinement, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gore, Mental illness, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Torture, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Vomit, Police brutality, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Medical trauma, Murder, Gaslighting, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Rape, Slavery, and War

Minor: Gun violence, Homophobia, Infertility, Infidelity, Racial slurs, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Death of parent, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Pregnancy

sabrinaleaf's review against another edition

dark reflective tense slow-paced

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

4.0

Un livre fort intéressant ou rien ne se passe vraiment. Pas du tout ce que je m’attendais avant de le lire

La première partie consiste plus à expliquer le monde ou le Parti règne.
La deuxième, ces Julia.
La troisième, la défaite intérieure de Winston.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Torture, Alcohol, and War

Moderate: Rape and Sexual assault

Minor: Antisemitism

riverofhorton's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious reflective sad tense slow-paced

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

4.0

So this was actually my second read of this book, the first having been around 10 years ago. Just as I did the previous read through, I was struck by just how much of this book is relevant to our world today. This is one of the books that I will keep coming back to again and again throughout my lifetime.
The book itself is a somewhat dramatised (hopefully) version of Stalin's Russia/Nazi Germany. It has so many layers to it, and I', still not convinces I've worked out just how deep the 'Party' goes in their propaganda, gaslighting, and plotting against its own citizens.
This is an incredibly well planned out (or perhaps the word is researched) and realised world, where even the bits that are fiction could very easily be real. That, I think, is the true terror of this book: How easily society could go from even today's status, to that found in this book. Thus, Orwell's intention to have this book serve as a warning was fully realised.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Chronic illness, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Genocide, Gore, Gun violence, Hate crime, Homophobia, Infertility, Infidelity, Mental illness, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Xenophobia, Blood, Excrement, Vomit, Police brutality, Antisemitism, Medical content, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Grief, Mass/school shootings, Religious bigotry, Medical trauma, Stalking, Death of parent, Acephobia/Arophobia, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, Outing, Cultural appropriation, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, Colonisation, War, Injury/Injury detail, Classism, and Deportation

clairebau's review against another edition

dark tense slow-paced

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

2.5

This was only a little bit of a chore to get through. I get that it was like, the big thing for its time, but I couldn't get past the messy, disjointed storytelling, the weak attempts at symbolism, and the unlikeable characters. God, the unlikeable characters! Though I will grant them the fact that their god-awful personalities are a result of their surroundings. Julia's only personality trait is being not-like-other-girls. Martyr Winston admits a rape fantasy in the first 20 pages of the book, so I stopped sympathizing with him pretty much immediately.

This book just feels all over the place in a few ways, especially in its pacing. It didn't feel well-rounded or expertly crafted, more like Orwell had a bunch of ideas he slapped together for an excuse to publish twenty pages of grandstanding right in the middle. Yawn.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Torture, Forced institutionalization, Gaslighting, Alcohol, and Classism

Moderate: Sexual assault and War

Minor: Rape

asen123's review against another edition

challenging dark reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

3.75

The main character really grossed me out. A scene made me kinda disgusted, and I was really close to stopping reading the book. I liked the message and how detailed and sophisticated the world Orwell created. It felt realistic which adds to the horrifying aspect of the novel. If you are extremely nihilistic and losing hope, please please please don’t read this book. It won’t do you any good. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Torture and Gaslighting

Moderate: Confinement, Misogyny, Violence, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Rape and Sexual assault