kekeli's review against another edition
- 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
5.0
Graphic: Drug abuse, Drug use, and Kidnapping
Moderate: Sexual harassment
issyd23's review
- 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
3.0
NB Personally disagreed with 90% of the protagonists’ thoughts & actions + her critiques of feminism, consent & cancel culture in a post me too era - but worth reading.
Graphic: Alcohol, Alcoholism, Sexism, Self harm, Injury/Injury detail, Infidelity, Suicide, Stalking, Misogyny, Mental illness, Kidnapping, Sexual assault, Abandonment, Addiction, Body shaming, Bullying, Drug use, Drug abuse, Eating disorder, Suicide attempt, Sexual violence, Adult/minor relationship, Gaslighting, Fire/Fire injury, Toxic friendship, Sexual harassment, Racism, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, and Toxic relationship
beneduck's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
1.25
major TW for eating disorders, substance abuse, suicide, sexual assault
----
After immediately finishing here are my thoughts. The protag has horribly inconsistent psychology. Her actions and reactions make no sense compared to how she is in other parts of the story. This carries over to how Vladimir acts (thinking or a specific chair incident!) and it just pissed me off! The ending was too clean and resolved. So unbelievable.
Also!! the protag will not shut the fuck up about her body and eating habits, which i found really upsetting at times. she's obsessed with appearing younger, skinnier, "healthier". for tons of other reasons, i hate her and i don't enjoy hating her, which takes most of the fun out of this book.
i found the dustjacket summary soooo misleading -- as well as the super sexed-up cover. this is NOT
" Propulsive, darkly funny, and surreptitiously moving," it's horrific, glorifying, and disheartening. the protag makes light of her students' worries about potential sexual assault and deals with the whole husband thing in a spineless manner and never seems to form her own concrete opinions -- really about anything. even her "obsession" with vladimir in the first half consists of daydreaming about sex with him -- hardly an obsession, more aptly named a crush. i was excited for a dark and sexy book, and i got one that was uncomfortable in a way that wasn't productive.
re: the chair scene: "I let her lead me to the scene, not sure if this event would actually happen. I love characters who do something questionable on an impulse and then must deal with the consequences." it sure as hell was impulsive -- but it felt like she was acting on some other character's impulse and not her own. our darling protag has yet to feel capable of something like she does, and when she does it, it feels horrific instead of exciting.
re: the author's treatment of sexual misconduct: "I still feel connected to a sense of sexuality as a form of freedom and as something that can be used against you. Protectiveness about sexuality, making sexuality feel traumatic or disturbing, can be used as a way to wield power over female sexuality. And that was something that was much more prevalent about the sexual politics of when I was in college and growing into adulthood. It was really about taking down all of those taboos." i! do! not! like! these! implications! it's not fair for me to disagree with an author's stance as a reason for not liking a book, but the treatment of sexual boundaries in this book is sickening. simply put, what was attempted as a reclamation of aged female sexuality is actually just attempted assault. to be the reader seeing this through a first person narrator was so unpleasant, and, yet again, not in a productive manner.
booooo!! this went from a fun hate read to a capital-H hate read. this prof works (or used to work? unsure) at my college. i hope i see her so i can try to make amends.
Graphic: Alcohol, Sexual violence, Eating disorder, Sexual assault, Alcoholism, and Drug abuse
Moderate: Suicide attempt
rebeccajolley74's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Loveable characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
Graphic: Adult/minor relationship and Drug abuse
Moderate: Addiction and Suicide attempt
psychedelicize555's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
1.0
Graphic: Sexual content
Moderate: Suicide attempt, Sexual assault, Addiction, Sexual harassment, and Drug abuse
danielleeejames's review against another edition
- 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
2.0
Moderate: Sexual assault, Rape, Suicide, and Drug abuse
maddyontheoffbeat's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
Spoiler
it felt to me that the fire was just an excuse to end it sooner, and that it didn’t really wrap up the story.Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Fire/Fire injury, Toxic relationship, and Infidelity
Moderate: Body shaming, Drug abuse, Pregnancy, and Alcohol
karol99's review
- 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
3.0
Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Suicide attempt, Infidelity, and Mental illness
Moderate: Sexual harassment, Addiction, Eating disorder, Gaslighting, Sexual content, Pregnancy, Kidnapping, Drug abuse, and Body shaming
adamsbookshelf's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
1.0
Spoiler
The first 2/3 of the novel had almost nothing to do with Vladimir and about the MC dealing with her husbands SA accusations. Our MC is kind of an awful human and keeps insisting that she doesn't stand by his actions but proceeds to stand by his actions?? And don't even get me started on when she drugs Vladimir ties him up, gaslights him into believing he wanted to do BDSM and lying about his wife having an affair. He then decides he wants to sleep with our MC for god knows why and plot twist, she no longer wants to sleep with him. Well until she changes her mind and they have the worst described sex I've ever read in a novel. Then the cabin burns down and she stays with her husband and moves to a new place to recover from her burns. In the last chapter she meets with one of the SA victims and it's the quickest character interaction in the novel and almost feels forced.Overall I did not enjoy the story or the characters and only gave it one star because the cover is hot.
Moderate: Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Sexual assault, Misogyny, Infidelity, Kidnapping, Toxic friendship, Gaslighting, Fire/Fire injury, Sexual content, and Toxic relationship
mraddd's review against another edition
- 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
4.0
Graphic: Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, Sexual harassment, Fire/Fire injury, Alcohol, Suicide attempt, and Sexual content
Moderate: Addiction and Drug abuse
Minor: Pregnancy