Reviews tagging 'Sexual violence'

Girls Burn Brighter by Shobha Rao

34 reviews

apeterson10's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad slow-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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Trafficking, Kidnapping, and Sexual harassment

Minor: Racial slurs and Racism

sbnielsen's review against another edition

challenging dark sad tense fast-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Torture, Violence, Vomit, Trafficking, and Medical trauma

bokchoybaby's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional inspiring sad medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Sexual violence

Minor: Medical trauma

judith_s's review against another edition

challenging dark sad 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? N/A

4.25

Extremely dark, but beautifully written. Was originally to rate this a 4.5 but had to lower it slightly because, that ending?! I just feel like I went through too much with Poornima and Savitha to not have at least some semblance of closure.  

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Misogyny, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Violence, and Trafficking

Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Death of parent, and Alcohol

Minor: Abortion

gabrielab's review against another edition

dark emotional sad medium-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Slavery, Violence, Medical content, and Trafficking

Moderate: Alcoholism and Cancer

alicelalicon's review against another edition

emotional sad fast-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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Bullying, Emotional abuse, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Violence, Trafficking, Grief, Death of parent, Alcohol, and Sexual harassment

Moderate: Ableism and Addiction

Minor: Gun violence

lilymouse's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring sad tense medium-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

5.0

This was absolutely breathtaking. You can feel every emotion that these girls feel, and the twists, turns, and journeys these girls go on take you in such a bittersweet ride. Also,

THAT ENDING OH MY GOD

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, and Trafficking

Moderate: Ableism, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, and Abortion

bookloverno4's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad 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? No

4.0

Really good, but so much trauma in this book. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape

Moderate: Alcoholism, Bullying, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Slavery, Torture, Violence, Trafficking, and Death of parent

nytephoenyx's review against another edition

dark emotional sad medium-paced

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

5.0

This book is absolutely heart-wrenching.

It contains a beautiful friendship, but it contains even more horrible people.  There is so much pain written into this book, so many things happened that should not happen.  Girls Burn Brightermakes you fall in love with Poornima and Savitha and then shows what the world does to women, to Indian women, to poor women, to strong-willed woman.  The world, in case you have forgotten, is a dark and cruel place and so many people are selfish animals.

So while I didn’t enjoy reading Girls Burn Brighter for all the pain and rage it left me with, I deeply, deeply appreciated this book.  It’s a character-driven novel about two young women who meet as teenagers and are separated by cruelty and happenstance. Rao takes her time in the beginning, luring the reader into a false sense of security where you know life’s difficult, but there is hope for a happy ending.  Then it’s all downhill from there.  In this way, Girls Burn Brighter is both a journey and a reminder that more often than not, endings are sadder than we want and the journeys are difficult and we are so privileged to be reading this book and not going through life in the same way as these young women.

Girls Burn Brighter left me with a lot to think about.

There are all sorts of traumatic events in this pages of the book, so before picking it up, make sure to check for content warnings.  Off the top of my head, there is rape, sexual assault, human trafficking, prostitution, kidnapping, slavery (of a sort), physical abuse, emotional abuse… Girls Burn Brighter is filled with different levels of trauma and it is really important to check in with yourself and come prepared, otherwise I can see how this book could be triggering.

It’s a book I couldn’t put down – both because of the story and because I think Soneela Nankani did an excellent job reading it.  You are brought so easily into the world, especially through Savitha’s POV where there is so much joy in both food and textiles.  The writing is excellent – this is a sparkling debut novel and puts Rao on my “To Watch” list.  The writing is lyrical but direct, and the story is an important one.

It’s not the type of book that’s going to leave you feeling good, but it’s a powerful, emotional story and I highly recommend it.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Misogyny, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Trafficking, Kidnapping, and Death of parent

Moderate: Ableism, Racism, and Medical content

Minor: Alcoholism and Drug use

emilyhays's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional medium-paced

• 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

This book is so horrible in its content in every way. But the way it's done is so fantastic. The writing injects hope into the narrative in a way that makes you not want to get your hopes up, because everytime it feels like something is going to be okay, it's not. This is about to girls in a small village in India and the way they are treated there, and even when apart, the hope they find in their relationship to keep stoking the fire within them to keep going, to find a way out. It is wonderful and yet so awful. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Slavery, Trafficking, and Grief

Moderate: Ableism, Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal death, Body shaming, Cancer, Toxic relationship, Violence, Medical content, and Death of parent

literally all the fucking triggers, seriously.