Reviews tagging 'Sexual assault'

The Grace Year by Kim Liggett

17 reviews

cjreadstoomuch's review

challenging dark emotional inspiring mysterious reflective sad tense fast-paced

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

5.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Pregnancy, Sexism, Misogyny, Bullying, and Death

Moderate: Violence, Religious bigotry, Suicidal thoughts, Injury/Injury detail, Gaslighting, and Forced institutionalization

Minor: Outing, Lesbophobia, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, and Sexual content

logsbooklog's review

dark emotional fast-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? Yes

3.25

there’s a lot i liked and an ok amount i didn’t. the beginning is rough, parts of the middle feel shallow, and the ending rings a bit hollow, but the breathless pace and tense scenes work well and a lot of the individual moments made me shiver. i’m left wanting more both positively and negatively.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Body horror, Gore, Misogyny, Bullying, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Violence, Blood, Child death, Death, Physical abuse, Domestic abuse, Pedophilia, and Pregnancy

Moderate: Homophobia, Excrement, and Vomit

katemarie99's review

dark mysterious fast-paced

1.5

This book was pretty much triggering in every way that a book could be... I am being generous and giving it that little .5 extra bc I did feel a little *seen* in the beginning with the intersection-between-religious-conservatism-and-sexism bit. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Physical abuse, Sexism, Gore, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual harassment, Suicidal thoughts, Bullying, Religious bigotry, Injury/Injury detail, Suicide, Misogyny, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Cannibalism, and Homophobia

winnie_is_swag's review

adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced

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

4.75

i really liked this book. 'twas beautifully written, and it made me emotional. the main character is strong and independent. it's like Lord of the Flies meets a Handmaid's Tale. Highly recommend.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Misogyny, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual assault, Religious bigotry, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Blood, Animal death, Grief, Adult/minor relationship, Excrement, Gore, Death, Emotional abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Physical abuse, Sexual harassment, Violence, and Bullying

Moderate: Pregnancy, Medical content, Vomit, Sexual content, and Infertility

Minor: Sexual content, Rape, Classism, Abandonment, Homophobia, Cursing, Lesbophobia, and Alcohol

reading_leaf's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful informative inspiring mysterious reflective sad 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

Absolutely marvelous book extremely well written and beautiful if this is the last review you’re reading that is helping you decide either way on whether or not you should read this you should absolutely read this and then make everyone else in your circle read this. I was expecting something much more grotesque and dark and looming and instead I was left at the end of the book smiling and crying tears of much more mixed feelings than that . Many of them being positive. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Homophobia, Religious bigotry, Rape, Pregnancy, Drug abuse, Drug use, Addiction, Blood, Toxic relationship, Sexual assault, Sexism, Domestic abuse, Sexual harassment, Sexual content, Physical abuse, and Adult/minor relationship

Moderate: Gore, Religious bigotry, and Cannibalism

rubbertree14's review

adventurous dark tense fast-paced

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

3.0

Very interesting premise. 

---

Content Warnings

Minor: Death and Sexual assault

haley49's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

Wow, I don’t even know where to begin. This book was a lot. Pretty traumatizing, especially at the beginning but once I got into the plot I couldn’t put it down. I would love to sit down and analyze this book to pieces with someone. It broke me for a while after reading it. Check the trigger warnings because there was a lot but if you’re interested in a feminist dystopian where you don’t know how it’s going to end—definitely check it out! 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Misogyny, Trafficking, Vomit, Violence, Body horror, Death, Cannibalism, Religious bigotry, Sexism, Blood, Gaslighting, and Child abuse

Moderate: Fire/Fire injury, Forced institutionalization, Drug use, Confinement, Domestic abuse, Medical content, Suicide, Cursing, Torture, Toxic relationship, Sexual violence, Stalking, Suicidal thoughts, and Gore

Minor: Grief, Adult/minor relationship, Kidnapping, Lesbophobia, Outing, Pedophilia, Sexual assault, and Excrement

ginalucia's review

challenging dark emotional tense 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? Yes

4.0

 The book in 3 sentences:

• Feminism, friendship, and betrayal.
• Gritty, immersive, and frightening.
• Lord of the Flies meets The Power.

My impressions:

I’m not usually one to be outwardly thankful for Amazon’s daily deal but in this case, I truly am. I didn’t know I needed to read The Grace Year until I saw its beautiful cover gracing Amazon’s ‘review generator’ list.

Nothing says ‘go on, give me a go’ like a dystopian book sitting next to an unappealing New Year’s diet book for 99p.

What I wasn’t prepared for was the gritty nature of this book. I had expected an empowering YA dystopian with a little bit of added magic. I was pleasantly surprised. When I say this is Lord of the Flies meets The Power, I’m not joking. The Grace Year makes no apologies, it shows you the best and worst of people, especially those forced to be confined together.

The characters themselves are in constant flux. You either hate or sympathize and then you hate again. This in itself was incredibly refreshing. It’s been a while since I’ve read a book where the women within it make constant mistakes and have genuine internal battles with each other and themselves. 

The reason I gave 4 stars instead of 5 though, was the romance. The author’s attempt at a romantic interest simply didn’t slot into the gritty and horrific story. In fact, it was almost like the book morphed into something else halfway through.

Luckily, this was short-lived, which meant we could get back to the parts that made this book great much quicker. Although it was brief, this part of the story felt unfinished and rushed. A real shame.

The Grace Year was so close to greatness, so close. But it did give me hope that we can mix imperfect characters, horror, an empowering storyline and all be better off for it.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Bullying, Child abuse, Death, Sexual harassment, Body shaming, Child death, Emotional abuse, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Torture, Violence, Domestic abuse, Suicide, Gore, Misogyny, Sexism, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, and Toxic friendship

Moderate: Abandonment, Fatphobia, Excrement, Grief, Confinement, Mental illness, Animal death, Pregnancy, Lesbophobia, Pedophilia, Homophobia, and Vomit

nutm3g's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious reflective sad tense slow-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

5.0

The Grace Year was a wonderfully entertaining, heartbreaking, gruesome, and yet hopeful read that is reminiscent of The Handmaiden's Tale. Set in a society where sixteen year old girls are sent into the wilderness for a year to release their evil magic tied to their womanhood, we are left questioning what truly is the magic found in pages of this book. Tiernay is introduced as angry at the shackles of her birth, where she seems to hold herself distant from other women. As she uncovers the truth of the Grace Year while struggling to survive the horrors faced in the encampment, she also strives to do whatever she can to save her fellow grace year girls (as well as striving to survive for the sake of her younger sisters). The juxtaposition with how she almost views the girls in the same way men do (evil and like sheep/cattle) and her actions towards ensuring their safety even when her life is on the line does a wonderful job indicating the many different facets of how misogyny affects those it oppresses. The romance felt believable for the circumstances (both enemies to lovers and best friends to lovers), though I was a bit devastated on how a certain situation resulted. All the gruesome acts and morbid situations worked itself into a hopeful and open-ended last scene. There is so much more I want to say (really an essay worth of discussions), but I do not want to ruin the book for anyone. I would definitely recommend this book as it was a beautiful and devastating read while leaving me hopeful for the future of Garner County. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Sexual harassment, Drug use, Sexism, Blood, Medical content, Physical abuse, Suicide, Violence, Body horror, Bullying, Cannibalism, Child death, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Grief, Infertility, Infidelity, Injury/Injury detail, Misogyny, Murder, Pregnancy, Religious bigotry, Self harm, Torture, and Vomit

Moderate: Kidnapping, Outing, Rape, Sexual violence, Domestic abuse, Lesbophobia, Miscarriage, Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, Sexual assault, Sexual content, and Sexual harassment

bookbrig's review

dark emotional mysterious 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? Yes

I read this much faster than I expected to when I picked it up. The writing sucked me in from the very beginning, and I found myself invested in the world and story really quickly. I also found the ending extremely satisfying, and I think the many of the comparisons between this book and others like The Lord of the Flies, The Handmaid's Tale, Hatchet, and fairy tales are fairly apt. That said, I feel like the story dragged a fair bit in the middle, and I definitely found myself skimming at times. I think teen readers might be more invested in the survival-ish parts of the story than I was, so that's probably not a big problem while recommending.

I don't think I'll bring this on middle school visits because it deals with themes, from

Spoiler

abuse to bullying to sexual assault to pregnancy

, that are fairly mature. For me, I don't think I could say I really enjoyed this book, but I did find it a compelling read, and I would definitely recommend it for readers who want something that blends a fiercely independent and opinionated protagonist with a survival story, a mystery thriller, and a story about girls thrown together in a society that wants them punished just for existing. It actually reminded me of reading Margaret Atwood's Oryx and Crake, because it's a story that my mind keeps going over and over, but I also don't really like the story, if that makes sense. Well, aside from some snippets at the very ending which I REALLY liked. Fine, okay. My feelings are complicated. 

This is a mixed bag of a review, so to sum up I'll pull something from the book. There's a quote near the end (not spoilery!) that I felt encompasses so much of what teen girls can go through and that spoke to me on a visceral level. I'll put it behind a spoiler cut, but it doesn't reference anything specific from the story:

Spoiler

"We hurt each other because it's the only way we're permitted to show our anger. When our choices are taken from us, the fire builds within. Sometimes I feel like we might burn down the world to cindery bits, with our love, our rage, and everything in between."

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying and Violence

Moderate: Sexual assault