Reviews with content warning for Sexual content - The Way I Used to Be

I was honestly very disappointed in this book. So many people loved it, said it made them cry, and said it was a great interpretation of real life s/xual trauma. I can see that, I can, I can see how people would understand and sympathize with the main character. I can see how her feelings are validated. The main character is a wonderfully put together character, but the way the world interacted with her, the childish innuendoes, the way she is described in her young stages, and the way she reacts so immaturely to the future feels…unrealistic. Especially the characters that interact with her.

Maybe it’s because it moves through four years rather quickly. But maybe it’s genuinely just cause the book is very cliche-y. The way it ended, too, was also incredibly unsatisfying. In my opinion. So much of the book focused on the main character’s downfall, and losing herself, while not so much brushing up against the idea of recovery. No, it’s simply a brief discovery at the end. The last 10-15 pages, she finally tells multiple people she was r/ped. Then the way it ends? It doesn’t feel like an ending. The tone wasn’t right.

I expected more. It was a good book, but I didn’t like many of the depictions an portrayals of the situation and the characters and relationships. There were some solid points, many solid thoughts on behalf of the main character, but the execution wasn’t what I expected.

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starperson's review

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dark emotional inspiring reflective 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? Yes

4.25

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tdhuck's review

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challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-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

4.5

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katycanum's review against another edition

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dark emotional hopeful inspiring sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

This book was the first book I finished in 24 hours in years. I am not sure if it was the writing style, or just the story. This is a book that needs to start being shared in schools, in communities. it captures it perfectly.

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llalaluna's review

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dark emotional reflective 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

5.0

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pianoplayer279's review

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challenging dark emotional reflective sad medium-paced

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

4.5

An incredible book that is the sad reality of many people‘s lives. Age 15+

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bakedbeanss's review against another edition

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emotional 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

2.5

This was a hard one to swallow due to the topic. It was a decent book however, I really didn’t care for how Eden was portrayed after her rape. She turned into this girl who sleeps around to forget her trauma and I feel like this adds to the bad stigma regarding rape culture and the survivors. She did do a good job portraying the other potential behaviors of trauma survivors, isolation, nightmares/night terrors, fear. It was okay but I probably wouldn’t read this again.

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sierrabedwell's review

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challenging dark emotional hopeful reflective sad fast-paced

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

5.0

Wow. What an emotional read. I read this in 3 days and couldn’t put it down. The main character truly takes you with her while she recovers from a traumatic incident throughout her years of highschool. She makes you feel her emotions. I would recommend to anyone but major trigger warning for SA.

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