Reviews tagging 'Sexual harassment'

The It Girl by Ruth Ware

13 reviews

skinnerj1267's review against another edition

dark tense medium-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Minor: Sexual harassment

lindsayerin's review

dark mysterious 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? It's complicated

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Pregnancy, Murder, and Death

Moderate: Sexual harassment

Minor: Toxic friendship

minimicropup's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious reflective relaxing tense slow-paced

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

4.0

Narration 👌: Perfection. Character voicing wasn’t over-the-top, emotions of the characters were captured (which breaks up the more repetitive parts in the writing). Easily listenable at different speeds. 

 

Atmosphere 👍: Created through thought and dialogue. Tone and writing style are direct, descriptive, and sentimental. 

• Set in Oxford, UK for the “Before” chapters. Mainly in dorms, halls, and pubs so over time I developed familiarity for certain places along with the MC. The “After” chapters are set in Edinburgh, Scotland. 
• People, places, and things are well described so don’t have to work overtime on the imaginings, but there’s still room for creativity (and no imagination smashing later in the book).

 

Main POV 👍: Limited third party narration of one MC while attending Oxford (“Before”), and ~10 years later as a married adult expecting a child (“After”). We are deep in their mind and only their mind…prepare to hear every thought they have.

• Our “Before” MC is considerate, humble, loyal, forgiving, naïve, self-doubting…and a little “dense”! They are in their first year at Oxford University assigned to a charming, spontaneous roommate they admire and bond with quickly.
• Our “After” MC has the same personality but is now cautious (bordering on avoidant) of anyone beyond their spouse, co-workers, and friend. They are expecting a child and struggling with some health issues related to the pregnancy and stress.

 

Cred Rating 👍👩‍🎓🧑‍💻: Plausible to Plausible-ish. 

• Realistic touch of true crime journalism putting pressure on witnesses. Accurate portrayal of toxic friendship dynamics and how they can form. 
• The whole situation relied on our MC being blind to HUGE red flags near the end (girl, have you ever heard of the police?!)…but that is pretty consistent with her throughout the story! 

 

Growls and Howls 🐺: 

• The more atmospheric (and interesting) parts are the “Before” chapters. The “After” chapters drag on and become repetitive about Hannah’s pregnancy experience (dizzy, sweaty, sore…we get it!) 
• Unsupportive spouse trope is overdone in the “After” chapters. Hannah’s husband is acting controlling, dismissive, and does that “pat-pat you’re just pregnant-hysterical, honey” thing. I imagine this was done to create tension and suspense. It just didn’t have to be done SO often.
• After the villain reveal I felt like we were reading a totally different character in a way that broke the story (the sudden evil-grin-rubbing-hands-together-cackling energy was a total 180 and a bit OTT). 
• The villain may range from aha-validation to twist for you, but I enjoyed it because there was a sprinkling of small, justifiable red flags throughout the book. I would alternatively suspect and dismiss certain characters and it had me starting to feel as confused and dense as Hannah (🤭).

 

Reading Journey 😊🫠: European road-trip. Sometimes you’re enjoying the drive and scenery at a leisurely pace. Other times you just wanna get to your destination; screw the scenery and leisurely pace when you’re stuck in slow-moving traffic while exhausted. 

 

Mood Reading Match-Up:

• Slow-paced narratives based on dialogue, thoughts, and monologue
• Dark academia vibes (death of a roommate, academics behaving badly)
• A tiny touch of “Good for Them” (villainous victim/bullying revenge)
• Light commentary on classism, access to education based on generational wealth rather than merit, familial $$ control and pressure on College students
• Whodunnits and red herrings
• Slightly ambiguous endings…we get the who, where, how, for all the crimes, but why is less clear 

 

Vibes: 🤓🤔😬

 

Content Heads-Up: Numerous descriptions of pregnancy, panic attacks, and anxiety. 

 

Format: Audible

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Panic attacks/disorders and Pregnancy

Moderate: Murder, Bullying, Death, and Sexual harassment

Minor: Drug abuse, Infidelity, and Toxic friendship

Panic attacks are described through fainting/dizziness arising from pregnancy and health conditions. For pregnancy there is

Spoiler

no loss of child

just experience of pregnancy and health conditions arising from stress or genetics. The sexual harassment is based on creepiness from porters (i.e., security personnel at the university) and faculty,

Spoiler

but more of a feeling than any direct action

. Drug abuse

Spoiler

involves peer dealing of prescription ADHD drugs

.

dganaway's review against another edition

mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Minor: Sexual harassment, Violence, and Pregnancy

katharina90's review against another edition

mysterious tense medium-paced

• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No

2.0

Below average thriller with a whole host of unlikeable characters. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Sexual harassment, Toxic friendship, Gun violence, Drug use, Murder, and Stalking

Minor: Classism

mouwuol's review

dark mysterious reflective tense

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Pregnancy, Gaslighting, Child death, Alcohol, Adult/minor relationship, Panic attacks/disorders, Misogyny, Gun violence, Grief, Violence, Emotional abuse, Drug use, Classism, Genocide, Suicidal thoughts, Miscarriage, Infidelity, Murder, Blood, Sexual harassment, Medical content, Kidnapping, Toxic friendship, Medical trauma, Injury/Injury detail, Drug abuse, and Death

cpratreads's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-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

3.5

I liked this book! Ruth Ware is my vacation go-to author and she didn't dissapoint with this one either. 

This is the first book of hers (I've read 2 others) where I didn't guess the outcome so that was fun! It did feel like it went a little quickly once the reveal happened but it was a fun ride. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Death, and Pregnancy

Moderate: Sexual harassment, Death, and Sexual assault

katiejohns's review

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• 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

2.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder

Moderate: Sexual harassment

kelseyr713's review

adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced

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

5.0

Ruth Ware has done it again, crafting a compelling mystery with a main character I really felt for. Hannah is extremely likeable and sympathetic, and I understood her need to solve the mystery, even all these years later. I enjoyed the split timeline narrative and had a hard time putting this one down to go to sleep, especially towards the end!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Pregnancy, Murder, Child death, Infidelity, Stalking, Alcohol, Classism, Death, Emotional abuse, Toxic relationship, and Toxic friendship

Moderate: Misogyny, Sexism, Medical content, Injury/Injury detail, Cursing, Drug abuse, Gun violence, Drug use, and Violence

Minor: Sexual content, Sexual harassment, Suicide, Adult/minor relationship, Dementia, and Sexual assault

theonlybaillie's review against another edition

emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Grief, and Stalking

Moderate: Infidelity, Sexual harassment, Toxic friendship, Murder, Rape, Medical content, Panic attacks/disorders, and Toxic relationship

Minor: Alcohol, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Drug abuse, Mental illness, Suicide, Violence, Drug use, Gaslighting, Gun violence, Pregnancy, Sexism, Vomit, Classism, and Emotional abuse