Reviews tagging 'Sexual assault'

Social Creature by Tara Isabella Burton

5 reviews

whimsicalish's review against another edition

dark fast-paced

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

1.5

This is not the worst book I have read this year. It has an over-the-top story, horrid cast of characters, and the twist is spoiled by its own damned self. Maybe it wasn't for me.

Although, spoiling the twist in the second chapter is a very odd choice. It straight up tells you what happens... in the second chapter. Why would you do that? You removed any and all suspense leading up to that moment. I don't want a book to tell me what's going to happen. I want to experience it myself.

All of the characters feel like caricatures. They don't feel real like real people. The main character, Louise, does start off human and relatable. Sadly after the second half of the book, she's just as exaggerated. One dimension characters. One is popular and everyone wants her. One is socially desperate. One gets attention with his homophobic slurs and sexist jokes. And ultimately everyone excuses it because they're all rich and vain, stepping on each other to be number one.

And it's perfectly fine to write a book with shitty people. Shitty people exist. But when they are all uninteresting and have the same basic personality, it's boring. At a certain point, I do not care what happens to them. I don't want them to succeed.

The ending was completely unsatisfying for me. I don't understand why this went the direction that it did. The writing wasn't great either. Odd breaks in scenes and the strange invisible narrator telling me what is happening in the story that I am reading. Some questionable choices here.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Classism, Death, and Toxic friendship

Moderate: Drug abuse and Drug use

Minor: Sexual assault, Homophobia, Lesbophobia, and Misogyny

lipstickitotheman's review against another edition

dark medium-paced

• 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

2.5

It was fine. I didn't find it particularly riveting or engaging, but it's not too bad.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Toxic friendship, Alcohol, Grief, Gaslighting, Murder, Sexism, Vomit, Addiction, Classism, Eating disorder, Fatphobia, Mental illness, Misogyny, Alcoholism, and Toxic relationship

Minor: Sexual assault, Sexual content, Suicide attempt, Suicide, Homophobia, and Infidelity

izypup's review against another edition

dark emotional tense medium-paced

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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicidal thoughts, Sexual harassment, Sexual assault, Drug use, Alcohol, Mental illness, Emotional abuse, Drug abuse, Violence, Addiction, Suicide attempt, Sexual content, Murder, Toxic friendship, and Alcoholism

Moderate: Grief

Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Vomit, Blood, Gaslighting, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Rape, Eating disorder, Domestic abuse, and Fire/Fire injury

esophagus18's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

• 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

1.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Murder, Alcoholism, Alcohol, Addiction, Drug abuse, Drug use, Violence, Toxic relationship, and Toxic friendship

Moderate: Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, and Gaslighting

petermedeiros1988's review against another edition

dark funny sad medium-paced

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

3.0

A kind of modern, social media, yuppie noir...And I do mean that in a good way, though your mileage may vary. It's a noir in the sense that we're not dealing with good people here. But the trick is that Burton makes us care for these characters as well. The book posits that the world--especially the art world, especially New York, especially the circles of the bored rich--are infinitely vapid, beautiful without heft. Then in the same breath she'll tell you, wait, no, that's not right, these people have real heart and real hurt...but it's never quite enough to overcome that first impression, I don't think. The central character is a bit of a cipher the whole time, subsumed by Livinia... though again, that's partly on purpose? It still gets a recommend for me if you are open a fan of, say, Double Indemnity...that is, if you can enjoy a well-written story where you're rooting for no one. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Suicide, and Alcoholism