Reviews tagging 'Sexual assault'

All This Could Be Different by Sarah Thankam Mathews

73 reviews

brotestantethic's review against another edition

emotional funny hopeful reflective medium-paced

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

3.5

This is an interesting one! This reads as an honest and mostly realistic look into anticapitalist 20-somethings living in the big city. Main character Sneha also struggles with the divide between her cultural and sexual identifies, as well as financial pressures. I though the deep dive into her culture was by far the best and most compelling part of this book. Matthews writes a blunt and telling narrative.

What I was surprised by here was what is not present. I truly expected Sneha to have a gender revelation. During sex scenes,

she is aroused by pretending to have a penis.

As a result, Sneha’s adventure with gender feels unfinished by the end of the novel. I do appreciate that she changes her views on trans people (originally not accepting of they/them pronouns). However, her character development is further unfinished because she does not reconcile with her fatphobia and colorism.

Furthermore, I found Project Pink House/Rion a bit hard to swallow. I believe Matthews was going for a microcosm of anticapitalist, communal living. It is a utopia of “doing what you can.” However, it ends up being and reading like college houses. A bit young, a bit unrealistic, a lot of conflict. I didn’t really like how this fit into the narrative and maybe could be chalked up to the author trying to cover a bit too much ground.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Eating disorder and Mental illness

Moderate: Fatphobia, Pedophilia, Racism, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, and Xenophobia

fkshg8465's review against another edition

emotional hopeful reflective sad slow-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

4.0

So many things to be sad about. So many things to applaud. So many things to be relieved about. So many things to feel wistful about.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Bullying, Chronic illness, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Infidelity, Racism, Sexism, Sexual assault, Suicide, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Xenophobia, Blood, Vomit, Police brutality, Medical content, Car accident, Death of parent, Lesbophobia, Outing, Gaslighting, Abandonment, Alcohol, and Deportation

jillaay_h's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional funny hopeful mysterious reflective sad 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? It's complicated

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Bullying, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Misogyny, Racism, Sexual assault, Toxic relationship, Medical content, Grief, Toxic friendship, Classism, and Deportation

hello_lovely13's review

emotional reflective 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

2.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness, Racism, and Sexual assault

Moderate: Alcoholism, Child abuse, Drug abuse, and Homophobia

Minor: Fatphobia, Transphobia, and Police brutality

charlie_woodchipper's review

emotional hopeful reflective 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? Yes

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault

Moderate: Alcoholism, Mental illness, and Deportation

Minor: Drug abuse, Homophobia, Transphobia, Gaslighting, and Classism

carenlou's review against another edition

emotional reflective fast-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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness and Sexual assault

archiveofrasa's review against another edition

emotional reflective slow-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

4.75

started this because I loved the voice, stayed because of the outstanding character work. Sneha is such an interesting and well realised character, as are all the other characters, Tig, Thom, Marina, Amit. even the more minor characters add a lot of realistic depth to what the book is trying to explore. 

I didn't realise until I was days deep into my annotating reread that the story is exactly what Sneha says it is in the beginning:

This is not a story about work or precarity. I am trying, late in the evening, to say something about love, which for many of us is not separable from the other shit.
—A1

 
when you read said story and the words and symbolism click into place, it's deeply satisfying. the book isn't trying to explore how Sneha directly navigates the capitalistic society of 2013-beyond, that aspect simply falls back as a foundation, as the unmovable constant in her life that continues to push her down. ATCBD is about Sneha as a person, her issues with intimacy, community, family, identity. the way Mathews going about exploring these facets intertwined with work life, as adult life must endure these days, was super compelling and so new. 

while Sneha was absolutely a pain in the ass, all we gathered from her before she hurts others makes me want to know how things end for her, what other choices she makes and why she makes them. I've stopped looking for likeable main characters and instead found myself gravitating towards those who do fuck up, have problematic issues as to why they fuck up, those who have to learn things the hard way, especially if those people are queer people of colour. these stories awaken a sense of realism I definitely needed and even if it has only subtly made its way into the wrinkles of my brain, it'll stay with me for a long time. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness, Racism, and Sexual assault

Moderate: Child abuse and Drug abuse

Minor: Alcoholism, Fatphobia, Transphobia, and Police brutality

team_worm's review against another edition

dark emotional funny hopeful reflective sad 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

5.0

My best novel of the year so far. I read it in one breath, stoping only to savor the sentences which cut deepest. The prose sparkles like broken glass! All feelings felt by the characters in this one - joy, sadness, outrage, triumph, heartbreak, anxiety, panic, loneliness, hope — you’ll feel them too. You will also feel exasperation as they are, some of them at least, very flawed. Some of Sneha’s and Thom’s opinions  are not my own, but I thought they evolved throughout the book in satisfying ways. If anything, more than people usually do irl. I cared so much about the characters. Would particularly recommend for fans of the great believers and tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow. A true millennial novel of queer friendship, trauma, and late capitalism. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Child abuse and Sexual assault

Minor: Transphobia

felixmarauder's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful reflective sad tense slow-paced

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

3.25

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Child abuse, Drug use, and Sexual assault

tabbiecat's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful reflective 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? Yes

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content

Moderate: Child abuse and Sexual assault

Minor: Vomit and Medical trauma