Reviews tagging 'Sexual violence'

Luckiest Girl Alive by Jessica Knoll

82 reviews

januaryghosts's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious slow-paced

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

2.5

I could not handle all of the eating disorder and body dysmorphia in this novel. There are pages of this book that could be cut down if we weren’t subjected to paragraph after paragraph about what food Ani is eating or trying to not eat or how much weight she has gained or lost to fit into more equally over-described clothes. It’s just this ongoing neurosis in the novel that doesn’t contribute to the plot or character’s journey. By the end, we’re supposed to believe that Ami is committed to becoming a better person and to getting help for herself, but her disordered eating isn’t really addressed. It honestly kind of felt like the author included all of that to bag on women and how they treat their bodies and the bodies of others. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Eating disorder, Fatphobia, Gun violence, Homophobia, Rape, Toxic relationship, Vomit, Mass/school shootings, and Murder

Moderate: Ableism, Mental illness, Misogyny, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicide, Violence, Medical content, Toxic friendship, and Alcohol

abigailhall's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective 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? Yes

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Eating disorder, Fatphobia, Gun violence, Sexual violence, and Mass/school shootings

beckytheiceboxoshea's review against another edition

medium-paced

• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

1.0

Nothing happens in this book. It's all the narrator's internal monologue about how to be cool (fake as fuck) and dangerously thin. Eventually she

tells you thru flash back that she was raped and a victim of a school shooting. Flash forward. Her rapist apologizes and she breaks up with her fiance.

the end.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Eating disorder, Fatphobia, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, and Mass/school shootings

Moderate: Abortion

kwoot7's review against another edition

dark mysterious sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Loveable characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

Choosing not to rate at the moment (4/26/24) due to the heaviness of the book making me not feel comfortable finishing the last <50 pages at this time.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Eating disorder, Gun violence, Hate crime, Homophobia, Mental illness, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicide, Violence, Mass/school shootings, Suicide attempt, Fire/Fire injury, Outing, and Injury/Injury detail

siobhanward's review

dark tense medium-paced

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

3.0

This book felt... unnecessarily intense? If that makes sense? The plot was ok - the characters, especially Ani were unlikable, but I get that was intentional. The afterword from Knoll about her own experiences definitely added a lot of context, but even then it didn't necessarily justify how graphic a lot of the book was. Knoll definitely has a gift for writing characters that were hard to like, and while it worked in this book, it still made the book a challenging read. I also was kind of frustrated that with the build up to what happened with the Five at Bradley, I wish there had been a bit more resolution around that. It just felt like everything wrapped up suddenly and that was it.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Death, Gun violence, Homophobia, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicide, Mass/school shootings, Suicide attempt, and Murder

heytherebriana's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• 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

Graphic: Rape, Sexual violence, and Mass/school shootings

lizzie_777's review against another edition

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? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gun violence, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Mass/school shootings, and Classism

david_brent's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

2.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Death, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Homophobia, Mental illness, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Violence, Mass/school shootings, Suicide attempt, Toxic friendship, and Alcohol

Minor: Excrement

lifeisaeisha's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

3.0

This book if hard to rate because it does some things very well, while failing in other areas.

The good: 

• it's very hard to talk about
  rape and sexual assault, especially as a survivor. So I definitely give the  author her props for approaching both that and school shootings,
  and depicting them both realistically. 
• The story was incredibly engaging. Although the characters were largely unlikable and at times insufferable, the plot had me locked in and I couldn't wait to get to the bottom of Ani's story and understand why she turned out the way that she did. 
• I think it was important to show characters like Ani's mother and
  the planned parenthood nurse
  . Women who perpetuate patriarchy by dismissing, downplaying, and outright ignoring obvious abuse.

The bad: 

• Right out the gate we are introduced to Ani's disordered eating, but at no point is it acknowledged as such, or as a thing for her to work on. Both times her best friend bright it up, she dismissed her and moved on. 
• The plot with
  the teacher
  was suuuuper unnecessary, and it was never acknowledged how creepy and inappropriate it was.
• (A personal gripe, not so much a fault of the author.) I would have liked to see more of how
  the documentary turned out and the fallout for Dean
  . I understand that Ani's closure came from the face to face acknowledgement of his crimes against her, but it would have been nice to see him finally lose.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Eating disorder, Fatphobia, Gore, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Blood, and Mass/school shootings

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Body shaming, Bullying, Cursing, Drug use, Gun violence, Misogyny, Vomit, Abortion, Suicide attempt, Gaslighting, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Homophobia, Miscarriage, and Panic attacks/disorders

erikoo's review against another edition

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body shaming, Bullying, Death, Eating disorder, Homophobia, Infidelity, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Mass/school shootings, Suicide attempt, Outing, and Toxic friendship