Reviews with content warning for Body shaming - Luckiest Girl Alive

I find this one difficult to review — I want to give it five stars because I get Ani. I’ve been there. I was her for a very long time. But I read Bright Young Women first and this one is not written as well, in my mind.
It is spoken from the mind of someone who has experienced it and it breaks my heart. No individual should ever encounter such atrocities in their life, but “we live in a world.”

Onto the big stuff:

The dedication is for those like TifAni, and I get this one. Not as extreme, but still a terrible situation with a “friend” — well at least the one that was a turning point in my life. And that makes me angry. The other time is held on a back burner because one is “so much worse.” Both are what they are.
But, I also held it in and didn’t tell people what had happened until I couldn’t hold it in any longer. That was the first time I had fallen asleep on the phone with someone. I bawled my eyes out to a good family friend about what had happened to me four days after my 18th birthday.
“Let me take you out for dinner, only as a friend!” Says the 21 year old who had somehow gotten my Snapchat a few months before and talked to me, a mere high school senior, nonstop. Is the age gap large? No, but I was freshly 18 and it’s still r@pe. (Funny enough how Ani wasn’t attracted to Dean and didn’t like him, that’s how I felt about this guy too). Terrified to say no, terrified to fight back. Terrified to cut him out of my life. Terrified because he even followed me to college. I missed out on so much trying to keep him happy. But I broke free. I’m able to call a spade a spade, and I have come back stronger and less angry now.

For those like Ani, I see you, I hear you, I am you.

Content Warnings

emmyshh's review against another edition

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challenging dark mysterious sad slow-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

Content Warnings

ajano2's review against another edition

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dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.0

Content Warnings

lianathereader's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional reflective sad 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

Content Warnings

lifeisaeisha's review against another edition

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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.

Content Warnings

erikoo's review against another edition

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3.5

Content Warnings

hauntedantiqueshop's review against another edition

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Wildly uncomfortable with the casual eating disorder talk. You're bombarded with it right out the gate and it doesn’t let up. I’m sure it continues to go on in the book, I just am not interested enough in the story to put myself through that.

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