Reviews tagging 'Rape'

The Friend by Sigrid Nunez

13 reviews

maddyreads89's review against another edition

challenging emotional reflective fast-paced

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

4.0

Still gathering my thoughts but first impressions
-there’s not a traditional plot, yet I couldn’t put this book down
-the end had me very emotional, idk something about moving past a feeling, even a bad one, feels like some kind of bittersweet culmination or release
-kinda want to immediately reread to piece together all the literary references and commentary about writing

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Suicide

Minor: Animal cruelty, Child abuse, Pedophilia, Rape, and Trafficking

starrybat's review against another edition

reflective slow-paced

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

1.25

I almost didn't finish this book.  Just very whiny.  Frustrating to read.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death, Infidelity, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicide, Trafficking, Grief, Suicide attempt, and Sexual harassment

Minor: Rape and Violence

amandam71's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• 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

A deeply sad love letter to the relationship between people and animals, as well as the literature and other media used to portray it. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, and Suicide

Moderate: Rape and Sexual assault

meremeth's review against another edition

I thought this was a book about a dog... Man what the hell 🤦🏻 
I got to the sex trafficking part and gave up.
I really enjoyed the writing style, but the content of the book feels indulgent and unnecessarily heavy at times 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Infidelity

Moderate: Rape, Suicide, and Trafficking

ahorowitz25's review against another edition

dark emotional sad slow-paced

1.0

Unfortunately, this book is a great example of misleading blurbs. I thought this was a tale about how a woman copes with her friend's suicide by taking in the man's dog, Apollo, and how both animal and human help each other grieve of the unexpected death. Instead, I got a middle-aged woman’s long-winded, wandering pontifications and justifications of her friend's repeated adultering and infidelities with his students and colleagues because he insisted that "a college setting encourages such behavior."

Gross.

Is it well written in a profoundly literary (read: pretentious and grating) style? Yes. But I just couldn’t get past how nauseous the male prof made me. I shouldn’t have bothered finishing it. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Infidelity, Misogyny, Toxic relationship, and Grief

Moderate: Rape, Sexual assault, Trafficking, and Kidnapping

Minor: Animal death

kaitidid's review against another edition

emotional hopeful reflective sad slow-paced

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

5.0

Not a classic dog book. More about grieving a flawed individual, and about writing itself. If you’re looking for “Marley and Me”, this isn’t it. But what it is is strange and wonderful. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Death, Misogyny, Rape, Sexism, Sexual violence, Slavery, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Trafficking, and Suicide attempt

Minor: Ableism, Toxic relationship, and Dementia

matilderavnholt's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad slow-paced

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

Was very excited to read this, but was very disappointed. It just wasn’t for me. I didn’t enjoy the writing style and didn’t empathise with the characters - especially the misogynistic diseased friend of the main character.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide

Moderate: Death and Rape

motleybooksandtea's review against another edition

dark emotional sad medium-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

2.5

2.5 — Oh goodness.

There were aspects of this book that really resonated with me. My internal sad girl felt very seen. The writing, itself, was also stunning and addictive.

I also loved that all the characters were unnamed except Apollo, the dog. That added a really cool depth.

However.

There were a lot of macabre topics that were mentioned, glanced over, and didn’t feel like they were purposeful to the story. There were asides that were not pertinent to the story. There were a few statements or ‘jokes’ that fell flat.

The triggers were not a problem for me, but there were A LOT of triggers. Do yourself a favor and look them up if you are thinking of reading this book.

I do want to try Nunez’s other works, though, due to the beauty of the writing. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Infidelity, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, and Suicide

Moderate: Mental illness and Abandonment

limap's review against another edition

emotional funny reflective medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Minor: Rape, Sexual violence, Suicide, and Violence

apeck's review

dark emotional funny sad medium-paced

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Suicide, and Grief

Minor: Infidelity, Rape, and Trafficking