Reviews tagging 'Physical abuse'

Monsters: A Fan's Dilemma by Claire Dederer

20 reviews

oliviaemily's review against another edition

challenging dark informative reflective medium-paced

3.75

how awful can we be before people stop loving us? i really enjoyed this musing on the perennial issue of whether art can be separated from the artist (and whether it should be). from jk rowling to joni mitchell, roman polanski to the author herself and her alcoholism, there’s a really nuanced and sensitive discussion of every type of monster. it kind of culminates in capitalism being the unavoidable issue (it doesn’t matter if you boycott, the decision is still shifted to the consumer) which i agree with but still found a bit plain. but then expands back out to conclude that, while every artist’s work is tainted by their biography, every consumer’s receipt of that art is coloured by their own experiences too. anyway it’s an ethical question without a real answer but this was a good exploration of it

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Alcoholism, Domestic abuse, Physical abuse, and Rape

larajgriff1's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective slow-paced

3.0

Unfortunately my expectations and hopes for this book were vastly different than what I experienced.  I wanted a more broad view of how "monstrous" artists affect their fandom and what the group as a whole or individually moves forward.  This book is much more personal to the writer and more of a memoir of her life and how she relates to different artists than the effect of their actions on the world.  

However, I cannot fault the author for the book not being what I hoped.  It is written very well and does make some good points about how these moments and artists affect us.  Though in the middle of the book she seems to be "existential crisis-ing" in circles and it doesn't feel like there is momentum again until the last few chapters.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Racism, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Transphobia, Violence, Antisemitism, Religious bigotry, Abortion, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Abandonment, Alcohol, and Sexual harassment

this is a book about people who do terrible things. It is hard to avoid anything, but I did skip a full chapter because I was so uncomfortable with the crimes of an artist.

jainabee's review against another edition

challenging dark funny informative reflective medium-paced

5.0

I am so glad this book exists because I NEEDED it. It needed to exist in the world. The question of how to balance fandom of my favorite works of creativity with the toxic and destructive behaviors of the creators is an issue that torments me. Dederer directly addresses some of my own pet monsters; Woody Allen, David Bowie, JK Rowling, Miles Davis. This book makes me think a LOT. This book is very uncomfortable in a vitally important way. This book challenges me in ways I needed. The chapter comparing and contrasting Valerie Solanas and Sylvia Plath (!!!!!) flipped my wig with the brilliance of unexpected insights about how women respond to the violence of misogyny. The chapter about Lolita is a sparkling gem of brilliant insight and analysis that might be the best review of it I've ever read (spoiler alert: Nabokov is not a monster, though he is a genius). This book is FULL of triggering content, as it describes the crimes of the creators. No way around that. The point of the book seems to be to face the monsters directly and feel the extremely uncomfortable dilemma between loving something, even the monster, "even after everything." I got a lot to think about here.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Bullying, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Mental illness, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Racism, Rape, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Antisemitism, Medical content, Kidnapping, Pregnancy, Gaslighting, Abandonment, and Sexual harassment

Moderate: Alcoholism, Cursing, Drug abuse, Genocide, Hate crime, Racism, Xenophobia, Grief, Murder, War, and Classism

Minor: Drug use, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, and Dysphoria

I need to read this book again. And probably again.

danimacuk's review against another edition

challenging emotional inspiring reflective medium-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism and Suicide

Moderate: Emotional abuse, Toxic relationship, and Antisemitism

Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Physical abuse, Racism, Rape, Sexual violence, Transphobia, Abortion, Death of parent, and Pregnancy

bookmindedmag's review against another edition

challenging informative reflective medium-paced

4.75

For those who sensitive to certain subjects, I included content warnings. The writer discusses some of the terrible things done by the men/women she discusses in the book so take care. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Domestic abuse, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicide, Violence, and Abandonment

ktdakotareads's review against another edition

informative slow-paced

3.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Bullying, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Infidelity, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Racism, Sexism, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Antisemitism, Grief, Death of parent, Toxic friendship, and Abandonment

mmccombs's review against another edition

challenging informative reflective medium-paced

4.5

This is a book made up of feelings and no answers and a whole lot of questions. It’s a book where I didn’t necessarily agree or resonate with everything the author brought up, but one that has made me think in new ways about consuming art, celebrity, biography, personal ethics, capitalism, and how all of those things intersect in a messy cacophony of emotion. How, ultimately, the question of what we do with monstrous celebrities/artists/public figures  boils down to the question of how we can still love someone when they’re a bad person (and if it’s possible to love ourselves when we are also imperfect).

 I do think the conclusion, which more or less boils down to “there’s no ethical consumption under capitalism” is kind of a weak way out. Some people might come out of this saying “phew, I can watch X movie and not feel bad about it” and I’m just unsure if that’s exactly the most productive outcome of a book like this. Sure, we can’t consume/not consume our way out of a huge systemic issue of abuse in the art industry, but what other method, as individuals, can we leverage in an attempt to show the industry (and our peers) that we do not condone behavior like this? I would have liked to see her push beyond her “well, what can you do?” ending to do something more constructive, it was not super satisfying and felt like a cop out.

I think I’ll be reflecting on this one for a while, I’m already excited to come back to it!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Pedophilia, Physical abuse, and Rape

dexkit10's review against another edition

challenging emotional informative medium-paced

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Murder, and Abandonment

ronan_lesh's review against another edition

challenging emotional hopeful reflective fast-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Rape, and Abandonment

Moderate: Alcoholism, Death, Drug abuse, Racism, Antisemitism, and Murder

brunonadamas's review against another edition

challenging emotional informative reflective sad tense

4.0

An excellent book, very well written. I can’t agree with the concept that it doesn’t make a difference if I still support an artist that has done terrible things. It makes a difference in my life. 

The fact is that there are so many great artist that have made the choice to not do things as a result of their torment. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Racism, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Violence, Antisemitism, Kidnapping, Grief, Abortion, Gaslighting, Abandonment, and Alcohol