Reviews tagging 'Pedophilia'

The Virgin Suicides by Jeffrey Eugenides

29 reviews

lostfoxtrail's review against another edition

dark slow-paced

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

1.5

Absolutely hated this book. The reason it got a rating this high was because I was hooked for the first 30 pages or so. Then it just becomes this long creepy story where really nothing happens for 100 pages. It made me question why this was a novel instead of a short story. The way the girls are described by the main character is actually pretty disturbing, which may be the point, but it seems pretty normalised in the narrative. It’s supposed to be the MC as an adult reflecting on his childhood, but he’s still describing these girls who aren’t much older than 14 in vivid, sexual detail. So, a grown man writing a grown man writing about a horny teenage boy. If the author was going for what I think he was, then it was extremely poorly executed. The book seems to have a nostalgic, vignette description of these events, even though it’s describing the life of five abused and disturbed young women taking their own lives. The hook of the book is only covered in the first 30 pages and then the last 30 pages. I genuinely feel that the pages in the middle did nothing to add to the narrative. Though it’s supposed to be all about these girls, they’re all cardboard cutouts. The same with the male characters. The book is far too long to feel like I didn’t know any of the characters by the end. The whole thing was just in poor taste and I was sick of it by the midway mark. Only reason I finished it was because it had been hyped up so much. Maybe in the future I’d be interested in trying Middlesex, as that’s also recommended even if you don’t like TVS. God this book sucked. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Bullying, Child abuse, Death, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Grief, and Suicide attempt

panda's review

challenging dark sad slow-paced

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

5.0

It's a really good examination of both suburbia and the objectification of teenage girls 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Misogyny, Suicide, Stalking, and Suicide attempt

Moderate: Pedophilia

jemimaesmee's review against another edition

dark sad slow-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

1.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide and Suicide attempt

Moderate: Pedophilia

icefairy's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective relaxing sad 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

5.0

this book can't possibly be written by a man, it feels like younger me at the ages of 11, 14, 15 and 16 all came together in a room to put in their troubles, thoughts, fears and feelings into a book that was then warped into being told by the most unreliable of narrators- obsessed teenage boys. the language flows in a way nothing I've read ever has and the content to description ratio is so perfect for me it feels like a duvet covering me in a cold winter

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Mental illness, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, and Suicide attempt

Moderate: Pedophilia, Sexual assault, and Sexual harassment

irislovescats's review against another edition

dark mysterious 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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Mental illness, Self harm, Suicide, and Suicide attempt

Minor: Eating disorder and Pedophilia

merle98's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious reflective sad tense slow-paced

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

4.5

This is a strike of genius that could have been ever so slightly more concise. But what a great critique of the male gaze and suburban society. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Body horror, Body shaming, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Rape, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Religious bigotry, Medical trauma, Suicide attempt, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, and Classism

lilacfoxes's review against another edition

dark 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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Sexual content, Suicide, Religious bigotry, Stalking, and Sexual harassment

Moderate: Ableism and Racism

Minor: Pedophilia

abird03's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious reflective sad 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Suicide, Toxic relationship, and Suicide attempt

Minor: Pedophilia, Cultural appropriation, and Alcohol

miraveta's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad tense slow-paced

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

4.75

Interesting to read a story where the narrators are so blatantly wrong about what's actually going on. They've placed themselves near the heart of a narrative they built up that in reality has little to do with them or anything larger than life, but rather the various everyday social pressures of the panopticon that is WASP suburban life.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Self harm, Suicide, and Suicide attempt

Minor: Pedophilia and Sexual harassment

brianna2811's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious reflective tense slow-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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Mental illness, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Grief, and Suicide attempt

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Confinement, and Alcohol

Minor: Alcoholism, Drug abuse, Drug use, Eating disorder, Fatphobia, Pedophilia, Sexual content, Medical content, Dementia, and Stalking