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A review by danajoy
Promising Young Women by Caroline O'Donoghue
dark
reflective
sad
tense
4.0
Dark. At times, surreal. Infused with toxic environments and mindsets. Promising Young Women follows the time-old tale of a young woman becoming entangled with an older, married, man at work. The way it undoes her and the way she puts herself back together.
Jane makes horrible, infuriating decisions. She seems a little too passive in her own life (at times I feel like I do this too, perhaps we all do) and it gets too far out of her control. She wants things that don't serve her.
Reading this felt like a horror novel. I saw the bodily changes and deterioration, the appetite loss and vague mentions of things neither Jane or we as the reader knew about as horrifying.
The Agony Aunt aspect was quite interesting and I did like the way it made Jane reflect.
The book ends without tying up all its loose ends. Consent and assault aren't completely considered by Jane throughout but one has to hope with time and more clarity she'd be able to recognise what was happening.
I do recommend it. This falls into that category of troubled twenty-something women behaving self-destructively which I do tend to resonate with.
Jane makes horrible, infuriating decisions. She seems a little too passive in her own life (at times I feel like I do this too, perhaps we all do) and it gets too far out of her control. She wants things that don't serve her.
Reading this felt like a horror novel. I saw the bodily changes and deterioration, the appetite loss and vague mentions of things neither Jane or we as the reader knew about as horrifying.
The Agony Aunt aspect was quite interesting and I did like the way it made Jane reflect.
The book ends without tying up all its loose ends. Consent and assault aren't completely considered by Jane throughout but one has to hope with time and more clarity she'd be able to recognise what was happening.
I do recommend it. This falls into that category of troubled twenty-something women behaving self-destructively which I do tend to resonate with.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Infidelity, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Blood, Vomit, and Alcohol
Moderate: Miscarriage, Rape, Suicide, and Toxic friendship