Reviews tagging 'Sexual harassment'

When We Were Bright and Beautiful by Jillian Medoff

14 reviews

kberman20's review

challenging sad medium-paced

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

2.5

not sure how I feel about this one. Felt like the child sexual assault was brushed over along with how serious his crimes were due to the focus being on Billy. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault, Child abuse, Rape, and Sexual harassment

Moderate: Alcoholism and Addiction

born_reading's review

dark emotional tense 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? No

3.0

,

rape,  

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Classism, Incest, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Alcohol, Rape, Violence, Emotional abuse, Drug abuse, Sexual harassment, Sexual assault, Pedophilia, Infidelity, Death of parent, Cursing, and Adult/minor relationship

belleslibrary1012's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense fast-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

As someone who has always loved print, I failed to see or understand the appeal of audiobooks. Then, I had a baby who turned into a toddler and I realized if I wanted adequate reading time for myself, I was going to have to put books in my ears. This is my second one ever and I will say the narrator really does make or break a story in an audiobook. This narrator was incredible and sucked me in whether in the kitchen, at the store, or amidst a hailstorm of flying toys and loud noises.

I will also say I never truly understood the need for trigger warnings because don't you know what you're reading already? Why is it necessary? This book drastically and forever changed that for me, given it did not have one and absolutely should. The author does a tremendous job don't get me wrong, but she purposefully buries the lead and heads the reader off to expect what they see in front of them as the focal point and that is just not true. The true crime in this crime story is not the one written in the back cover blurb, but instead lies just above the words, pulling you in and then just when you start to believe it, takes it away making you think you're reading into things. This was sad and tragic and beautiful and terrifying in so many ways. Though it is not a book I can revisit again, it is one that was very well written.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Sexual harassment, Sexual content, Violence, Toxic relationship, Adult/minor relationship, Gaslighting, Infidelity, Misogyny, Sexual assault, Body shaming, Child abuse, Classism, Emotional abuse, Pedophilia, and Sexual violence

saramoser's review

challenging dark emotional 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

4.0

<spoilers>A extremely troubling and tough read about sexual assault, statutory rape, child abuse and grooming. Told from the view of the accused rapists sister, who sustained abuse most of her childhood and into adulthood and had covered this traumatic upbringing with falsified stories that she had conjured in her mind-to protect herself and her family. This read takes you inside the mind of the victim, while looking at how a family can react when they have abusers and trauma deep rooted in the family, but are able to cover this up with money. A lot of reviews low stars simply because they don’t like the ending, the ending lacked justice. But in the world we live in, isn’t that often the case? <spoilers>

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Death of parent, Sexual assault, Classism, Infidelity, Sexual content, Pedophilia, Mental illness, Drug use, Cursing, Violence, Toxic relationship, Toxic friendship, Alcoholism, Car accident, Alcohol, Emotional abuse, Sexual violence, Sexual harassment, Adult/minor relationship, Gaslighting, Grief, and Rape

magjacks12's review

challenging dark emotional 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Child abuse, Pedophilia, Violence, Rape, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Sexual assault, Toxic relationship, and Emotional abuse

deagaric's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious 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

Yikes, I had mixed feelings about this book. The first 2/3rds really made my skin crawl. I completely understand that the characters might be intentionally unlikable, but the comments about 1) building staff being considered as "not people", 2) calling black employees "brother", 3) making multiple comments along the lines off "society is just gunning for white males" (???), and so on and so forth really made this book difficult to get into.

On top of that, Cassie heavily sexualizes her own brothers to the point that I do not understand why those parts were included. She describes how "sun beams off her brother's chest, making him look like a Greek God", and how she leans her head on her other brothers chest in bed while he's only "wearing boxers." What kind of bizarre sibling closeness is this. She even sexualizes a physical, scary fight she had with her younger brother.

As you all know from the abstract, one her brothers has been accused of a brutal rape incident, and is now on trial. Cassie, naturally, does everything she can to help her brothers case. Along the way, she does everything wrong, which drove me mad with frustration. "Do not talk to any media , reporters, or investigators without a lawyer present." Easy enough. Nope, Cassie does a 3 hour private interview on her own in her apartment. "Dress demure for court--" Cassie rips off her sweater and unbuttons her shit in court "because let them look." Then is shocked when her family is angry with her.

All of that being said, Cassie's aggravating personality almost makes sense given her toxic upbringing. She was raised in an adopted family full of infuriating people. Her dad is a millionaire who is blatantly ignorant and makes racist and classist comments, her older brother is jerk with a bad temper and zero ambition, her younger brother has ambition but also has a bad temper and is, most importantly, an accused rapist. So I'll cut Cassie some slack.

Either way, the book picks up by the final third. In Part III, we finally get to the court case itself and all of these flaws are brought to light. Minor character growth happens, resolutions arise, and things wrap up. It actually started having many twists and turns (some of them deeply disturbing) and becomes more of an engaging read. Solid 3/5 for me.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual violence, Infidelity, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Adult/minor relationship, and Rape

Moderate: Sexism, Toxic relationship, and Incest

Minor: Death of parent, Drug use, and Sexual harassment

alexisgarcia's review

challenging dark emotional 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? Yes

3.5

i don’t really know how to feel about this. some parts were super introspective and interesting and others were boring and kinda gross. some of the commentary felt like it was supporting the suspected rapist. it didn’t feel unbiased at some points. idk..

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Pedophilia, Sexual harassment, Toxic relationship, Toxic friendship, Incest, Adult/minor relationship, Alcohol, Gaslighting, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Alcoholism, Child abuse, Sexual violence, Violence, Death, Grief, Infidelity, Sexism, Abandonment, Classism, Cursing, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, and Rape

reading_and_roaming20's review

dark reflective tense fast-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

4.25

I thought I’d seen mixed reviews before, but then I peeked at WHEN WE WERE BRIGHT AND BEAUTIFUL on @goodreads. There are some major feelings in both directions. I couldn’t read this fast enough and, though I feel gross saying it, I enjoyed it. (To give a reference point, a comparable type of icky “I liked this” would be ANIMAL by LISA TADDEO.)

We’re led by Cassie Quinn (who is unbearable most of the time) as she and her disgustingly wealthy family navigate a trial of the youngest son, who is essentially a fictionalized Brock Turner. None of the apples fall far from the tree and JILLIAN MEDOFF has written a full cast of unlikeable characters. 

Many are horrified by how this book presents #MeToo from the perspective of the accused. This is fair, given that our society continues to believe abusers over the abused and perpetuates victim blaming. However, I didn’t feel like this book was presenting this as moral. In my opinion, the Quinns aren’t written to be sympathetic characters and I really don’t think MEDOFF wants you to like them. Instead, she shows that they’re deeply flawed, often in denial, and clearly inhabit the top tier of privilege. They constantly demonstrate the ugliness that comes with being accustomed to buying a more comfortable reality when the one they’re faced with isn’t suitable.

The twist partway through floored me with how next-level perverse it is, though it made me rethink each character and how I saw them prior to and following this point. I personally am ok with dark subject matter and was completely engrossed in this story, but the turn it takes is not one everyone will appreciate. 

The content//trigger warnings are no joke, so PLEASE take a look at those before reading. Some characters are just as bad, if not worse than they seem. Others are far more complex and damaged than they are initially made out to be. I didn’t close the book loving any of them, but I understood some of the Quinns more when I turned the last page. And wow, have I thought about this book since then. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual harassment, Adult/minor relationship, Rape, Child abuse, Sexual violence, Sexual assault, Pedophilia, and Incest

jskhisov's review

dark mysterious reflective medium-paced

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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Gaslighting, Pedophilia, Sexual content, Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Drug use, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, and Sexual harassment

anniesbookpicks's review

challenging dark medium-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual harassment, Adult/minor relationship, Rape, and Sexual assault