Reviews tagging 'Sexual assault'

Marriage of a Thousand Lies by SJ Sindu

12 reviews

kathrynhoss's review

dark emotional sad tense slow-paced

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

3.75

A well-written and thought-provoking novel rich with cultural detail. I related to Lucky right away on a gender presentation level. It's rare for me to encounter female characters whom I relate to on this axis, who are also excited to be called "handsome" and feel most alive when wearing an open button down shirt.

It's the little things.

I was so into the first half of this book, but it became torturous for me personally. I have stopped reading coming out narratives for the most part, and now I remember why. I don't want to fill my head with any more gay suffering. The central conflict in this book is immensely believable and compelling: do you give up your family and that connection to your culture, or do you give up your personal truth?

I was hoping this would resolve itself into some kind of cute romance, even if things didn't work out with Nisha or if Lucky's mom never accepted her. It did not. Lucky continues throughout the course of the novel to throw herself at the mercy of covert narcissists (IMO) who make her suffering all about them. She puts herself in dangerous situations almost as a form of self-harm. Her interior monologue verges on suicidal at times, which I found triggering and which I know could easily trigger others.

I think this is worth reading, but perhaps not if you're prone to depression or sensitive to homophobia.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual harassment, Mental illness, Sexual assault, and Homophobia

Moderate: Suicidal thoughts

Self-destructive behavior, attempted date rape, and other potentially triggering sexual situations.

bi_n_large's review against another edition

challenging emotional hopeful reflective sad slow-paced

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

2.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Toxic relationship, Lesbophobia, Toxic friendship, Emotional abuse, and Homophobia

Moderate: Sexual assault, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Infidelity, Classism, Rape, Pregnancy, and Racism

Minor: Racial slurs and Suicidal thoughts

lolajh's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad medium-paced

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

5.0

Cannot describe how much I enjoyed this book. The main character, Lucky, is a Sri Lankan butch lesbian with such beautiful character development throughout the book as she learns to put herself first before others for a change to make herself happy. This book has multiple love interests but is not romance based, which I loved because I just got to see a lesbian dealing with her sexuality by itself without the need of a romance to make it valid. The lack of support for Lucky’s masculinity and lesbianism from her family made me understand the difference in experiences of womanhood and sexuality that poc have that is so much different to the white experience. This book also perfectly illustrated the fetishisation of lesbians, women, and poc by men. Kris, a gay man in this book who is in a non-romantic heterosexual-appearing marriage with Lucky, ignored Lucky’s wish to not be touched in several instances, and excusing it by saying she is his wife and he has the right to touch her even when he is given denial of Lucky’s instructions not to, and continues to hold her hand and touch her body when around others to convince them of their relationship whilst completely ignoring Lucky’s request to not be fucking touched? He continues to be controlling of Lucky as if she is his rightful property, even when he is gay and not attracted to her, he still feels the need to have power over her and cross the line of their relationship being strictly platonic and for the safety of both parties not being able to marry who they really want to. There is also an instance of a man saying he liked Lucky’s “butchness” which is a lesbian-specific term, as well as another comment about Lucky’s race. I have never seen a book so accurately capture the fetishisation of lesbians so well as it is not something talked about a whole lot. This book is truly perfect, but there are so many dark themes so please read the content warnings beforehand.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Death of parent, Dementia, Emotional abuse, Grief, Homophobia, Lesbophobia, Misogyny, Pregnancy, Racism, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, and Violence

Moderate: Alcohol, Alcoholism, Animal death, Cultural appropriation, Gore, and Miscarriage

thesapphiccelticbookworm's review against another edition

emotional hopeful slow-paced

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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Lesbophobia and Homophobia

Moderate: Sexual assault, Racism, and Death

Minor: Pregnancy, Animal death, Colonisation, and Miscarriage

himbomeena's review

challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

2.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Lesbophobia, Chronic illness, Dementia, Homophobia, Sexual assault, and Sexual content

Moderate: Abandonment and Toxic relationship

Minor: Animal death

iamnita's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring 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

4.5

A beautiful story. Deep cultural conflicts. Stellar queer representation. Just… great

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Lesbophobia, Alcohol, Suicidal thoughts, and Toxic friendship

Minor: Pregnancy, Sexual assault, and Sexual harassment

cosmicjo's review

emotional reflective sad medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Homophobia

Minor: Sexual assault

tina94's review

emotional hopeful reflective sad slow-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Animal death, Child death, Death, Dementia, Forced institutionalization, Grief, Homophobia, Infidelity, Pregnancy, Sexual assault, and Sexual content

caidyn's review

emotional hopeful medium-paced

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

4.25

When I was looking for some male authored AAPI and Desi books for May, this popped up on a general list for books. I was very intrigued by the description and, luckily, my library had it. The book is gorgeous and hard to read. It confronts a lot of identity and finding your own self, as well as the cultural stigma of being queer. It was a hard book to get through, but absolutely gorgeous.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Homophobia

Moderate: Alcoholism, Death, and Sexual assault

cheesepuppy's review

emotional medium-paced

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

5.0

One of the best books I’ve read in a while. Lucky is so relatable that it almost hurts to read. yet it’s such a beautiful story of how love, culture, and hate mold our lives.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Sexual content and Homophobia

Minor: Death and Sexual assault