Reviews tagging 'Death of parent'

Bright Young Women by Jessica Knoll

67 reviews

twilightfan420's review against another edition

dark emotional fast-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

4.5

I listened to this as an audiobook and loved it! Especially Tina and Ruth’s stories <3 It’s rare for me to find a split POV book where I like both narrators equally, but both Ruth and Pamela had so much strength and character development in their own ways. And the lemon shark was mentioned! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault, Murder, Rape, Homophobia, Violence, and Gore

Moderate: Body horror, Mental illness, Grief, Forced institutionalization, Death of parent, Kidnapping, and Dementia

anna_giub's review against another edition

dark emotional inspiring medium-paced

• Diverse cast of characters? No

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Violence, Grief, Blood, Death, and Gore

Moderate: Sexual assault, Rape, and Kidnapping

Minor: Death of parent, Sexism, Forced institutionalization, and Emotional abuse

emily_mae08's review against another edition

dark sad tense 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Violence, and Sexual assault

Moderate: Dementia, Death of parent, Forced institutionalization, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Misogyny, Murder, and Sexual violence

delaneydunster's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

4.75

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Blood, Eating disorder, Rape, Sexual violence, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Death of parent, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Forced institutionalization, Death, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, and Murder

realityczar's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad medium-paced

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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexism, Sexual assault, Violence, Murder, Lesbophobia, and Emotional abuse

Moderate: Injury/Injury detail, Blood, Gaslighting, Homophobia, Mental illness, and Rape

Minor: Death of parent, Eating disorder, Forced institutionalization, Incest, and Adult/minor relationship

edresbach's review

challenging dark emotional hopeful reflective fast-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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Torture, Death of parent, Kidnapping, Gore, Forced institutionalization, Physical abuse, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, Sexual assault, Grief, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Rape, Abandonment, and Gaslighting

hazelgirl21's review

challenging dark emotional 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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death and Violence

Moderate: Sexual assault and Homophobia

Minor: Confinement and Death of parent

vannahcabana's review against another edition

dark mysterious sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot

3.75

This a rather dark read as it follows Pamela’s quest to ensuring the killer of two girls in her sorority house is locked away for good. It’s a true crime type story. I gave it 3.75 stars just because it did get a little confusing in the middle as each chapter is a different character and time period; it jumped around quite a bit. Although he’s never mentioned by name, this is a loosely based story of the Ted Bundy murders at FSU and other places. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Rape, Sexual assault, Mental illness, Sexual content, Death, Death of parent, and Murder

bella_cavicchi's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense 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? It's complicated

4.5

Stunning and startling in equal turn. I greatly admire how Knoll weaves the theme of sisterhood throughout, not in an icky "girl boss"/white feminism way but, rather, in a profound call to reconsider—to remember—the shared responsibility we hold to do better for each other. A true sucker punch of a novel, one that I'd think would pair well with A Tiny Upward Shove.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, Violence, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Emotional abuse, Lesbophobia, Misogyny, Murder, Physical abuse, Blood, Death, Death of parent, Kidnapping, Rape, Child death, Cursing, and Gaslighting

Moderate: Infidelity

Minor: Pregnancy and Eating disorder

bookishevy's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful informative inspiring mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

January 15th, 1978, president of the top sorority at Florida State University Pamela Schumacher is startled awake at 3am by a sound she decides to investigate. She discovers four of her sisters badly injured, two would succumb to their injuries, inficted by a serial killer who escaped prison in Aspen, Colorado. Pamela soon meets Tina Cannon, a young woman whose friend Ruth Wachowsky went missing four years prior. Tina believes the man responsible for the sorority murders is the same one who took her friend.

The story is told from the perspectives of Pamela and Ruth. Pamela's is from the present when she receives a letter summoning her return to Florida and through flashbacks. Ruth's is from winter 1974 until her disappearance that summer and provides insight into how unhappy she was before meeting Tina.

Inspired by true events, the novel's name comes from the judge, who called Ted Bundy a "bright young man," which is ridiculous because the only thing Bundy had going for him was that he was a white male. Pamela often points out that The Defendent's (how Knoll refers to Bundy here to keep the focus on his victims and their families) good looks and intelligence are exaggerated. 

He was able to carry out this final killing spree due to the ineptitude of law endorsement in Colorado. It made officers look less incompetent to paint him as this slippery genius, and the press was just as complicit in his glamorization. 

It's up to Pamela and Tina to do what the men in charge of the investigation failed to do.

Ruth put her own happiness aside to appease her mother. The Defendent targeted young women because they are conditioned to please others. While reading Ruth's heartbreaking account, I was reminded of the killer's monologue in The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (Fincher's version) when he tells Mikael "It's hard to believe that the fear of offending can be stronger than the fear of pain. But you know what? It is. And they always come willingly."

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Child abuse, Murder, Rape, and Violence

Moderate: Sexism, Homophobia, Death of parent, and Death

Minor: Toxic relationship