Reviews tagging 'Sexual harassment'

The Free People's Village by Sim Kern

4 reviews

alienguy's review against another edition

challenging hopeful reflective tense fast-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? Yes

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexism, Misogyny, Police brutality, Suicide attempt, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Drug abuse, Classism, Rape, and Addiction

Moderate: Sexual harassment, War, and Religious bigotry

Minor: Xenophobia

roaming_reader's review against another edition

challenging dark hopeful informative reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• 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

4.5

I first heard about this book on TikTok and Instagram from the author themselves and I wanted to pick it up. I am a big fan of Sim Kerns's social media posts and wanted to see if I would be a fan of their writing as well. Turns out I definitely am. This novel is set in an alternate USA timeline, during which Al Gore won the 2000 election and instead of a War on Terror, we were set on the War on Climate Change. It's something that sounds like a utopia, when in actuality, there are so many systemic issues that are masked by "saving the planet". Maddie as a main character was a great one to lead readers through, because her self discovery and learning journey felt reflective of what many people went through in 2020 during the BLM protests after the murders of George Floyd and Brianna Taylor. I did think that the commentary on systemic racism was a bit surface level. I saw another review that called it "entry level" for white people, and I have to agree with it. I enjoyed the discussions on transness and gender identity in the book and thought that the cast of characters was extremely diverse. They were fleshed-out so much that I would love a novel from each person's perspective. This book is enjoyable and really makes you think. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug use, Suicidal thoughts, Transphobia, Alcoholism, Drug abuse, Deadnaming, Death, Homophobia, Police brutality, Racism, Mental illness, and Suicide attempt

Moderate: Rape, Alcohol, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, and Slavery

miggyfool's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring lighthearted mysterious reflective sad tense 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? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Medical content, Misogyny, Outing, Panic attacks/disorders, Religious bigotry, Toxic relationship, Transphobia, Suicide attempt, Gore, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Drug use, Rape, Emotional abuse, Self harm, Sexism, Slavery, Suicide, Addiction, Animal cruelty, Body horror, Colonisation, Xenophobia, Classism, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Gun violence, Hate crime, Injury/Injury detail, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Police brutality, Sexual assault, Alcohol, Animal death, Physical abuse, War, Alcoholism, Blood, Confinement, Forced institutionalization, Gaslighting, Grief, Racism, Sexual harassment, Violence, and Vomit

feministy's review against another edition

emotional inspiring medium-paced

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

3.0

Pros:

• A character with neopronouns is always a nice thing to see.
• Some of the passages around organizing really hit home, especially the ones that centered ideological disagreement amongst protesters.
• Always here for the fight for Palestinian liberation shown in a positive light. 

Cons:

• Maddie is a pretty insufferable MC (main character) most of the time. 
• It's very "white cis lady is on a journey" for the first half of the book, and it's exhaustkng even for me as a white AFAB person who also had to learn and come to radical viewpoints. 
• Maddie's love interests are consistently awful and it's frankly hard to read. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Alcohol, Drug use, Police brutality, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Transphobia, Violence, and War

Moderate: Rape

Minor: Sexual harassment