Reviews tagging 'Sexual assault'

Difficult Women by Roxane Gay

44 reviews

milksoup's review

dark

• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

1.0

a collection of stories about women hurt and humiliated by men and women who, more often than not, want to be hurt and humiliated by men. chock-full of violent straight sex - even when the character in focus of the story is in love with another woman, you will read descriptions of her having straight sex. repetitive elements of a twin bond, the cold north, lumberjacks, hunting. the blurb on the back of the polish edition calls it feminist, i dont see anything remotely related to feminism here. reading this felt like reading torture porn - but for women.

if you want to read about women being hurt over and over by men, usually sexually and often willingly, this is a book for you. why anyone would want that thought, i cant imagine

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Sexual violence, Sexual content, Self harm, Pedophilia, Pregnancy, Child abuse, Violence, Sexual harassment, Grief, Emotional abuse, War, Vomit, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Kidnapping, Car accident, Blood, Physical abuse, Death, Rape, Misogyny, Fatphobia, Eating disorder, Domestic abuse, Lesbophobia, Alcohol, Homophobia, Miscarriage, Sexual assault, and Sexism

truelizrose's review

challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense 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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault

glutenfreemaggie's review

dark emotional reflective sad

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexism, Sexual harassment, Medical content, Mental illness, Domestic abuse, Rape, Misogyny, Sexual violence, Pregnancy, Infertility, Miscarriage, Infidelity, Sexual content, Sexual assault, Death, and Child death

emeade99's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective 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: Rape, Sexual content, Sexual assault, and Child death

pseudolain's review

challenging dark emotional hopeful reflective sad tense medium-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? Yes

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Toxic relationship, Pregnancy, Rape, Miscarriage, Sexual assault, Sexual content, and Sexual violence

Moderate: Blood, Misogyny, Fatphobia, Grief, Abandonment, Domestic abuse, Infertility, Medical content, and Vomit

stutee's review

challenging dark emotional reflective sad medium-paced

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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Physical abuse, and Sexual assault

Minor: Sexual harassment, Toxic relationship, Sexual violence, Physical abuse, and Miscarriage

bryelle's review

emotional funny reflective fast-paced

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

4.0

Short stories about women, trauma, and  being a badass. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Kidnapping, Sexual assault, Adult/minor relationship, Rape, Child death, and Sexual content

bmpolito's review against another edition

challenging dark sad tense 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

3.0

This book is very well written, but the stories have a lot of violence against women and children. It's a tough read. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Pedophilia, Sexual assault, Misogyny, Sexual content, Sexual violence, and Sexual harassment

sexpest's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional fast-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

5.0

This book is one of the best books I have read. I love short stories that still somehow intertwine and Gay does an incredible job incorporating similar threads through each piece while still keeping each story an individual piece of intense storytelling. It's important that each chapter is no more than 20 pages due to the intensity of each story. To be so descriptive, and heart-wrenching, while still being concise is an incredible feat that Gay conquers incredibly well. Be aware that there are lots of talks of child sexual abuse, sexual assault, and overall violence towards women. There are also talks of child deaths and difficult pregnancies with the loss of children, as well as gorey descriptions of hunting animals. Never once have these triggering topics felt out of place though - they all serve a large purpose in the stories being told which I appreciate deeply. The writing style reminds me a lot of Carmen Maria Machado's Her Body and Other Parties, which is another book I rated 5/5 stars. Love this author immensely.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Sexual content, Self harm, Child abuse, Sexual harassment, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, and Sexual violence

pfina's review

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? N/A
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Sexism, Sexual violence, Adult/minor relationship, Addiction, Incest, Sexual assault, Alcoholism, Body shaming, Pedophilia, Rape, and Sexual harassment