Jade is a successful lawyer in a relationship with a man who loves her. In all respects her life is going well. One night, at a work function, her boss tries to hit on her and she has too much to drink. Luckily, a colleague lives in her direction and ensures she gets home safely. Except the following morning, Jade wakes naked and notices bruises on her body. She has no memory of what happened but later learns from her colleague that he had sex with her. Obviously, without her consent.

This story excels in highlighting the way the body stores and reacts to trauma, even when the mind isn't consciously aware of the trauma. Lee's writing of those scenes - the panic attacks, the partial flashbacks - was visceral and brilliant. I've never been seriously sexually assaulted, but Lee made sure I felt exactly what Jade felt. This book also excels at skewering the toxic workplace culture in big law firms, a culture which New Zealand news headlines over the past few years show isn't confined to the UK. And I don't just mean the punishing work hours, although they certainly featured. Scenes featuring the firm's diversity committe were toe-curlingly cringey for the way the committee was tokenistic and widely missed the mark, both in terms of composition and "achievements". And when Jade reported her rape to the firm's HR department, the response was as bad as this cynical reader expected, totally disproving their claim to take such matters seriously. Another aspect of this story which stood out for me was Jade's ethnic background. Her mother was Korean and her father Turkish. Although it wasn't the main focus, this book explored being a biracial member of two different minority cultures. It's the first book I can recall reading that has explored the issue. Another thing I liked was that this book explored the aftermath of rape for a woman who chose not to make a formal complaint to the police and not to proceed down the legal route. Clearly, there is no right or wrong approach; both need to be represented in fiction. This book would pair well with Prima Facie, which I read earlier this year. Both feature UK female lawyers raped by male colleagues, but Tessa pressed for her case to go to trial.
Jaded is an excellently written, powerful book exploring the clash between gender, race and power in the legal world. Highly recommended for those who won't find the subject matter triggering.
And Kit - the boyfriend who loved Jade? Total waste of space. Was so relieved when she finally left him.

Content Warnings

marissanbullis's review

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challenging dark emotional reflective sad fast-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

first half was decent (4 stars) the second half makes it all worth it (would rate this half 5 stars) crying, screaming, throwing up. recommending this to everyone i know

Content Warnings

ktdakotareads's review against another edition

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reflective sad medium-paced

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

4.0

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kirstym25's review against another edition

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emotional 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? No

4.5

Content Warnings

ramreadsagain's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional reflective fast-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

4.5

Be aware that this book has intense triggers.

Thank you to the publisher for gifting me a proof copy of this book. The below is my honest review.

This was an incredible read about the intersection of race, gender, class and privilege, particularly in the aftermath of a horrific event, against the backdrop of the dog-eat-dog London world of legal firms.

Jade was a very compelling character, and seeing the world through her eyes was both difficult and really interesting. I liked having the perspective of a mixed race protagonist who isn't half white; Jade's mother is South Korean and her father is Muslim Turkish and it was refreshing to have this take on "protagonist feels like they don't belong to either half of themself" combined with Jade trying to exist in a white world.

The class commentary was really well done, particularly looking at the class solidarity among the social elite that takes priority over however "liberal" individuals may think they are. Wanting to be seen as feminist and anti-racist without putting in any work, and having the privilege of debating real people's lived experiences as a thought experiment.

The central theme though is rape, and how isolating this experience can be, and how the system is stacked to make it nearly impossible for anything to be done about it on both an individual and a systemic level.

I don't wish to explain/spoil the plot further, I will say that this was a very difficult read at times but done so incredibly well. I particularly loved some of the smaller details, such as the concept of a "starbucks name" and the law firm self-congratulating over having an 11% female workforce.

My only complaint is that it felt at times a bit too tell over show, particularly in the

fight scenes between Jade and Kit

where we kept being told exactly why certain actions or words were bad.

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Reviews tagging 'Panic attacks/disorders'

Jaded by Ela Lee

ceedy's review

serendipitysbooks's review

marissanbullis's review

ktdakotareads's review against another edition

kirstym25's review against another edition

ramreadsagain's review against another edition