Reviews tagging 'Toxic relationship'

Bright Young Women by Jessica Knoll

31 reviews

mothie_girlie's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional medium-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Injury/Injury detail, Violence, Sexual violence, Grief, Murder, and Torture

Moderate: Toxic relationship and Gaslighting

Minor: 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

lollymac's review against another edition

reflective sad tense medium-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? No

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror

Moderate: Emotional abuse, Grief, Child death, Death, and Homophobia

Minor: Sexual harassment, Stalking, Torture, Murder, Rape, Infidelity, Violence, Toxic relationship, Sexual violence, and Sexism

hanhantap's review against another edition

slow-paced

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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual violence, Misogyny, Death, Rape, and Murder

Moderate: Homophobia, Lesbophobia, Adult/minor relationship, Suicide, Death of parent, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Forced institutionalization, Stalking, Toxic relationship, and Child abuse

ammcd1118's review against another edition

dark emotional inspiring reflective medium-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Homophobia, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Sexual content, Sexual harassment, Religious bigotry, and Toxic relationship

spicycronereads's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional funny mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.5

Ack! Audiobook loan expired before I finished! So I ended up listening to most of this book and then having a pretty long gap between when I heard the last two hours or so. Thinking back to my initial listen and thoughts, I didn’t really find the characters likable. There was enough of a mystery to keep me engaged though.

It’s a thriller with no romance elements. The story is narrated from two points of view over multiple time periods. So that gets a little confusing. And then at the end suddenly there’s a male narrator which really felt like it came out of left field. A lot of the narrative hinges on women bonding together over the violence done by men and forming support networks among systems that failed them.

In terms of diversity there are a few lesbian characters. No racial diversity that I can tell. And obviously no spice or swooniness. 

Overall, it was an entertaining listen. The mystery of how everything fit together and the larger themes of society failing women were pretty engaging. Don’t know that I’ll ever need to listen to it or read it again.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Toxic relationship, Homophobia, Misogyny, Violence, and Lesbophobia

Moderate: Sexual assault, Rape, and Stalking

Minor: Incest, Pedophilia, Injury/Injury detail, and Child abuse

Police incompetence; police gaslighting

dangarias's review against another edition

dark informative mysterious slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Homophobia, Toxic relationship, Violence, and Sexual violence

sdcalgirl's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character

4.0

Beautiful story speaking against sensationalizing serial killers and revealing the truth of how they are true, despicable garbage. The women and survivors who continue to fight are the real heroes 🫶🏼

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Content Warnings

Minor: Emotional abuse, Grief, Sexual violence, Pedophilia, Rape, Sexual assault, Stalking, Kidnapping, Homophobia, Religious bigotry, Toxic relationship, Death, Murder, and Sexual harassment

fancyjess_party's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional inspiring mysterious tense medium-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? No

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Physical abuse, Sexual violence, Lesbophobia, Gaslighting, Dementia, Death of parent, Toxic relationship, Rape, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, Death, Blood, Homophobia, Grief, Body horror, and Emotional abuse

Moderate: Blood, Homophobia, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, Sexual harassment, Stalking, Religious bigotry, Forced institutionalization, Grief, Kidnapping, Medical content, Death, Death of parent, Dementia, Domestic abuse, Hate crime, Incest, Infidelity, Lesbophobia, Rape, Sexism, and Violence

jess_d84's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative mysterious sad tense medium-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? No

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief

Moderate: Lesbophobia, Homophobia, Sexual violence, Murder, Forced institutionalization, Misogyny, Sexual assault, Sexism, and Toxic relationship

Minor: Kidnapping, Child abuse, Dementia, Torture, Pedophilia, Eating disorder, and Blood