Member Reviews
Young Women follows the lives of Emily and Tasmin as their worlds collide to form a very unlikely friendship. Nestled within the backdrop of the bustling chaotic streets of London is a searing, raw look at the #MeToo movement and what it means for women existing in the current day patriarchy.
Moor handles the very sensitive topic with a perfectly deft yet powerful touch to create a haunting and thought provoking read. She really puts the topics of sexual assault and the power of women's voices under a microscope to force you into reflecting on societies prejudices and indeed your own.
A tough but important read especially in current times.
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Can I read it again? It’s absolutely brilliant. A gripping page turner that asks serious questions and is written beautifully. I couldn’t put it down and am bereft now that I’ve finished.
This book, in my opinion, is tremendously insightful and sympathetic about how sexual assault is ingrained in our culture and how women have come to tolerate it. How even a woman like the main character, who works for a law company that specialises in cases of abuse against women, may enable this violence is extremely clear, for instance when she tells her childhood friend who was groomed by their instructor that she was mature for her age. This book's narrator did a fantastic job of differentiating between the two main characters. She also made it simpler to follow the numerous other characters.
Despite having a thin narrative, this novel is incredibly compelling. The narrative is not nearly as important as the characters are. It didn't seem like anything actually happened in the narrative, but it was still quite captivating. I was quite interested in learning how the characters' stories would turn out.
Although I didn't particularly like for either of the two main female characters, I was nevertheless intrigued in their decisions and concerned about what happened to them.
A middle-class London in the grip of the MeToo movement. This book feels very much of its moment, opening with narrator twenty-something Emily getting arrested at a climate protest where she meets the magnetic Tamsin, an aspiring actress so much shinier than Emily herself, who is always on the sidelines.
Emily tells this story as a somewhat biased narrator, and the story is a bit disjointed.
Her blossoming friendship with Tamsin borders on obsession, the narrative all the while circled by scandals of sexual harassment and abuse.
Emily’s job as a lawyer with a women’s charity means she sees her fair share of, well- unfairness, and as she gets to know Tamsin better she realises that she has some dark stories of her own.
I had initially started reading this last year as I was very kindly sent a copy but it didn’t captivate me too much at the time. So I listened to this on audiobook when it became available on Netgalley. I preferred it as an audiobook, The autobiographical style works better for me that way and it was a better way for me to connect with the characters.
It tackles difficult issues like sexual abuse and could be triggering for some readers.
I LOVED this, Jessica Moor will be an immediate pre-order for me from now on.
Emily, like many a fictional young woman before her, is a little lost, She can’t really afford her depressing south London houseshare, is mourning the end of toxic relationship, has drifted away from her friends, and feels terrible at her worthy non-profit legal job. So it’s natural that she’s drawn to glamorous Canadian Tamsin, an inexplicably wealthy actress with seemingly endless time to cook extravagant meals or go for cocktails at the Savoy. Tamsin has a secret, obviously, and what starts as a fun tale of friendship and self-discovery turns into a thoughtful and sophisticated take on MeToo. The story confronts how we look at victims, young women’s autonomy and power dynamics in a surprising and moving way.
This was a powerful story which I thoroughly enjoyed. Not my usual but a refreshing change for me I would highly recommend this book.
Emily is a lawyer in London; she works with a voluntary sector organisation helping vulnerable women. She is arrested on a demonstration and meets Tamsin, an assured, confident, bohemian woman of a transatlantic persuasion. Tamsin beguiles Emily to the point that Emily pretty much sidelines her existing friend, Lucy, to spend more time with Tamsin.
As this friendship unfolds, a growing scandal involving a film director and young women starts to emerge. This seems to be a thinly disguised story of Harvey Weinstein. The cases start to impinge on both Emily's professional life and her private life. As Tamsin and Emily discuss the situation - and the wider # Me Too movement, there is plenty of opportunity for political grandstanding.
The story itself starts to become confusing and to be weighed down with some of the philosophy. But on the positive side, there is some consideration of how women can be conflicted - between seeking justice and seeking privacy; between what is proportionate and what is expedient.
The characters were well drawn and interesting, at least to start with. For the first half of the novel, the developing relationship between Emily and Tamsin was compelling; and the reader felt for poor, abandoned Lucy. But at around the halfway point the novel changed tack and became focused only on the sexual assault angle and associated legal cases. It lost something in the process.
The audiobook version is well narrated and has the advantage that once it starts, it keeps going. I'm not sure I would have found it quite as easy to complete the text version of this given that some of the material did start t feel quite familiar by the end.
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Jessica Moor is the voice of a new generation. As an older listener, my experiences of feminism and liberation in the 1960s and 1970s was very different. However, despite these differences, I found her insight into the challenges faced in todays world both frightening and powerful. Listening to this story is rather like having the person in the room speaking to you and at first I found this direct approach a little unsettling. It was very much in your face rather than sit back and observe. Once I was used to that narrative style, I found it easy to go with the story which becomes more and more dark. It’s thought provoking and at times I found it very uncomfortable but I understand that these are the difficulties faced by countless young women daily. It’s a haunting story which has led me to reflect on how much the world has changed in so few years. I hope there’s more from this talented author.
I've seen this book being described as almost a tale of two halves as there is a very clear change between the first part and the second part of this book. I found this to be a powerful read, but please read the trigger warnings before reading it yourself.
well written modern narrative, two young women are drawn to each other through their very different lives. There are a couple of story lines and one is the world of film making and sleazy directors, how they treated women who were vulnerable and aspiring to make it. Could have been a true story, the hollywood dream. The two women meet through mutual interest in a common cause and they form a friendship. I really enjoyed the journey of the friendship and they coped with each others issues and the life dramas. despite being very different characters. I really enjoyed the writing, and development of the characters, you cannot fail to be drawn in. Some controversial subjects came up and led you into seeking an explanation and explore your own thoughts. Narration was excellent, an great read. Thank you #NetGalley for the audiobook to review.
Thoroughly enjoyed this book, really highlighted female struggles and how everyone has a story and how personal this is to them.
Such a breath of fresh air from a book as really unexpected and the narrative was just wonderful and thought provoking
Tanya Reynolds is an outstanding narrator - really brough the characters to life, and ensured everyone had their own voices.
Combining beautiful prose with the ugly reality and flawed people and friendship. This book is a commentary on if there is any one way to be a (young) woman, if there is any one way to react to abuse or trauma as a woman - and how to accept or see those reactions as another woman-supporting-women. What does it mean to support women?
Emily is a flawed character, and you will find yourself hating her and pitying her throughout.
Brilliant and worth a listen.
Young Women is set against the #MeToo era. It’s a fascinating read, and it was interesting to take a look into the lives of Emily and her friend Tamsin.
Emily meets Tamsin at a protest march and they become friends very quickly. Tamsin is an actress who seems to be living a very expensive life. She owns a flat in Soho, eats in expensive restaurants and drinks in even more expensive bars. In contrast, Emily shares a small flat, and works for a charity that deals with women’s advocacy. Her life is very different, and she’s excited by what Tamsin has to offer.
When an actress comes forward to accuse a film director of sexual assault, Emily realises that Tamsin is involved in some way.
This novel looks at how women can be coerced into keeping quiet about assault and in this case, with large sums of money. We see how men have all the power, how acts of sexual assault by males are all too frequent and commonplace, and how women can make themselves complicit whilst experiencing trauma.
I loved the narrator, and she really helped to bring the book to life. She had just the right voice for the main characters of Emily and Tamsin (by that, I mean she sounded as young as they were!).
There’s a lot to talk about in this novel, and I think it would make an outstanding book club book. It would certainly create a great deal of discussion around both sides of the equation. All of the men are written as complication inappropriate behaviours around women, and the women initially take the money in exchange for their silence, only to disclose what happened to them later.
This is a brilliant book, I hope people will read it and discuss the questions it raises about our society as a whole.
This audio book was different to any I have listened to before. I liked the narration although the Canadian accent was grating at times. I very current topic looking at the me too movement. showing it in a different light from different perspectives.
This book and its characters are messy, and complicated, and I absolutely loved it.
What starts as a wry, observational tale about a young woman’s obsession with a glamorous friend, turns into a much darker, much murkier story. To say this book is about the MeToo movement doesn’t quite feel accurate. Much of the plot is about the sexual harassment and abuse these women have faced, all seen through the lens of the main character Emily.
Emily was a painfully relatable character. I saw both past and current versions of myself in her morals and in her flaws, and I know that will ring true for many other women my age. The two other main characters were Tamsin, an enigmatic actress Emily meets at a protest, and Lucy, her best friend from secondary school. Both of these women have been through significant trauma, and Emily – no matter how much she thinks otherwise – is not equipped to really help either of them. Over the course of the book we watch her reevaluate the things she thought she knew, and begin to view the world in a less idealistic way.
Nothing is truly resolved at the end of this book, and I really appreciated that. The book felt so true to life that if the good guys won and the bad guys got punished it would have felt hollow. But there are small wins for the good guys, and small losses for the bad guys, and both the characters and the reader have to be content with that. It’s also an excellent depiction of the pitfalls of white feminism. Over the course of the book, Emily begins to see quite how blinkered her view of the world – and of feminism – is, and it sets her on the start of seeing the world a little more critically, with a little more humility. (But only a little! This is the start of Emily’s adulthood, so we just get to see her take her first steps, which I loved.)
This book explores some really interesting themes, such as victimhood, the exploitation of victims in the media, and the responsibilities held by perpetrators, victims, and witnesses. It’s an ideal book club book; I want to get a group together to read this book so we can discuss in-depth how these ideas present themselves in this book! (So if you have read it, do get in touch!)
And finally, a huge shout-out to the narrator. Tanya Reynolds is an excellent actress, and no small reason behind my choosing the audiobook over the ebook. She brought Emily and all the other characters to life so vividly, and really added to my overall enjoyment of the book. I highly recommend choosing the audiobook for this one!
I received a free copy for review. All opinions are my own.
Young Women by Jessica Moor was one of those compulsive audiobooks that had me feeling enthusiastic about my commute and every other opportunity for listening. It is a brilliant portrayal of female friendship in the #MeToo era, which explores victimhood and the boundaries of our responsibilities to ourselves and others.
I needn't have worried that I was older than the eponymous demographic because I could relate to all of the main characters and I appreciated that they were strong but flawed in different ways. Young Women was never preachy but rather conveyed the complexity of balancing our own needs with the expectations of others.
It is strongly set in London and I particularly loved the scenes at the Kenwood pond.
I would recommend this to fans of Dolly Alderton and My Dark Vanessa. If you have any concerns about the content then it would definitely be worth doing a little research before reading.
The narrator for the audiobook, Tanya Reynolds, is outstanding. Gripping material…. Be prepared to put your life on hold! Taut and tense from the first page to the closing paragraphs……loved it! ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Set in the early 'Me Too' era Young Women is a superb piece of contemporary fiction. I literally read it in several sittings, it was compelling, exciting and real. Admittedly the last few chapters left me floundering and I felt the story completely had switched into something else.
It has two strong female characters in both Emily and Tamsin. I found their characters to be credible, relatable and the story very thought provoking.
The story focuses on what it is to be a woman in the modern age, sexual assault and other tribulations.
Great audio book, really well produced. Loved the voice, the accents, the intonation. I thought the author chiming in at the end was a lovely conclusion.
In a good way, it had echos of Fleabag. Great skill writing a flawed main character who you don't like 100% find frustrating but are still engaged with.
Many thanks to the publishers for given me the opportunity to listen to Young Women on audio..
Enjoy would be the wrong word to use here but I was completely gripped by this story. Jessica Moor has written a razor sharp book highlighting the grip patriarchy still has today. The book revolves around Emily, a lawyer working for a charity that supports vulnerable women and Tasmin , a Canadian actress who she meets at a protest. They strike up a friendship and Emily is dazzled by the effortlessly glamourous life Tasmin has cultivated. Tasmin shows Emily a side of London and a way of living that is different. As their friendship develops, they share their histories and learn the back story of Emily's childhood friend too.
The book surprised me in the turn it took in the second half and left me with a feeling of heaviness when reading. Moor paints an accurate picture of all the various ways sexual violence against women are woven into our everyday lives from the MeToo movement to our own relationships from past traumas to being self aware daily on public transport and the relentlessness left me feeling weary. I
I didn't warm to the characters really and I felt some of the secondary characters were undeveloped but the examination of how women carry their experiences and how they judge their friends experiences is the star of of this novel, ultimately asking are women complicit in ensuring its a mans world.
It is timely and thought provoking and left me wanting to discuss so many elements of the book with others who have read it. This would be an excellent book club choice.
The narration of this one was excellent and the book worked really well on audio..
A gripping thought provoking read.