Reviews tagging 'Racism'

Erotic Stories for Punjabi Widows by Balli Kaur Jaswal

41 reviews

haley49's review against another edition

emotional funny hopeful inspiring mysterious 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? Yes

5.0

This book! Was! So! Good! 
I read it in a day. I loved all the sweet ensemble characters, the growth of the leads, the pacing, the themes. There were so many valuable themes throughout the story but none felt rushed or overly forced. They felt like a natural exploration of the Punjabi community’s experience in the UK and beyond. I loved how casually muslim they were and how the different characters were different ranges of religious. It felt so realistic. Everyone’s emotions seemed so realistic and the relationships between the women were gold. Obviously bits and pieces were exaggerated but all the women felt authentic to the spirit of “auntie”  culture. 

I really appreciated the discussion on middle aged and older women and their importance to communities. Their emotions, sexuality, education, desires, and even gossip were all valid parts of them; and thus essential elements of their community. It was a sweet lesson that a person’s value does not decrease with age nor does it depend upon status, money, gender, education, birth place, children, romantic relationships (present or not), etc. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content, Misogyny, Murder, Death, Sexism, and Death of parent

Moderate: Hate crime, Pedophilia, Car accident, Physical abuse, Racism, Child death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Rape, Addiction, Infidelity, Toxic relationship, Child abuse, Cursing, Alcohol, and Sexual violence

Minor: Violence, Xenophobia, Sexual harassment, Excrement, Homophobia, Islamophobia, Suicide, Religious bigotry, Toxic relationship, Infertility, and Lesbophobia

lexx_caroline's review against another edition

emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad 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? No

5.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Murder and Racism

Minor: Sexual assault and Sexism

zeta's review against another edition

emotional funny hopeful 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? It's complicated

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Terminal illness, Death, Sexism, and Sexual content

prittypeaches's review against another edition

emotional hopeful inspiring medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

5.0

Nikki and the widows will live rent-free in my head for a long time. As they tell each other erotic stories, all of the woman find renewed strength to live their lives on their terms. Sprinkled with romance and thriller subplots, this novel has a little bit of something for any reader. 

The erotic short stories are part of the fun (and some would say the the point of the book) but even if you want to skip them the book would read well.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content

Moderate: Fire/Fire injury, Death, Suicide, Child death, and Grief

Minor: Sexism, Religious bigotry, Stalking, Racism, and Alcohol

justsmileandnod's review against another edition

funny lighthearted mysterious 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? It's complicated

3.75

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Murder, Racism, Racial slurs, Sexual content, Violence, Stalking, and Sexism

lkjones19's review

emotional hopeful mysterious reflective slow-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? It's complicated

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Suicide attempt, Alcohol, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Death, Racism, Stalking, Self harm, Grief, Hate crime, Domestic abuse, Misogyny, Religious bigotry, Violence, Child death, Suicide, Sexual content, and Sexism

Minor: Mental illness, Pedophilia, Cancer, Car accident, Homophobia, Islamophobia, Alcoholism, and Lesbophobia

eemadeeberry's review

dark emotional funny hopeful inspiring lighthearted mysterious fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• 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: Child death, Death of parent, Death, Grief, Misogyny, and Sexual content

Moderate: Sexism, Suicide, Fire/Fire injury, Murder, and Racism

Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Homophobia, Islamophobia, and Racial slurs

bethmayrey's review against another edition

emotional funny inspiring reflective 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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Murder, Death, and Racism

alishamegan's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense fast-paced

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

4.5

Well there's a lot of stuff stuff I could say. Idk why this is tagged as lighthearted as it is not! 

Definitely makes me upset and angry, though I hope that things are not as dire for the women in the community as this book depicts, but that just be me trying to uncharacteristically optimistic about the lives and status of these women. I mean, there is a Southall Black Sisters for a reason.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexism, Sexual harassment, Violence, Racism, Misogyny, Murder, Domestic abuse, and Suicide

Moderate: Injury/Injury detail and Fire/Fire injury

Minor: Rape and Pedophilia

CW for honour killings in addition to mentioned triggers

kathrun006's review against another edition

challenging funny hopeful inspiring mysterious sad tense 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? It's complicated

5.0

The book is not an anthology. It is about women taking a creative writing class. Most of the stories they write in the class are erotic, but the plot of the book is not centered around sex.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Fire/Fire injury, Misogyny, Sexism, and Violence

Moderate: Sexual violence, Sexual harassment, Murder, Child death, Domestic abuse, Racism, Rape, Xenophobia, and Misogyny

Minor: Sexual assault, Cancer, Rape, and Adult/minor relationship

This book deals with the theme of arranged vs. forced marriage so it contains mentions of forced marriage and child marriage. The characters who were married as children are adults and widows when the story takes place, but it is relevant to the story. The only content warnings which are described in a scene are fire and fire injury and interpersonal violence. The violence described is a man attacking a woman. I have included misogyny as an explicit content warning because it is a major theme of the book, but the book is mainly about women supporting eachother and finding their voices in a misogynistic world so do not think that the book itself is misogynistic.