Reviews tagging 'Sexual violence'

Erotic Stories for Punjabi Widows by Balli Kaur Jaswal

10 reviews

ricefun's review against another edition

adventurous funny lighthearted mysterious fast-paced

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

4.75

I truly loved this novel, particularly listening in audiobook format. I loved the creativity and the writing in this story. I watch and read a lot of British English materials, and this one offered a glimpse into a completely different British community. Some of the "stories" that are shared are pretty racy, so probably not for young readers, or those of a puritan bent. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content

Moderate: Violence, Sexual violence, and Sexism

Minor: Racism

hoagie's review against another edition

3.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Domestic abuse, Sexual violence, Death of parent, Misogyny, Stalking, Adult/minor relationship, Sexism, Grief, Islamophobia, Murder, and Sexual content

yaameen's review against another edition

emotional funny lighthearted fast-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content

Moderate: Murder, Domestic abuse, and Sexual violence

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

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.

shinypurplepants's review against another edition

challenging emotional funny inspiring reflective 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? It's complicated

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content

Moderate: Homophobia

Minor: Sexual violence and Religious bigotry

chloemakesbooks's review

funny lighthearted mysterious 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? No

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Xenophobia, Sexual violence, Misogyny, and Child death

atsundarsingh's review

adventurous emotional funny hopeful lighthearted fast-paced

• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

I loved this book so much. It does light-hearted family drama. It does humour. It does mystery. It does feminism. It does upending cultural scripts. I think the mystery and character development were good, and hey! a story where older ladies are frank about sex? Hilarious and delightful. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Misogyny

Moderate: Emotional abuse

Minor: Suicide, Sexual violence, Sexism, Religious bigotry, Rape, Mental illness, Homophobia, Emotional abuse, Domestic abuse, and Child abuse

amachattie's review

adventurous challenging emotional funny hopeful inspiring medium-paced

• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

I love this book. I love anything that gives older women room to be full, sexual human beings. I loved that it was a romance novel and a mystery novel at the same time. I can't really assess whether the representation of violence against women within the Punjabi community was accurate or nuanced, but I felt like the author handled the topic in a way that was not just sensational or a plot device.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Misogyny and Violence

Moderate: Sexual violence, Sexual assault, Death, Suicide, and Child death

Minor: Child abuse

missbear's review

funny lighthearted mysterious fast-paced

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

2.5

The weird thing about this book is that it's made up a bunch of opposites. I keep wanting to describe it as cute and lighthearted, which it is, but there are also sections of it that are quite dark, including a reference to a very violent suicide scene. This contrast is reflected throughout much of the book because this story is really two stories: one is a largely lighthearted and heartwarming story about a young woman figuring out her place in the world and a group of Punjabi widows who are reacquainting themselves with their sexualities through storytelling, and the other is a pretty dark mystery about misogyny and honor killings in a conservative community. As you can imagine, it's not as though these stories have nothing to do with each other in content - the reason these two stories are being told together makes perfect sense to me. The switches in tone, however, could be somewhat jarring for me, although I suspect that they're partly what makes this book popular: it's got the romance, it's got the mystery/thriller, it's got the contemporary social justice, it's got the own-voices look into a particular community, hell, it's even got the erotica!

Although I did learn a fair amount about the community of Southall and Sikh culture (my favorite being the explanation of how Sikh naming works - I can't believe I didn't know that Kaur and Singh are not family names), I think this book would have made a larger impact on me if it had picked one or two of the many things it was going for and delved into them more deeply. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content

Moderate: Suicide

Minor: Sexual violence