Reviews tagging 'Misogyny'

My Sister, the Serial Killer by Oyinkan Braithwaite

64 reviews

abicaro17's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious reflective medium-paced

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

3.75

I really liked this book. I think the premise was interesting and the development of the story was cool. My issues stems from characters. Neither sister is particularly likable and neither is anyone else in this story. Pretty much everyone is a villain in my eyes. The doctor leads the main character on, the sister manipulates everyone, the mom coddles the younger sister, all of the coworkers seem either lazy or rude, the dad needs no explanation, and the main character can't decide whether to defend her sister or tell on her. I think this is another case of a book benefiting from some more content. It's still a good book just not the best. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Body horror, Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Infidelity, Mental illness, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Sexism, Sexual assault, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Gaslighting, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

te_ss_i's review against another edition

dark funny mysterious tense fast-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Sexism, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Death of parent, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, and Classism

hello_lovely13's review against another edition

dark fast-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Death, and Murder

Moderate: Domestic abuse, Misogyny, and Blood

ka_ke's review against another edition

challenging dark medium-paced

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

3.0

It’s okay. I appreciate the complexity behind the need to protect ones sister, and protecting oneself by reporting the crime. It’s not easy to be in that position and I believe it was portrayed well. 

Otherwise the book gets very repetitive and eventually you figure out where it’s going 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Sexism, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Murder, Gaslighting, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Bullying, Gore, Mental illness, Grief, Death of parent, and Classism

yomireads's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective tense fast-paced

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

3.75

What I love most about this book are the evolving characters. From the beginning to the end of the book I wouldn't say there's a whole lot of growth for any character in particular; however, the non linear story-telling adds complexity to what could easy be written off as "she's good, she's bad, and its always been this way." Though through the haggard circumstances of murder, the fraught nature of sibling dynamics is well realized as they squabble with each other, harp about each other, and love each other.

Usually the overall lack of growth would be a very big disappointment to me, but the sense of dread and feeling of inevitability that surrounds the conclusion of this book feels very nuanced to me. And though it's a small change,

there is a sense of the sister's relationship become more resolute and settled.

 

Stylistically, I also found the chapters to be just a smidgen too short. I don't mind quick chapters, but sometimes keeping the chapters so brief feels like it's cutting the plot and story momentum off at the knees. I know this isnt a largely popular opinion, so take that as you will. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Toxic relationship, Violence, Death of parent, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Misogyny and Gaslighting

Minor: Physical abuse and Medical content

heather_harrison's review against another edition

dark funny tense fast-paced

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

4.25

I could not get enough of the audio book of "My Sister, the Serial Killer" - after picking this up on a whim and hearing some mixed reviews, I really enjoyed this. 

It walks the line between dark and funny. The writing is direct, and often sardonic. 

Korede is a plain no-nonsense woman, a nurse, and older sister. 
Ayoola is her beautiful younger sister who can seemingly do no wrong. Except for the trail of dead men she seems to leave in her wake. 

Femi makes three, you know. Three, and they label you a serial killer. 

I found both Korede and Ayoola absolutely fascinating, and their relationship is like a train wreck (you can't help but not look away). It is simultaneously disturbing and delicious.  

 "I am the older sister—I am responsible for Ayoola. That's how it has always been. Ayoola would break a glass, and I would receive the blame for giving her the drink. Ayoola would fail a class, and I would be blamed for not coaching her. Ayoola would take an apple and leave the store without paying for it, and I would be blamed for letting her get hungry." 

For anyone who is an older sibling, this not an wholely accurate representation per se, but you will feel so seen in how this book handles the expectations and complexities! 

 “It’s because she is beautiful, you know. That’s all it is. They don’t really care about the rest of it. She gets a pass at life.”
 

For a piece of writing that is so dark, funny and light - this does a pretty solid job at reflecting on not just women in patriarchal society, but also the weaponisation of beauty. 

For those that get it, get it - a fresh punchy piece of feminist satire. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Misogyny, Sexism, Toxic relationship, Grief, and Murder

Moderate: Domestic abuse, Infidelity, Physical abuse, and Violence

Minor: Death of parent

ahhhreadzombiez's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad tense fast-paced

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

2.75

This book hmm… I got through it very fast (in two days, really) but does that mean I enjoyed it? Well, not exactly. I didn’t enjoy the characters; it’s very hard to read a book when you don’t like a single character in it. And I can’t help but feel I continued to read it because I wanted to just see it through to the end and hope, just really hope that the characters would have some type of development that would make them just a tad bit enjoyable. It was just a tragic story with what felt like no real point. I wish I liked this more, but it just… didn’t do it for me.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Infidelity, Misogyny, Toxic relationship, Blood, Grief, Murder, and Gaslighting

Moderate: Pedophilia and Rape

autumngore's review against another edition

dark emotional funny mysterious tense fast-paced

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

4.0

this book & 'the bandit queens' are like sisters. iykyk!!!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Domestic abuse, and Misogyny

sissiemilia's review against another edition

dark fast-paced

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

2.75

I really like Braithwaite’s writing style and her dialogue is amazing. I just kinda struggled to connect with the characters. Half way through the story I found myself thinking ”why should I care about this story?” I also found that I don’t like the characters. And in a way that’s unusual for me. I normally love characters that are morally grey (or in this case probably just straight up horrible), but for some reason I just couldn’t like them as characters. The potential this book had with its themes and the way it let me down was dissapointing.

ALSO, this was marketed as a comedy, but I really struggled to find that aspect of the story. 🤷🏻‍♀️

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death, Physical abuse, Blood, and Murder

Moderate: Misogyny, Medical content, and Injury/Injury detail

heisiiri's review against another edition

dark tense fast-paced

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

3.25

A fun, fast-paced book that is dark in its themes yet light in its style and narration. This was an extremely quick read, with an interesting yet fairly simple plot.

My main issue was with the characters. Yeah, they're kind of unlikeable on purpose, like they're not supposed to be good people, but sometimes the way they behaved just got on my nerves way too much. I didn't connect with any character in particular - I mostly just felt bad for the main character for having to deal with all these people. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Emotional abuse, and Murder

Moderate: Death, Misogyny, and Toxic relationship