Reviews tagging 'Misogyny'

Room by Emma Donoghue

9 reviews

michaelion's review against another edition

dark emotional tense medium-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

4.5

SICK AND TWISTED !!!!! Almost a perfect book!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Gaslighting, Grief, Rape, Sexual violence, Suicide attempt, Sexual assault, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Injury/Injury detail, and Kidnapping

Moderate: Panic attacks/disorders, Vomit, Torture, Blood, Child death, Medical content, Misogyny, Child abuse, and Stalking

Minor: Excrement, Pregnancy, and Abandonment

rjv6515's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional hopeful inspiring reflective 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? Yes

5.0

I wish I could rate it higher. I came here from the movie and the book BLEW me away. Phenomenal. Such an interesting perspective from which to tell this tale.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Kidnapping, Child death, Forced institutionalization, Grief, Confinement, Domestic abuse, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicide attempt, Self harm, Abandonment, Physical abuse, and Rape

Moderate: Medical content, Vomit, Miscarriage, Panic attacks/disorders, Mental illness, Emotional abuse, Misogyny, Pregnancy, and Medical trauma

martysaurus27's review against another edition

dark emotional sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Confinement, and Kidnapping

Moderate: Misogyny, Child abuse, Suicide attempt, Emotional abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Miscarriage, and Physical abuse

lynxpardinus's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad tense

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Vomit, Medical content, Mental illness, Suicide attempt, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Grief, and Kidnapping

Moderate: Sexual content, Blood, Emotional abuse, Excrement, Gaslighting, Misogyny, Torture, Child death, Murder, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, Self harm, Fire/Fire injury, Injury/Injury detail, Sexual violence, and Suicidal thoughts

Minor: Incest, Trafficking, Car accident, Gun violence, Abortion, War, Animal cruelty, Transphobia, and Drug use

kayjpggg's review against another edition

dark hopeful inspiring tense 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? It's complicated

4.5

I liked how it is in a child’s point of view and even after the big event, I was still intrigued. 

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Content Warnings

Minor: Mental illness, Sexual assault, Slavery, Trafficking, Physical abuse, Rape, Kidnapping, Misogyny, Sexual harassment, Toxic relationship, Miscarriage, and Self harm

camoo3032's review against another edition

challenging dark informative tense

• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No

4.25

Very cleverly done

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Kidnapping and Confinement

Moderate: Rape, Misogyny, and Sexual assault

Minor: Child abuse

brookey8888's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious 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? It's complicated

4.0

At first I wasn’t really enjoying this that much because it is from the point of you have a five-year-old child so it was kind of annoying to hear his thoughts. But as it went on I got used to it and I kind of enjoyed it does also has a full cast narrated(I listened to the audiobook) which I really enjoyed. Also this might be a slight spoiler but they are in the room the whole time they get out like 50% through which I thought was interesting because you got to see how the child and everyone reacted. I do wish there was like some more I don’t know if closure is the right word or something but it makes sense because it’s the point of you have a five-year-old so everything that’s happening to the Mom we don’t really know like therapy and stuff like that.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Forced institutionalization, Gaslighting, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Miscarriage, Stalking, Vomit, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Drug use, Drug abuse, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Blood, Domestic abuse, Medical content, Mental illness, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Emotional abuse, Death, Excrement, Grief, Murder, Pregnancy, Rape, Suicide attempt, and Violence

katsbooks's review against another edition

challenging emotional inspiring medium-paced

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

4.0

“Scared is what you're feeling. Brave is what you're doing.”

“Stories are a different kind of true.”

“I've seen the world and I'm tired now.”

I think it will come as no surprise that the most interesting part of this book is the point-of-view. I find it very compelling when authors use the perspectives of "innocents" like children to tell stories. It takes away some of the bias and assumptions that we have as the reader. And this novel goes even further by making the narrator incredibly young. Jack, the narrator, is just 5 years old and he's never known anything other than Room. Getting to experience the world for the first time through his eyes was so interesting and  provocative . My only major negative is also about the narrator, though. I've seen other people who've reviewed this book say that they found him annoying but for me, I just doubted that a 5 year old would be as articulate as he was sometimes portrayed. Granted, very few people can confirm or deny if it's actually possible but there were just instances when I felt like Jack was more articulate than any 5 year old would be even given the heinous and unique situation he was in. 

Given all that, this book was incredibly well written. The audiobook was incredibly well done. I really liked how the author didn't turn this into a run-of-the-mill true crime novel. The focus was 100% on Ma and Jack and how their characters grow and develop through the trauma of their ordeal. Old Nick, the perpetrator, is a part of the story, obviously, but he spends very little time on page. His backstory is never explained or rationalized and I love that. I am now very interested in seeing the film adaptation!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Grief, Kidnapping, Mental illness, Misogyny, Sexual violence, Trafficking, Rape, Suicide attempt, Vomit, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Physical abuse, and Violence

Moderate: Pregnancy, Abandonment, Child abuse, Child death, Miscarriage, Medical content, and Cursing

Minor: Abortion, Excrement, and Self harm

simple_alien's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective 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? It's complicated

4.0

A fascinating character study. A heart-wrenching premise. Avoids sensationalizing, which is important. It actually offers a critique in certain points of media sensationalism of these sorts of tragedies. 

I really liked that the story is from the perspective of the 5 year old boy Jack. I think it is an interesting lens to view such a story. The focus on Jack's limited but expanding view of the world is really cool, how his Ma teaches him a child-friendly version of the world to protect him, and how this starts getting challenged. It is very thought provoking to put yourself in his shoes as the story progresses and he experiences new and terrifying things about the world. 

It reminds me of Plato's Allegory of the Cave: "A group of humans live their whole lives in a cave, tied down to stare at a singular cave wall. Behind them, other people, puppeteers, use fire to project shadows on the wall. To the prisoners, these shadows are reality."

As is Jack's reality of himself, his Ma, Room, Space, and the things he sees on TV.

With all this in mind, there are times where the narration gets difficult to read. While Jack has a large vocabulary for a 5 year old, he still uses made up words, and the narration has purposefully child-like grammar. As a reader, you will either appreciate this as a novelty or it will frustrate you to no end. I personally thought it was great.

I watched the movie before I read the book. They are very similar. The book offers a little more in terms of expanding the details of their every day lives, but not too too much. The most interesting thing the book offers that the movie doesn't, is a more direct line into Jack's thoughts, as he offers a really interesting frame for the story. But again, you will either love that or hate it. 

Not a perfect book - at certain points it gets a little slow. But there are some parts that will really stick with me, and were quite gripping and emotional.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Kidnapping, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, and Trafficking

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Vomit, Miscarriage, Pregnancy, Slavery, and Suicide attempt