Reviews tagging 'Racial slurs'

Mädchen, Frau etc. by Bernardine Evaristo

102 reviews

ynaiita_5896's review against another edition

5.0

emotional funny informative inspiring lighthearted reflective fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: No

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Evaristo takes 12 characters whose lives intertwine in some way or another and writes a book that is so unified, continued and connected. This book is so well written and the characters are so realistic that I wondered which part of them was real and which part fiction. The characters are lovable and those who have called them unlovable may have done so because they see themselves in these characters across all the emotions they have depicted.

Informative and reflective. This book has taught me so much about women and how resilient we are; how tragic our lives have been and continue to be but how we continue to rise each time. It is a reminder of how society has tried to define us for centuries, across generations and geographies, and how hard we try and succeed to take charge of the narrative.

What I love most about it is how diverse it is within the diversities. This isn't specific to cultural, but spans across the LGBTQ+ discourse. These conversations are so important and there's a lot of learning that is still needed. There's a lot of cancel culture happening due to lack of knowledge and this book has the pote tial and opportunity to fill the gap.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Domestic abuse, Infertility, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, Slavery

haza's review against another edition

3.5

challenging emotional funny reflective slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: No

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Homophobia, Racism, Toxic relationship

Moderate: Infidelity, Racial slurs, Rape, Sexual assault, Slavery, Violence, Pregnancy, Abandonment

Minor: Addiction, Eating disorder, Infertility, Miscarriage, Suicidal thoughts, Transphobia, Death of parent

elizabethortiz96's review against another edition

4.0

challenging emotional inspiring reflective sad medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: N/A

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: No

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Didn't enjoy at first but got increasingly engaged after the third chapter. As the book continues, the characters' lives become more interwoven and it gets more engaging. By the end I found it to be a compelling read, incredible how the characters' lives are woven together and a powerful way to illustrate the experiences of different women in the UK. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault, Sexual content

Moderate: Child death, Miscarriage, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Grief, Pregnancy, Abandonment, Alcohol

ratjoy's review against another edition

5.0

emotional funny hopeful informative 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: Yes

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Absolutely engaging stories of the lives of black women and the "othered" across Britain, wonderfully written.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Emotional abuse, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Suicide, Xenophobia, Grief, Pregnancy, Classism

Moderate: Dysphoria

Minor: Alcoholism, Deadnaming

naniaunruh's review against another edition

slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Loveable characters: No

Diverse cast of characters: Complicated

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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It seems like the author often writes about things she has little experience with or doesn’t know enough about. Some of these are just said in a one off sentence and never mentioned again but they bothered me a lot as this is still harmful.

(Anarchists opposing self-governing, a drug addict being healed after 9 days of cold turkey at home detox, anything to do with being trans, a woman lying about s*xual a*sault to get an apartment…)

and tries too many things in the same book without doing any particular topic real justice. 
I understand that this book can have value for Black British women who can feel seen and represented here but i feel like this could have been achieved and better by getting a diverse group of Black British female and trans authors together to write stories instead of having one person to try and do it all. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault

Moderate: Child abuse, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Hate crime, Homophobia, Incest, Infidelity, Misogyny, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexism, Suicidal thoughts, Transphobia, Islamophobia, Gaslighting, Classism

Minor: Child death, Fatphobia

lynxpardinus's review against another edition

4.5

challenging emotional reflective

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Hate crime, Homophobia, Infidelity, Mental illness, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Transphobia, Violence, Xenophobia, Medical content, Grief, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Lesbophobia, Abandonment, Dysphoria

Moderate: Ableism, Addiction, Alcoholism, Body shaming, Child death, Drug abuse, Incest, Pedophilia, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Slavery, Suicide, Torture, Xenophobia, Vomit, Islamophobia, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, Colonisation, War, Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Animal death, Cancer, Confinement, Miscarriage, Forced institutionalization, Antisemitism, Dementia, Pandemic/Epidemic

Incest warning is just in case, for an affair between in-laws.

carolinacortez's review against another edition

4.0

emotional funny informative inspiring reflective sad slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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Me tarde más de lo que esperaba leyendo este libro, por que la verdad es algo lento de leer, pero una vez que te tomas tu tiempo es super bello.

I think of the past, of the person I used to be
I dont know where she went

Es super importante que nuestras lecturas sean diversas y algo que a mí me faltaba era leer mujeres POC y que manera de empezar, el libro nos cuenta la historia de once mujeres negras y una persona no binaria, y todas están relacionadas de algúna manera. 

Bummi complained that people viewed her through what she did and not what she was

Me gusto mucho que cuenta los ups and downs de la vida de todes, como hay personajes que amas y como hay unos que odias, como cada une tiene sus errores y sus aciertos, como para cada quien una situación puede parecer de una manera y para otra persona parece de otra manera, las relaciones entre las madres e hijas y las amistades, a mi punto de vista todas las relaciones fueron manejadas muy bien. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racial slurs, Racism

Moderate: Homophobia

Minor: Child death, Deadnaming, Miscarriage, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Abortion, Classism

uncreativeoops's review against another edition

5.0

emotional inspiring medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Misogyny, Racial slurs, Racism, Toxic relationship, Transphobia, Xenophobia, Islamophobia, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Lesbophobia, Gaslighting, Abandonment, Dysphoria

Moderate: Child abuse, Child death, Deadnaming, Homophobia, Rape, Sexism, Sexual content, Slavery, Colonisation, Classism

Minor: Addiction, Cancer, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Physical abuse, Antisemitism, Abortion, Alcohol

lucille_c's review against another edition

5.0

emotional funny hopeful 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: Yes

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Violence, Sexual harassment

Moderate: Child abuse, Deadnaming, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Infidelity, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Sexism, Transphobia, Police brutality, Antisemitism, Grief, Lesbophobia, Abandonment, Dysphoria

Minor: Cancer, Slavery, Cultural appropriation, Alcohol, War

emily_galloway's review against another edition

4.5

adventurous challenging dark emotional informative inspiring reflective sad medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: N/A

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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This book was incredible. I love the authors writing style, read almost like poetry at points. I was hooked and loved how each story had some link to another, intertwining these women in small ways. 

This story is so smart. Incredible. 

I cried a few times throughout and would recommend reading trigger warnings however. It's pretty intense in parts. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Addiction, Bullying, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Infertility, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Transphobia, Grief, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Colonisation, Classism