Reviews tagging 'Ableism'

A Girl Is a Half-formed Thing by Eimear McBride

7 reviews

foolygirl's review

challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense slow-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Body horror, Rape, Abandonment, Child abuse, Incest, Chronic illness, Adult/minor relationship, Grief, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Sexual violence, Suicide, Cancer, Bullying, and Death

_rowan_'s review

challenging dark sad tense slow-paced

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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Body horror, Adult/minor relationship, Alcohol, Chronic illness, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Excrement, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Toxic relationship, Abandonment, Ableism, Addiction, Bullying, Gore, Incest, Cancer, Rape, Child abuse, Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Medical content, Emotional abuse, Self harm, Infidelity, Suicide, Mental illness, Religious bigotry, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Vomit, Sexual content, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Terminal illness, and Violence

christie_evelyn's review

challenging dark emotional reflective sad 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? It's complicated

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault, Terminal illness, Incest, Grief, and Pedophilia

Moderate: Sexual content, Vomit, Suicide, and Ableism

thecolourblue's review

challenging dark emotional sad fast-paced

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

3.0

Quite a hard book to give a rating or a review to. I actually really admire the neomodernist experimentation with writing and form that McBride does here. I've seen some reviewers say that it's unreadable, but I don't think it is. It's challenging, but if you stop trying to read it like normal sentences and read it more as verse or stream-of-thought it becomes actually a quite clear and effective expression of the main character's state of mind. 

The story itself is a distorted fever dream of abuse and misery. It's certainly not enjoyable to read. Could be classed as tragedy porn if not for the disjointed writing taking away any air of sensationalism. I'm also not sure how I felt about the depiction of the brother's brain injury and disability. The character of the brother never really seemed to have any agency or presence outside of his impact on the main characters life (though that could be true of any presence in this book - the focus is very much on the single titular Girl), and I would be interested in how disabled folks feel about this book given how much of a key point disability and illness is in it. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault and Ableism

Moderate: Child abuse

bumble_abi's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad slow-paced

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

3.5

Difficult in all senses of the word. The stream of consciousness is very immediate but the broken sentences mean you have to invest all your attention to keep up, and investing all your attention makes the whole thing hurt more. Raw and violent and horribly sad, I'm not sure I gained much from sitting beside this particular pain, because too much of it is close enough to my life experiences that it didn't really broaden my mind so much as force me into my own memories. I can see how this might be considered a work of genius, and I think it's a valuable read for anybody who can situate themselves further away from the narrator, but I was left feeling scratched and hollow in a way that felt a little personal.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Pedophilia, Rape, Vomit, Physical abuse, Sexual violence, Child abuse, Terminal illness, Domestic abuse, Suicide, and Violence

Moderate: Cancer, Emotional abuse, and Grief

Minor: Excrement and Ableism

the book ends with an implied drowning

miles's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense slow-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Cancer, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Death, Emotional abuse, Excrement, Grief, Incest, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, Rape, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Terminal illness, Violence, Vomit, and Religious bigotry

Moderate: Ableism and Excrement

amberinbookland's review

challenging dark emotional medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Bullying, Ableism, Child abuse, Medical trauma, Medical content, Death, Violence, Terminal illness, Pedophilia, Misogyny, Grief, Incest, Cursing, and Blood