Reviews tagging 'Sexism'

The Office of Historical Corrections by Danielle Evans

12 reviews

laguerrelewis's review against another edition

dark emotional funny hopeful reflective sad fast-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? Yes

5.0

The Office of Historical Corrections is a collection of short stories about, fittingly, histories. The familial, the personal, the buried, the rewritten, and the ugly. It reflects on the history of Blackness in America—specifically, being a Black woman in America—and all the grief that comes with it. This left me tender and raw, but most importantly, I felt seen. I will be sure to seek out Evans’ writing in the future, and will likely revisit these stories often.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Alcohol, Grief, Hate crime, Gun violence, Racism, Police brutality, Racial slurs, Sexism, and Death of parent

amberjackonski's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense fast-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexism, Racism, and Gun violence

mmayern's review against another edition

challenging emotional reflective medium-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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Chronic illness, Death of parent, Death, Gun violence, Racism, Violence, Car accident, Gaslighting, Racial slurs, Terminal illness, Colonisation, Grief, Hate crime, Misogyny, Murder, Toxic relationship, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Police brutality, and Sexism

alyssamakesart's review against another edition

tense slow-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

4.0

These stories range from okay 2.5s and 3s to 5s that I will never EVER forget. It took me a second to get used to the book because I thought this was sci-fi. The last story (the long one named after the title - kinda of is and is a very interesting premise. I honestly would love a collection of short stories that explore this topic more.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Racism and Sexism

lectora21's review against another edition

challenging emotional reflective 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? It's complicated

4.75

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Abandonment, Hate crime, Drug use, and Fire/Fire injury

Minor: Sexual content and Sexism

unsuccessfulbookclub's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective tense fast-paced

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

5.0

This collection is amazing.

Danielle Evans is a force, a talent, a gifted writer, a freaking prose deity, all of the superlatives. Every story in this collection is detailed, gripping, and emotionally charged but also incredibly pedestrian - on the surface. 

Some standouts for me:

• Boys Go To Jupiter: in which a phenomenally self-absorbed white girl goes to great lengths to justify her blatant racism. I have never felt more uncomfortable while reading a story, in the best way.
• Why Won’t Women Just Say What They Want: in which an artist disappears for years only to reinsert himself in the public consciousness via extremely public and elaborate apologies. Everything about this one is perfect.
• Anything Could Disappear: in which a young woman unintentionally kidnaps a toddler.
• The Office of Historical Corrections: a novella that is simultaneously deep commentary on history and historians, racial justice, Black womanhood, the federal government, gentrification and white supremacy and also a really interesting near-future story about a woman doing her (boring) job.

👍🏻Recommended for fans of short stories and contemporary fiction. If you liked Milk, Blood, Heat by Dantiel Moniz or Secret Lives of Church Ladies by Deesha Philyaw, you will enjoy this.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gun violence, Panic attacks/disorders, Racism, Chronic illness, Violence, Sexism, Murder, Car accident, Kidnapping, Death, Death of parent, and Abandonment

Minor: Drug use, Alcohol, Adult/minor relationship, and Racial slurs

1quillb's review against another edition

emotional informative reflective medium-paced

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

3.25

I had high hopes for this, but it just didn’t work out. I usually enjoy short stories, but these were just… short. For me, a good short story is only good if it manages to fit some sort of deeper meaning into its pages, and I couldn’t find a meaning in most of these.
I don’t know this author or what they were hoping to accomplish from these, so I don’t know how to judge, but nothing really happened to anyone except in the last story. And the description/title of the book is, in my opinion, misleading, because it doesn’t have anything to do with the actual concepts in the book. I also didn’t really like how it was written, I found it confusing. 

Happily Ever After: 2.5/5
Richard of York Gave Battle in Vain: 2/5
Boys Go to Jupiter: 2.5/5
Alcatraz: 4/5
Why Won’t Women Just Say What They Want: 3.5/5
Anything Could Disappear: 4/5
The Office of Historical Corrections: 4/5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism and Hate crime

Moderate: Gun violence, Racial slurs, Sexism, Death of parent, and Cancer

Minor: Sexual content and Terminal illness

emily_koopmann's review against another edition

challenging emotional informative reflective tense

• Loveable characters? No

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gun violence and Hate crime

Moderate: Cancer, Death, Death of parent, Misogyny, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, and Sexual assault

Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Bullying, Car accident, Sexism, Suicide, and Toxic relationship

leighannebfd3b's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Death of parent, Forced institutionalization, Gun violence, Hate crime, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexism, and Suicide

caseythereader's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional funny reflective 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

5.0

- Every single story in this collection feels like it could be its own novel, and yet somehow I am not left wanting more from any of them - they are all perfectly self-contained.
- Some feel ripped from modern headlines (Boys Go to Jupiter) and some are steeped in family history (Alcatraz) but every one feels populated with real people and real history.
- And when everyone tells you the novella that closes this book is phenomenal, everyone is right - holy cats, wow! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cancer, Car accident, Child abuse, Child death, Cursing, Death, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Grief, Gun violence, Hate crime, Homophobia, Infidelity, Kidnapping, Mass/school shootings, Misogyny, Murder, Physical abuse, Police brutality, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Slavery, Suicide, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, and Violence