Reviews tagging 'Bullying'

Girl, Woman, Other by Bernardine Evaristo

34 reviews

char1otte's review against another edition

emotional hopeful inspiring reflective sad 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

5.0

As soon as I finished the last sentence, all I wanted to do was start again from the beginning.
Such a deeply emotional, clever and captivating book! As someone who at a first, superficial glance has little in common with the characters, I still found it so easy to relate to the profoundly human topics explored here and have to admit I learned a lot about myself. Would recommend to anyone - even though I was first stirred away from this by a friend who didn't like it.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism and Sexism

Minor: Addiction, Alcohol, Abandonment, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Colonisation, Death of parent, Death, Drug use, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Infidelity, Lesbophobia, Misogyny, Racial slurs, Rape, Slavery, and Transphobia

emily_koopmann's review against another edition

emotional reflective medium-paced

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Hate crime, Infidelity, Rape, and Death of parent

Moderate: Sexual content and Racism

Minor: Bullying

renjamin's review

emotional reflective medium-paced

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

4.0

I read this book almost entirely in one day and I found the stories to be incredibly captivating. Evaristo has a way of drawing you into a book with so many characters that I was worried it would all feel lost and quite muddled but I couldn't have been more wrong.  My main critique of the book and the thing holding me back from giving this a five-star review is the way that it treats its trans characters. For a book called Girl, Woman, Other, I would've expected a much more nuanced perspective on trans issues. I felt like Morgans character development was rushed and I didn't appreciate the consistent use of the wrong pronouns for them even at points from their own perspective. I also really didn't like that so many of the queer women expressed terf like views that were barely challenged by the people around them even when they disagreed.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Deadnaming, Death, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Grief, Homophobia, Infidelity, Misogyny, Pregnancy, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexism, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Toxic relationship, and Transphobia

Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, and Miscarriage

Minor: Antisemitism, Eating disorder, Islamophobia, Mass/school shootings, and Police brutality

debookgeek's review

challenging emotional informative inspiring reflective 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Rape, Addiction, Xenophobia, Transphobia, Toxic relationship, Suicidal thoughts, Sexual violence, Sexual content, Sexual assault, Sexism, Racial slurs, Pregnancy, Misogyny, Miscarriage, Infidelity, Homophobia, Drug use, Drug abuse, Death of parent, Deadnaming, and Child death

Moderate: Bullying and Domestic abuse

Minor: Cancer

zombiezami's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional hopeful mysterious tense slow-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? Yes

4.0

I generally enjoy books that jump from one perspective to another, and this is no exception. I liked slowly realizing how each of the characters connected with the others. I will admit, however, that some of the narratives ran together, and some narratives were a lot more fleshed out than others. 

The one thing I didn't like flat out was the way trans topics were handled in the book. I thought it was great to read about Morgan's understanding of themselves and their loving long-term relationship. However, the other characters in the book repeated anti-trans talking points almost completely unchallenged. Given the growing anti-trans sentiment in Britain in particular, plus the fact that so few cis people claim to know anyone who is trans or be informed on trans issues, I felt that this was not a responsible way to frame these conversations. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Pregnancy, Homophobia, Transphobia, Misogyny, Rape, Sexual violence, Sexual content, Sexual assault, Racism, Deadnaming, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Infidelity, Grief, Xenophobia, and Biphobia

Moderate: Animal death, Miscarriage, Suicidal thoughts, Vomit, Racial slurs, Hate crime, Police brutality, Adult/minor relationship, Infertility, Child death, Child abuse, Mental illness, Cursing, Body shaming, Bullying, Death, Death of parent, Drug abuse, Drug use, Fatphobia, Toxic relationship, Violence, Incest, Islamophobia, and Medical content

Minor: Antisemitism, Vomit, Forced institutionalization, Self harm, and Mass/school shootings

ifersinklings's review against another edition

challenging emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective slow-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

4.0

 Overall, this story was interesting. I don't know that I understood half of it, but I enjoyed learning about the characters, their lives, and figuring out how all of them connected with each other. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Biphobia, Bullying, Child death, Deadnaming, Death of parent, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Grief, Homophobia, Infertility, Infidelity, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Racism, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, and Transphobia

rosalind's review against another edition

dark hopeful informative reflective slow-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Miscarriage, Child death, Xenophobia, Racism, Transphobia, Toxic relationship, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Grief, and Homophobia

Moderate: Death, Racial slurs, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Slavery, Sexism, Bullying, Drug use, Hate crime, Misogyny, and Physical abuse

Minor: Fatphobia, Death of parent, Antisemitism, and Islamophobia

martinatan's review against another edition

challenging emotional hopeful mysterious reflective medium-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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse and Emotional abuse

Moderate: Bullying, Deadnaming, Drug use, Drug abuse, Homophobia, Incest, Infertility, Infidelity, Physical abuse, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexism, Toxic relationship, Transphobia, and Xenophobia

Minor: Abortion, Addiction, Alcoholism, Antisemitism, Islamophobia, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Misogyny, and Racial slurs

lilacsophie's review against another edition

emotional funny lighthearted medium-paced

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, and Child death

Moderate: Pedophilia, Death, Alcoholism, Addiction, and Bullying

Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Cancer, Transphobia, Slavery, Mass/school shootings, Islamophobia, Forced institutionalization, and Biphobia

sheryl_macca's review against another edition

challenging emotional reflective medium-paced

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

3.5

Initially I found this book to be really frustrating. I was enjoying what Girl, Woman, Other had to say but not how it was being said. It didn't feel like a book of short stories to me, it was a novel of intertwined lives told from multiple POVs. I generally love multiple POVs but I was disappointed as I had been expecting something different. The free form structure was also forcing me to read quickly like it was a race. It was distracting me from the content which I did actually like most of the time. 

Unfortunately, I disliked some of the first characters I was introduced to, especially Yazz. I almost DNF'd after the first chapter from Yazz. Before I did, I looked up reviews from other readers and I found a lot of people were equally as undecided as me during the first third of the book. These readers were mostly all glad that they had persevered and finished it and so I decided to continue on. It was really interesting to find that so many people had mixed feelings about such a critically acclaimed book!

It was a conscious effort for me to slow down against the flow of words and to absorb the voices properly as I read. The effort didn't particularly lighten as I went on either. The writing style did, however, make the narration more conversational and dynamic. I felt I was a part of the conversation, like I was in the room with these characters and I really did enjoy that. I'm not convinced that the benefits of the free form style outweighed the negatives having now finished the book.

I found that some of the characters were also unreliable narrators, Dominique particularly. I usually avoid unlikeable characters and unreliable narrators and I don't remember ever having read a book containing both before. I was a little wary of some voices and therefore not fully immersed every time they popped up.

Like those reviewers who persuaded me to continue reading, I was eventually glad that I persevered. I found stories that I enjoyed, loveable characters and convincing voices used confidently. My favourite was Bummi but I also loved Hattie and Shirley. These were strong, proud, resilient women. They were aware of the mistakes they had made in life and were courageous enough to admit them. They had interesting and emotional intersectional stories to tell.

What prevented me from DNF-ing straight away was Evaristo's intersectional insights and current ideas and experiences. Thankfully, more and more of this appeared with every chapter as I read on. Evaristo challenges norms, invites debate and explores concepts of racism, feminism, education, sexual assault, gender, motherhood, immigration, LGBTQIA+ issues, domestic abuse, platonic love, forbidden love...and so many other things. Unlike with most books, each of Evaristo's characters experiences a different cocktail of the above at different stages of life as we all actually do.

You don't always need to be loud, shocking or dramatic to be powerful and this book is proof of that. Girl, Woman, Other is dignified, empowering, challenging and, it turns out, much less frustrating than I first thought.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Body shaming, Bullying, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Grief, Homophobia, Infertility, Infidelity, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, and Transphobia