Reviews tagging 'Fatphobia'

Girl, Woman, Other by Bernardine Evaristo

13 reviews

naniaunruh's review against another edition

slow-paced

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

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

Minor: Fatphobia and Child death

salemander's review against another edition

5.0

this book made me laugh, cry, want to punch my fist through a wall, etc. incredibly written and full of pure human connectedness, definitely a journey and not always a fun one but worth the read!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Abandonment, Addiction, Transphobia, Classism, Domestic abuse, Physical abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Child death, Emotional abuse, Sexual assault, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Sexual violence, Child abuse, Colonisation, Rape, and Fatphobia

hannahbailey's review

challenging dark emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.5

I loved this! What a cracking book, I can't believe I didn't read this sooner.

Generally I prefer not to read character-vignette novels written in third-person. But this novel just goes to show that when done well, I can really enjoy them! I loved the distinct voice of each character and how they would be name-dropped in one chapter only to be the main character of the next one. It built such an interesting and creative narrative without leaving me feeling I didn't know enough about them–which is usually the case for me with character-vignettes.

Surprised to see some reviews stating the character dialogue and mix of poetry/prose was hard to believe and unrealistic. I completely disagree! The inner dialogue of the female characters was relatable and familiar. I enjoyed the exploration of womanhood and motherhood and how this intersects with race in Britain. It was an interesting and sobering read.

It was almost 5 stars, but there was a part where the character overcomes drug addiction by sheer willpower–they literally stay at home for a week without any form of support and somehow recovers? This didn't feel realistic to me especially given the vulnerability and young age of the character. That said, this was one of the chapters that really stood out to me in its exploration of body/gender dysphoria and trans joy.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Alcoholism, Bullying, Cancer, Child death, Incest, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Child abuse, Classism, Colonisation, Misogyny, Pregnancy, Rape, Sexism, Domestic abuse, Lesbophobia, Racism, Alcohol, Abortion, Addiction, Cursing, Deadnaming, Drug use, Blood, Body shaming, Death, Death of parent, Dysphoria, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Gaslighting, Grief, Homophobia, Infidelity, Miscarriage, Sexual content, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Violence, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Sexual assault, Slavery, Transphobia, and Xenophobia

mme_carton's review

challenging emotional hopeful inspiring reflective sad 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug abuse, Drug use, Abandonment, Child abuse, Child death, Deadnaming, Sexism, Sexual content, Grief, Infidelity, Physical abuse, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Pregnancy, Toxic relationship, Transphobia, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Cursing, Death, Death of parent, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Violence, Domestic abuse, Gaslighting, Lesbophobia, Mental illness, Xenophobia, Classism, Homophobia, Racial slurs, Racism, Religious bigotry, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Body shaming, Bullying, Islamophobia, and Terminal illness

Moderate: War, Slavery, Excrement, and Self harm

Minor: Eating disorder, Cancer, and Infertility

brittenypark's review

challenging emotional informative 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

3.5

The book is a good read for appreciating different prospectives. I love the range of characters portrayed. 

However there are a few things that I disliked about the writing, the two main ones being the way the author writes young people gives all young people this characterisation of being over-sensitive and arrogant, the other is the structure for the writing with minimal punctuation and capitalisation which was a bit hard to follow if your distracted while reading. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Rape, Sexual violence, Sexual harassment, and Sexual assault

Moderate: Lesbophobia, Toxic relationship, Transphobia, and Racism

Minor: Biphobia, Deadnaming, Death of parent, and Fatphobia

kathrinellis's review

challenging emotional informative 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

Such a fascinating book, beautifully written and covering many important, yet challenging topics. What also stands out is that there are no points or exclamation marks, as well as direct dialogue - luckily I got accustomed to it after 100 pages or so. 
Also massive respect for finding an immaculate way of connecting so many stories and characters ( you’ll get the relationships after a while)!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Addiction, Alcoholism, Body shaming, Colonisation, Cultural appropriation, Domestic abuse, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Grief, Infidelity, Outing, Physical abuse, Racism, Rape, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Slavery, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Deadnaming

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

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

bodiesinbooks's review against another edition

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Transphobia, Violence, Toxic relationship, Sexism, Rape, Racism, Miscarriage, Infidelity, and Homophobia

Moderate: Fatphobia and Xenophobia

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