Reviews tagging 'Misogyny'

Girl, Woman, Other by Bernardine Evaristo

110 reviews

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

leoniefnk's review against another edition

emotional informative 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? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Child abuse, Child death, Alcohol, Classism, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Infidelity, Islamophobia, Lesbophobia, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Racism, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, and Transphobia

maiahhtratchh's review against another edition

emotional inspiring 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? Yes

3.25

I loved the characters and, even when I didn’t necessarily love them, I felt like I could understand them better. I found the pacing of the book, and how disjointed it was (stylistic choice not a writing error), was difficult for me to get into for long periods. It was very ebb and flow interest. I basically had a hard time getting into each new character but as soon as I was in it it would switch to someone else. It was a good book, it just wasn’t necessarily my favourite. I have listed A LOT of trigger warnings, however, it being a social commentary, they are used to explore the nuances and intersectionality between race, class, sexuality, and gender and do not overpower the commentary. However, I LOVED the ending and epilogue. It was so emotional and that was probably my favourite storyline.

it also answered my main question of how Penelope fit into the story, beyond working with Shirley. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Classism, Colonisation, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racism, Sexism, Sexual assault, Toxic relationship, Transphobia, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Lesbophobia, Toxic friendship, Domestic abuse, Sexual violence, and Deadnaming

Moderate: Miscarriage, Child abuse, and Child death

Minor: Cancer

Child sexual abuse, adoption trauma

nicoleamanfu's review against another edition

challenging emotional hopeful reflective relaxing fast-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Minor: Islamophobia, Miscarriage, Racism, Rape, Sexual content, Transphobia, Death of parent, Gaslighting, Grief, Lesbophobia, Misogyny, Abandonment, Classism, Death, Domestic abuse, Hate crime, Homophobia, Murder, Drug use, and Infidelity

orlagal's review

emotional funny hopeful reflective sad 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? No

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Body shaming, Child death, Classism, Cultural appropriation, Deadnaming, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Forced institutionalization, Gaslighting, Grief, Infertility, Infidelity, Lesbophobia, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Outing, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Toxic friendship, Transphobia, Xenophobia, Police brutality, Pregnancy, Suicidal thoughts, Trafficking, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Dysphoria, Homophobia, Medical content, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Sexism, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Slavery, and Toxic relationship

teaskate's review

challenging emotional 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

4.5

The concept of this book is really interesting and I really enjoyed how it was brought to light.The connections and story’s between the characters were extraordinarily good and the different perspectives of the time lines in Britain and the characters were really interesting.Great book :)

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Emotional abuse, Misogyny, Racism, Death, Drug use, Hate crime, Homophobia, Pregnancy, Sexism, Sexual assault, and Transphobia

Moderate: Bullying, Child abuse, and Deadnaming

nickoliver's review

emotional reflective medium-paced

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

4.0

This book was definitely a unique experience. It told the story of twelve (mostly Black) women in Britain and things they had to deal with and overcome. They were slightly interwoven with each other, be it by family ties, by being friends, or just by simply having been in each other's lives for a while. It got a bit hard for me later in the book to remember all the characters sometimes, because each chapter introduced a bunch of new characters that sometimes sporadically showed up again later, but for the most part, I loved that format.

The writing style was probably something that some people will struggle with. There were no quotation marks, almost no capitalised words, and instead of ending sentences with a period, Evaristo simply wrote the next sentence on a new line. I have to say I'm kind of a sucker for a style like this, even if it did seem a bit pretentious and hard to read at times (especially during dialogue, because it could be hard to keep track of who was saying what). But I have to say that if you struggle with writing styles à la Sally Rooney, you will probably also struggle with this one - possibly more so, even. 

To be honest, the writing was almost a bit too advanced for me? I didn't always quite understand what characters were talking about and it made little sense to me. Which, obviously, was mostly a me-problem.

The topics were tough to read sometimes. Evaristo covered a big variety of issues. Some of them were omnipotent in every chapter, like the racism that Black people and Black women in general face in Britain, or the rampant misogyny and sexism. Other themes were only there in a specific chapter or specific chapters, like teenage pregnancies, drug addiction, miscarriages, or (gang) rape. I'd definitely recommend checking the trigger warnings first if you've got big triggers. Admittedly, sometimes some of the topics were too easy to overcome. For example, the drug addict got over her addiction simply by going cold turkey for a week and then never fell back into addiction anymore. There was sometime nothing specific that actually helped the women overcome their struggles and trauma; it was simply by pure will. 

Some of the feminism that Evaristo wrote also felt a bit problematic and non-inclusive, especially when it came to trans rights. One of the chapters was about a non-binary person, and while I could deal with them getting misgendered and deadnamed in their own chapter - they didn't know yet at the beginning of the chapter that they were even non-binary to begin with -, I didn't understand while they kept getting misgendered in many of the later chapters, too. A lot of the transphobia just wasn't called out enough.

The character portrayal was done pretty well. The characters were mostly not very likeable and didn't differ from one another that much sometimes, but Evaristo explored their psyches a lot, which I liked. Also, I don't think a character necessarily needs to be likeable to be interesting to read about. Like I said, I did occasionally have trouble remembering characters, but it was usually not that hard to figure out who I was reading about again. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Homophobia, Racism, Misogyny, Lesbophobia, Rape, Sexism, Sexual harassment, Drug abuse, Addiction, and Transphobia

Minor: Miscarriage and Biphobia

parasolcrafter's review against another edition

emotional funny tense 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: Domestic abuse, Grief, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Alcohol, Biphobia, Colonisation, Cursing, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Infidelity, Sexism, Bullying, Body shaming, Classism, Deadnaming, Sexual content, and Transphobia

Moderate: Death of parent, Abandonment, and Death

hiraeth_'s review against another edition

emotional funny informative inspiring reflective 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

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Classism, Alcohol, Rape, Toxic relationship, Sexual violence, Sexual harassment, Sexism, Racism, Racial slurs, Pregnancy, Misogyny, Miscarriage, Infidelity, Homophobia, Gaslighting, Emotional abuse, Drug use, and Deadnaming

livimarie's review

challenging dark emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad fast-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

Looking at my content warnings you might think to skip this book, but don't!! It tackles all of these things and more in such a respectful and thought provoking way. Honestly, the best book I've read in a long time, I would highly recommend everyone (of 18+ in age) read it, and just bear im mind going in that it will be challenging at times. Amazing work Bernardine Evaristo, I cannot wait to pick up your other books.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Addiction, Alcohol, Child abuse, Child death, Classism, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Lesbophobia, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, Pregnancy, Sexism, Suicidal thoughts, and Transphobia