Reviews tagging 'Violence'

Girl, Woman, Other by Bernardine Evaristo

39 reviews

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

lazuliz's review

dark emotional informative 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Violence, and Emotional abuse

stephriggs25's review against another edition

challenging emotional funny hopeful inspiring reflective sad tense 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: Rape, Sexual assault, Violence, Toxic relationship, and Hate crime

kennie's review against another edition

challenging 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

4.5

This was truly a beautiful book to listen to. It was thought-provoking but also incredibly funny and relatable at times. The way that the author chose to discuss themes of relationships, struggle, race, and womanhood was truly masterful. It was so interesting to read characters that have thoughts and characteristics that I honestly disagree with while also still being able to appreciate where those perspectives came from, because of the in-depth personal background of each character.  It almost forces the reader to think about what is a moral hard stop when it comes to disagreeing with someone. "Can I truly want to be someone's friend if they still harbor homophobic tendencies?" "Do I want to interact with someone who has no care for the wellbeing of others?" It shows you that you will never truly agree with every single thing someone thinks, that you will have to deal with the fact that you disagree. The only minor critique I have is that some of the stories towards the end of the middle began to get repetitive, I still believe they were important because they eventually tied into the world of this book, but something about them became slightly monotonous. But once again, this book was truly beautiful, I would recommend it to just about anyone. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Toxic relationship, Domestic abuse, and Emotional abuse

Moderate: Rape, Violence, Xenophobia, and Transphobia

Minor: Drug use and Alcohol

fenouil's review

challenging dark emotional funny hopeful reflective medium-paced

• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Infertility, Drug use, Child death, Racism, Violence, Rape, Toxic relationship, Misogyny, Alcohol, Addiction, and Abandonment

Moderate: Transphobia

Minor: Homophobia and War

jo_lzr's review against another edition

challenging emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad tense 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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Biphobia, Child death, Death of parent, Drug use, Gore, Racism, Rape, Religious bigotry, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Violence, Xenophobia, Gaslighting, Addiction, Misogyny, Murder, Racial slurs, Blood, Bullying, Classism, Death, Domestic abuse, Hate crime, Homophobia, Infidelity, Kidnapping, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, Sexual content, Sexual harassment, Terminal illness, Transphobia, Emotional abuse, Grief, Islamophobia, and Lesbophobia

Moderate: Police brutality and Confinement

Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Fire/Fire injury, and Cancer

emilo's review

emotional mysterious 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

2022:absolutely solid. i really liked how everything tied together 

2024:
I do really like this book a lot, it’s probably one of my like most favourite ones and i did almost cry. 
i do like bernardine evaristo a lot but she did kinda fumble the trans rep. like using characters deadnames, not understanding why we don’t differentiate between medically and non medically transitioned people, not like completely getting trans women and i dunno i would have liked her to write about more about the intersection of race and being trans, which she didn’t really get. that said for a cis woman she really *got* the feelings of a non binary/trans masc experience, and you can tell she did her research. 
but i think that it would have helped if one of the other main characters was a trans woman because like it would have been good to see more of the diversity of womanhood. and then it’s like why include morgan? like they are only included in this book because they are afab. and they clearly have a difficult relationship to being assigned female at birth and it was hard for them. 

also!! in the dedication of lgbti but not lgbtiaq is wild. like cmon mate. asexuals and aromantics and agender people exist. it’s silly to do the rest of the letters and just forget us. also womyn is transphobic. 

that said!!! this book ends on a conclusion of inclusion with amma encouraging domique to be more inclusive in her feminism and in her lesbian festivals. 
i do rlly like this book and like again clearly the author put a lot of research in esp if she’s not queer herself. 

also!!! why r they all in england??? like scotland is sm fun 

anyway i love this book a lot 

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Content Warnings

Minor: Child death, Classism, Transphobia, Bullying, Child abuse, Racial slurs, Rape, Deadnaming, Miscarriage, Racism, Suicidal thoughts, Abandonment, Violence, Colonisation, Dysphoria, Islamophobia, Lesbophobia, Pregnancy, Alcohol, Drug use, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, and Toxic relationship

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

anapthine's review against another edition

adventurous emotional funny 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

4.75

Really enjoyed.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Colonisation, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Misogyny, Infertility, Hate crime, Grief, Death, Lesbophobia, Xenophobia, Child death, Sexism, Sexual content, Emotional abuse, Toxic relationship, Miscarriage, Domestic abuse, Violence, Rape, Racism, Sexual violence, Gaslighting, Drug use, Toxic friendship, Suicidal thoughts, Transphobia, Sexual harassment, Homophobia, Bullying, Sexual assault, Pregnancy, Mental illness, and Infidelity

Moderate: Slavery, Racial slurs, Abandonment, Death of parent, Cultural appropriation, Cursing, Violence, and Drug abuse

Minor: Addiction, Biphobia, Blood, Murder, Alcohol, and Alcoholism

dafidaf's review against another edition

challenging emotional inspiring 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Abandonment, Child death, Colonisation, Infidelity, Racism, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, and Violence