Reviews tagging 'Grief'

Girl, Woman, Other by Bernardine Evaristo

60 reviews

the_bees_books's review against another edition

emotional funny hopeful inspiring reflective relaxing sad 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? It's complicated

4.25

A fascinating portrait of society and the people who live in it, you shouldnt just read it for it's Booker Prize win. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racial slurs, Classism, and Racism

Moderate: Grief, Misogyny, Sexual assault, Cultural appropriation, Rape, Racial slurs, and Infidelity

zara89's review against another edition

challenging emotional 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Miscarriage, Toxic relationship, Racism, and Racial slurs

Moderate: Chronic illness, Infertility, Alcoholism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Toxic friendship, Lesbophobia, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Pregnancy, Alcohol, Domestic abuse, Infidelity, Misogyny, Rape, Terminal illness, Classism, Death, Body shaming, Child death, Grief, Racism, Violence, Bullying, Abandonment, Cultural appropriation, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Sexism, Child abuse, and Death of parent

Minor: Cancer and Drug use

orangegirl22's review against another edition

challenging emotional hopeful inspiring sad slow-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

4.0

such an interesting & complicated read, each chapter felt like it could be its own novel. truly unique and wonderful. taught me a lot. the writing style was a bit complicated i’ll say, and some characters were really hard to stand, though i guess that was sort of the point. amazing read overall - just not quite perfect. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Domestic abuse, Rape, Sexism, Emotional abuse, Lesbophobia, Miscarriage, and Sexual violence

grandpabuxton's review against another edition

challenging emotional hopeful inspiring reflective fast-paced

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

4.75

beautiful, poetic, wrenching, relatable, unexpected, prescient. one of my favorite reads in a long while. an incredible breadth of a story, and I felt inside the heads and hearts of each of the characters.

My only disappointment was I felt the epilogue was a little predictable and I wanted more from it, but not sure what. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Addiction, Suicide attempt, Sexual content, Gaslighting, Child abuse, Abandonment, Sexism, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual harassment, Outing, Miscarriage, Mental illness, Pregnancy, Sexual assault, Rape, Misogyny, Grief, Death, Deadnaming, Cultural appropriation, Colonisation, Classism, Transphobia, Sexual violence, Racism, Islamophobia, Incest, Homophobia, Forced institutionalization, Emotional abuse, Drug use, Toxic relationship, Child death, and Infertility

rachelthompson's review against another edition

emotional hopeful reflective slow-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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: War, Toxic relationship, Racial slurs, Grief, Emotional abuse, Abandonment, Domestic abuse, Death of parent, Transphobia, Rape, Sexism, and Racism

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

sylvia_reads's review

challenging emotional reflective fast-paced

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

4.5

To be honest, I was not expecting to like this book as much as I did. I read it as part of a university-wide project where we could get the book cheap through the university and go to activities around it, but I don’t think I would have otherwise picked it up. 
But I am glad I did! Because this was a very good book. I loved how every story was interconnected and it really made me think about gender/race issues I’d never even considered before. 
The only small gripe I have about this book is that I feel like the younger characters are not always taken as seriously by the narrative as the older characters, but that might just be because I personally identify more with them and hence feel these things more strongly. 
Overall, I’m very glad I own this book now because I will definitely want to reread it some day.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Toxic relationship, Domestic abuse, Racism, Sexual violence, and Transphobia

Moderate: Slavery, Misogyny, Pregnancy, Suicidal thoughts, Child death, Miscarriage, Sexism, and Xenophobia

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

thedisabledreader's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

2.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Colonisation, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Grief, Incest, Islamophobia, Misogyny, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Ableism, Alcohol, Child abuse, Classism, Gaslighting, Infidelity, Miscarriage, Pregnancy, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Xenophobia, Transphobia, Toxic relationship, and Suicidal thoughts

skudiklier's review against another edition

emotional 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

4.75

Oh, wow, this was so good. I'll admit that it took me a while to get into it; every chapter being seemingly unrelated at first made it hard for me to keep up momentum with the book, and I read the first half really slowly. But by the end the connections were becoming more clear and I was more engaged with each chapter. By the end I absolutely loved this. It's such a well-crafted story, with so many different types of people from different times and places. I love how complicated and real it felt, and I also loved the way it was written. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexism, Classism, Toxic relationship, Sexual assault, Misogyny, Lesbophobia, Racism, Transphobia, Domestic abuse, Rape, Xenophobia, and Infidelity

Moderate: Alcohol, Abandonment, Ableism, Body shaming, Suicidal thoughts, Racial slurs, Pregnancy, Grief, and Islamophobia