Reviews tagging 'Mass/school shootings'

Girl, Woman, Other by Bernardine Evaristo

6 reviews

heather667's review against another edition

challenging emotional funny inspiring 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Classism, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Miscarriage, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Gaslighting, Infertility, Infidelity, Lesbophobia, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Racism, Sexism, Religious bigotry, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Child abuse, Grief, Homophobia, Child death, Death, Mental illness, Islamophobia, Transphobia, Abandonment, Biphobia, Bullying, and Dysphoria

Moderate: Deadnaming and Violence

Minor: Eating disorder, Genocide, Mass/school shootings, Police brutality, and Colonisation

courtsbooks's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional hopeful 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? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Deadnaming, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Lesbophobia, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racism, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, and Transphobia

Moderate: Mass/school shootings and Police brutality

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

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

sarah984's review against another edition

challenging emotional slow-paced

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

2.0

The way this was written without full stops took a while to get used to, but in the end I liked it. It made the prose feel poetic, and each character still felt unique. It felt like listening to a group of people telling you a story.

There were some perspectives I liked, but some of them felt really mean-spirited (both Yazz and Morgan’s segments read like they were the targets of mockery by the author, which was disappointing) and it's weird that three different people managed to magically rise out of depression on a dime for no reason. The ending felt really predictable and the character it involved annoyed me.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Child death, Child abuse, Deadnaming, Death, Drug use, Fatphobia, Grief, Homophobia, Infidelity, Pedophilia, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, and Transphobia

Moderate: Alcoholism

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