Reviews tagging 'Sexism'

The Virgin Suicides by Jeffrey Eugenides

47 reviews

kumipaul's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad medium-paced

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

2.0

 Painful in so many ways. First, the positives: Eugenides is structurally a very good writer. He wrote about a topic that was abysmally bleak, and he made a horribly depressing book on purpose, I suppose. So, given that this was probably his goal, indicting religious extremism, parental authoritarianism, teen angst, and how we handle death in general, and I would say he was successful there. But, come on, despite all the metaphorical digs at society, do I really need to reward this grim book with a good review? How could I possibly recommend it to someone other than someone I hoped would soon put their head in an oven? I'll say that a lot about it was "interesting", but I can't say that I enjoyed the read. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide, Suicide attempt, and Suicidal thoughts

Moderate: Sexism, Religious bigotry, Self harm, and Physical abuse

sharanle0808's review against another edition

dark reflective sad tense 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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Mental illness, Suicidal thoughts, Self harm, Suicide attempt, Child abuse, and Suicide

Moderate: Violence, Misogyny, and Stalking

Minor: Sexual assault and Sexism

pgflanagan9's review against another edition

challenging dark sad slow-paced

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

2.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Stalking, Racism, Ableism, and Suicide

Moderate: Sexism

ambercunningham's review against another edition

dark sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Medical content, Suicide, Suicidal thoughts, Grief, Sexual assault, Emotional abuse, Child death, Mental illness, Gore, Death, Sexism, and Suicide attempt

estewanii's review against another edition

dark mysterious reflective sad tense slow-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Religious bigotry, Injury/Injury detail, Suicide attempt, Suicide, Grief, Child death, Child abuse, Addiction, Sexism, Self harm, Domestic abuse, Death, Body shaming, Misogyny, and Eating disorder

brougham_is_elite's review against another edition

reflective slow-paced

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

3.5

The overuse of beautiful prose becomes laborious and slow. There were interesting ideas explored but it was not always clear what the author was trying to comment on; a lot of the book appears contradictory. It was very vivid and evocative at its best, but quite often came across as pretentious and unfocused, especially in the middle of the book.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide attempt and Suicide

Moderate: Grief, Stalking, Misogyny, Racism, Sexism, and Death

Minor: Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Adult/minor relationship, and Mental illness

andrewhatesham's review against another edition

My library hold expired 😅

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Suicide attempt, Blood, Sexism, and Body horror

dennyiii's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad slow-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide attempt, Toxic relationship, Injury/Injury detail, Misogyny, Alcohol, Blood, Cursing, Death, Forced institutionalization, Medical content, Suicide, Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Confinement, Sexism, Sexual content, Child death, and Emotional abuse

bookish_bry's review against another edition

challenging dark sad slow-paced

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

4.0

This is a book I'm going to have to chew on a bit. I really enjoyed the way the story was framed as a group of outsiders' perspectives putting together puzzle pieces of various reliability. The girls were often dehumanized and misunderstood both in the story and by the narrative which was by design. The narrators tried to view the girls as real people but often fell short and I actually enjoyed that part of it. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide

Moderate: Sexism and Toxic relationship

Minor: Religious bigotry

charlies_shelf's review against another edition

dark slow-paced

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

1.5

So; The Virgin Suicides by Jeffery Eugenides is a book. That's one thing that is certain, and while opinions differ on if it's good or bad there's a few things that are again, certain.

This book includes sexism, hypersexuality of minors, racism and Ableism. Some mentioned less than others. 

Now as to my personal opinion, keep in mind there will be spoilers from here on out. 

I liked page 190 and 191 simply because of the music. But that's honestly where it stops. 

The person who's telling us the story seems to end off with anger. Anger because "he was wronged". An example of this is the sentence; "they made us participate in their own madness,...". 

Not only that but there's barely to no build up to the end, which just like everything else has good and bad sections.

Would I call this a bad book? No. 
Would I call this a good book? No.
Because nothing is ever good or bad. 

That's why I rate this book a 1.5/5. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexism, Body shaming, Suicide, and Suicide attempt

Moderate: Child abuse and Child death

Minor: Racial slurs, Ableism, and Racism