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3.99 AVERAGE

challenging dark emotional medium-paced

Raw and unflinching and just brilliant. 4.5 stars from me if that was an option.

Wow. Can't believe I haven't read anything by Roxane Gay before. If I were teaching a college lit course, I would be all about adding one of these stories into my curriculum. Breathtaking and powerful and so truthful it sometimes hurts! Some were not my favorites, but then I thought about why they weren't, and that made me like them more. This book make me remember how much I love GOOD short story collections. There doesn't seem to be one story out of place in this book.

My favorites: I Will Follow You, Difficult Women, North Country, Break All the Way Down (I really did break down while I read this one), and A Pat.
dark emotional reflective sad medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Character
Strong character development: Complicated
Loveable characters: Complicated
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

 The characters are one-dimensional, and Gay seems to have written the main characters with the express purpose of making them likable, which we all know is the most important thing to keep in mind when writing a book about women. Meanwhile all the male characters are either evil misogynists whose only drive is to subjugate, objectify and abuse women, or big strong manly men who Treat Their Women Right and hit any man who doesn't. When I got to the third story about a woman who is crazy/depressed because she either can't have children or lost a child I nearly screamed. Why is it that in the 21st century we are still fixated on the idea that the ultimate pain in a woman's life must always be something to do with her uterus? And why is Gay, a woman who literally makes her living criticizing art, entertainment and institutions that want to force this view of femininity on women, suddenly so eager to validate it? Frustrating to no end. I was thinking of giving this three stars because the last two stories are good, but I decided against it because I expected more from the author. 

This collection of short stories is amazing. Each convey a deeper message be it dark or encouraging. The variety in writing styles, characters and even genres made it easy to keep reading them one after the other despite being by the same author. Beautiful. Highly recommend.
dark emotional reflective sad medium-paced
Diverse cast of characters: Yes

this book really fell flat for me. maybe i didn’t get it? but it felt very repetitive by the end in the content, themes, and prose. oh well, perhaps i’ll try gay’s non-fiction instead. 

Expand filter menu Content Warnings

I don't read a lot of short stories - and these frustrated me because I didn't like the way almost all of them ended. I wanted more - more resolution, more understanding. But, she's undoubtedly a great writer and an interesting person that I only recently discovered, and I look forward to reading her book of essays, "Bad Feminist."

★★★★★

Esta es una de esas reseñas en las que me cuesta escribir y expresar como me ha hecho sentir. Intentaré haceros entender porque me ha gustado tanto aunque de antemano aviso de que no le hago justicia.

«Mujeres difíciles» es un recopilatorio de relatos que tiene como protagonistas a como su nombre indica, mujeres. Mujeres de toda clase de distintas razas, ideologías y personalidades que se ven afectadas de una u otra manera por el machismo y abusos de todo tipo.

Cada relato tiene algo especial y único en el que es imposible no sentirse en la piel de la mujer que lo protagoniza. Estas viven situaciones reales en las que en la mayoría de casos destacan por su crudeza. Duele leer este libro, sufres con cada página y con cada historia que nos narra de una manera sublime Roxane.

La autora tiene muchísimo talento, su pluma es oscura, directa, en algunos momentos extraña y diferente. Me ha tocado, me ha emocionado y ha conseguido que posicione esta colección de relatos como mi favorito entre todos los leídos hasta la fecha.

Hacía tiempo que un libro no me hacía sentir tantas emociones distintas. En eso se basa esta reseña, en el poso que te deja cada vez que terminas un relato. Una sensación agridulce, piel de gallina, emoción, sufrimiento y un pesar por lo que muchas de nosotras hemos tenido que pasar en algún momento.

Esta es una manera única de intentar ponernos en la piel de todas esas mujeres que han sufrido y por las que debemos dar gracias por ser tan fuertes y valientes. Gracias a @adnovelas por publicar en nuestro país esta maravillosa obra de arte.
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meiatigela's review against another edition

DID NOT FINISH: 29%

não tem como. é bem ruim. alguns contos com potencial, outros nem isso. sublinhei algumas frases interessantes, mas num geral: meh. me sentia mais perdendo tempo e me irritando que qualquer coisa. o último conto que li foi só uma grande violência meio a toa. e ainda é tudo mal escrito. espero que seja a tradução, mas puta que pariu