Reviews tagging 'Homophobia'

Girl, Woman, Other by Bernardine Evaristo

174 reviews

bien's review against another edition

challenging emotional 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

3.75

This book is a collection of short stories following black girls/woman and a non-binary person through different times in England. Their lives are all somehow connected in different ways (partners, friends, mothers, daughters, grandmothers, etc), some of it were easier to connect than others. 

I loved getting to know all the different characters and learn about them. I really took my time to read this book as it wasn’t an “easy read”, however I really do feel like it’s an important one! Some stories were heavier than others and therefore took me longer to read than others. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Homophobia, Sexual assault, Rape, Domestic abuse, and Transphobia

queergoth_reads's review against another edition

medium-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? Yes

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism and Rape

Moderate: Homophobia and Transphobia

hunkydory's review against another edition

emotional reflective fast-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: Sexual assault, Toxic relationship, and Domestic abuse

Moderate: Death of parent, Drug use, Dysphoria, Mental illness, Alcohol, Grief, Infidelity, Transphobia, Classism, Homophobia, Miscarriage, Suicidal thoughts, Child death, and Racism

dlsmk's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.75

BIG TRIGGER WARNING FOR ON PAGE R*PE. TWICE. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Child death, Classism, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Grief, Drug abuse, Misogyny, Religious bigotry, Violence, Abandonment, Hate crime, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Colonisation, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Racial slurs, Racism, Transphobia, Infertility, Lesbophobia, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexism, Homophobia, Mental illness, and Miscarriage

tatjanasbooks's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

3.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Violence, Gaslighting, Grief, Infertility, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, Rape, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Child death, Emotional abuse, Miscarriage, Sexual assault, Pedophilia, and Sexism

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Classism, and Colonisation

Minor: Homophobia, Deadnaming, and Abandonment

molly_appleby's review against another edition

challenging emotional inspiring reflective sad 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? It's complicated

5.0

the intersectionality !! SO interesting and complex, really highlights the increduble nuance of the the Black, British, female experience in SUCH an interesting and accessible way.

the diverse cast of characters !! the way that the characters are interwoven within a bigger narrative and within eachother's lives is done SO well and is so incredible to see !! such a great moment when you recognise a character from an earlier perspective. the way the characters' lives span multiple generations is so special to see. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Rape, and Dysphoria

Moderate: Sexual assault, Transphobia, and Homophobia

paigereitz's review against another edition

challenging emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring reflective tense 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

5.0

Wow. Just - wow. This book was phenomenal. A series of character sketches of (mainly British Black femme) characters across a diverse range of ages and ideologies that weave in and out of each other's lives. Exploration of racism, colorism, immigrant issues, LGBTQIA issues, feminism in its many forms, love, relationships, inequitable educations - so much in here to unpack. I suspect I'll find myself coming back to it in the future. Bernadine Evaristo displayed an amazing ability to really get into the skin of her characters, many of whom have exceedingly disparate experiences, and do so flawlessly. This was an amazing book. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Abandonment, Addiction, Alcoholism, Child death, Death of parent, Drug use, Racism, Sexism, Domestic abuse, Homophobia, Lesbophobia, Child abuse, Colonisation, Cursing, Transphobia, Dysphoria, Xenophobia, Classism, Alcohol, and Drug abuse

Minor: Pregnancy, Infertility, Miscarriage, and Deadnaming

poenaestante's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional funny slow-paced

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

2.0

Shoutout to the critic that shaded this play Misty by Arinze Kene by asking, "are tales of Black trauma catnip for paying audiences...riddled with white guilt?". I was looking for just the right words to explain why I hated Girl, Woman, Other by Bernadine Evaristo. There are other reasons, but this really captures the main one so beautifully. The book was also too long with too many characters.  I just simply stopped  caring.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gaslighting, Alcohol, Sexual violence, Pregnancy, Physical abuse, Miscarriage, Suicide, Sexual assault, Death of parent, Death, Classism, Rape, Violence, Sexual content, Racism, Homophobia, Confinement, Toxic relationship, Suicide attempt, Self harm, Emotional abuse, Addiction, Sexism, Misogyny, Mental illness, Lesbophobia, Infidelity, Grief, Drug use, and Domestic abuse

ninascozydayreads's review against another edition

challenging inspiring reflective relaxing slow-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? Yes

4.5

 I bought this book years ago and cannot tell you how many posts I made where I said “I’m definitely going to read it this month!” (too many, that’s the answer). And February was the month! I buddyread it with @taketowlu (<3) and genuinely, I really enjoyed it. When I first heard that it had no punctuation I got a little scared, but it works. Girl, Woman, Other is a beautiful mix between prose and poetry, highlighting what Audre Lorde once said: “poetry is not a luxury, it’s a necessity”. It is through poetry that she manages to bring out the urgency of seeing the connection between humans, and the flaws of humans. It is through this poetry that Evaristo manages to tell the stories of all kinds of people and women: citylivers and countrydwellers, non-binary teens and (frankly) bigoted teachers. It is through this poetry that all these stories are intricately interwoven. 

This book was a powerful piece of storytelling, of testimony, combining past, present and future. It shows that none of us exist in a vacuum, no story exists alone, there is always more of it, and honestly, I loved that. 

It wasn’t the mindblowing book I had expected it to be, if I’m honest. To be fair, I had high expectations because I’d put it off for so long, but I wasn’t wowed at every turn of the page. It also wasn’t disappointing, not at all, but rather than mindblowing I was stunned. I was stunned by the writing and mode of storytelling. There was a calmth while I read it, allowing for the words to sink in. 

There were some hard moments to read; some perspectives are from women who simply aren’t progressive. Those are the only few chapters (luckily there’s not a lot) that I’m not sure how to feel about. I know Evaristo meant to simply tell stories of people, meaning all stories of all kinds of people, and I appreciate that, but they still felt a little off. They didn’t take away from my enjoyment of this book though. 

In short, I really did love this book, as a book that I’m gonna carry with me forever. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Homophobia, Death of parent, Sexual violence, Death, Miscarriage, and Sexual assault

Moderate: Addiction

camoo3032's review against another edition

challenging emotional funny reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? N/A
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

This is a collection of short stories about black women in England. The author covers a lot of topics including feminism, racism, homophobia, transphobia and domestic abuse. The book's format is a clever way of exploring these topics and I really enjoyed how it explored the change in society's acceptance of each of these issues over time. I also enjoyed how the grammatic style of the book allowed for more poetic moments.

There are a lot of characters so the book can feel like a bit of whirlwind, particularly in the first chapter, and some of the topics covered could've been discussed in more depth. Regardless, I still found this book very eye opening

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Rape, and Racism

Moderate: Abandonment, Physical abuse, and Sexual content

Minor: Homophobia, Classism, Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Bullying, Child abuse, Murder, Transphobia, Vomit, Child death, Miscarriage, Pregnancy, Sexism, Suicidal thoughts, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Antisemitism, Cancer, Colonisation, Death, Death of parent, Drug abuse, Drug use, Pedophilia, Police brutality, Slavery, Suicide, Eating disorder, Infidelity, Mental illness, Misogyny, and Xenophobia