Reviews tagging 'Misogyny'

The Stationery Shop by Marjan Kamali

8 reviews

777elia's review against another edition

adventurous emotional hopeful reflective sad 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? No

4.5

The writing style of this book was absolutely beautiful. The author could repeat the same details over and still add nuance and renew the same feelings I felt when first reading the event. I thought when the plot was revealed in the first chapter that this book wouldn't surprise me much but my god it did. Some moments were gut-wrenchingly heartbreaking and others filled with so much love. I couldn't put this book down it kept drawing me in. I recommend this book for anyone looking for a powerful love story that withstands the test of time.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, Child death, Death, Fire/Fire injury, and War

Moderate: Abortion, Sexual content, Blood, Chronic illness, Misogyny, Miscarriage, Murder, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual harassment, Suicide attempt, and Violence

areen's review against another edition

emotional reflective sad

• Plot- or character-driven? Character

4.5

towards the end the story really takes shape and I realized this really wasn't about our mcs and their lovestory but

badri and fakhri's and how bc of their mistakes and decisions, our mcs had to go through the same "fate", except it really wasn't fate... sighs.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Suicide attempt, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Grief, Classism, Police brutality, Misogyny, Sexism, and War

oddreads_nicolestins's review against another edition

adventurous emotional hopeful mysterious reflective sad tense fast-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? No

5.0

This book was a whirlwind! I really enjoyed how Marjan took us from the past to the present throughout. The plot twists were twisting, and I enjoyed the way Marjan set up the plot. I'm not a big romance reader- honestly this is one of two books I've read with romance as a main theme. Without giving away spoilers, the romance between Roya and Bahman was very sweet and definitely portrayed young love at it's finest. The drama between the adults was where the true tea simmered! Aside from the romance elements, I also appreciated the historical/cultural backdrop of the book and learned so much about 1950s Tehran! Highly recommend if you're into historical fiction/romance.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Misogyny, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Grief, and Classism

Moderate: Cancer, Child death, Suicide attempt, Adult/minor relationship, and Death of parent

Minor: Vomit and War

alexisgarcia's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad 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

this absolutely wrecked me. i cried in public reading this. 

it was so enlightening on the tribulations many Iranian people faced during that time. i felt my heart break when the characters faced grief and loss, which is hard for an author to achieve. 

i would recommend this 1000%, please just check trigger warnings!!!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Fire/Fire injury, Genocide, Injury/Injury detail, Islamophobia, Miscarriage, War, Emotional abuse, Toxic relationship, Vomit, Medical content, Police brutality, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Xenophobia, Blood, Cancer, Child death, Death, Death of parent, Violence, Abandonment, Abortion, Adult/minor relationship, Chronic illness, Classism, Colonisation, Rape, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual content, Terminal illness, Grief, Infertility, Mental illness, Misogyny, Pregnancy, and Suicide attempt

megelizabeth's review against another edition

2.0

This book pains me a little to review, because it has so many elements that I loved, but ultimately its flaws are too significant to merit a higher rating. The writing is brilliant, the sense of place and time is incredible, and there are so many great discussions about cultural differences, the reality of immigrant life, and the roles and expectations of women in Iran and the US. It presents a much more nuanced look at 1950s life than the stereotyped version you often see, and I just adored the sprawling, layered narrative and everything it has to say about love, loss, politics, and familial and societal expectations.

However, there are two things about this book that I just cannot forgive. The first is that it celebrates a character who grooms a child, and the second is that its representation of a mentally ill character feels lazy and one-dimensional and made me very uncomfortable. I'm not saying that mentally ill people can never be bad people, but to present the only mentally ill character as such and to leave very little space for any slight expectation of why they act the way they do is just irresponsible in my opinion. This book could've been incredible if these two elements had been dealt with differently, but instead I was just left feeling thoroughly frustrated and disappointed.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Police brutality, Abortion, Suicide attempt, Blood, Injury/Injury detail, Child death, Misogyny, Sexual violence, Murder, Death, Miscarriage, and Child abuse

Moderate: Sexual harassment

rachellewiski's review

challenging emotional hopeful 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? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Child death, Mental illness, Abandonment, War, Classism, and Grief

Moderate: Misogyny and Dementia

Minor: Abortion and Miscarriage

flameoflareon's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad medium-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

3.0

Definitely not the slow-burn romance foregrounding historical political upheaval that I was expecting, but that's my own fault for jumping to conclusions based on the summary. Some writing choices were a bit odd

like chapters that are supposed to be letters to a character having dialogue and narration

, but the foreshadowing was strong, the story interesting all the way through, and the ending satisfying. If you like sad, messed up heterosexuals, consider this book.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Child death, Death, Grief, Mental illness, and Suicide attempt

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Toxic relationship, Police brutality, and Medical content

Minor: Racism, Abortion, Miscarriage, and Misogyny

kaiulanilee's review against another edition

emotional mysterious reflective sad medium-paced

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

4.0

Overall I loved this book. The writing was absolutely stunning, especially the way she describes food and certain cultural moments. I thought the messages surrounding love, family, culture, and understanding were absolutely incredible and gripped at my heart a ton. She was able to mix in a lot of political and historical issues going on which made the book even more fleshed out, in my opinion. You never felt like you were in a class but I definitely learned a good amount about Iran, Persian culture, and the dynamics in the country at this time. The way she wrote Roya’s family and their dynamic was so stunning it absolutely melted my heart. I also thought her use of time was quite well done! 

On the negative side, there were moments where I felt like ideas kept repeating when they didn’t need to, particularly in regards to Roya’s internal monologue as she’s missing Bahman. It felt slightly repetitive in that aspect but it was nothing to bad. I also found the letter he writes to her at the end to be so focused on explaining what happened that it didn’t actually feel like a letter to someone. I know she had to have a way that things are explained but it was especially odd in letter format, to me.

This all being said, I would HIGHLY recommend this book. It’s stunning and captures so much about love for the people in your life so incredibly well. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Mental illness, and Suicide attempt

Moderate: Abortion, Adult/minor relationship, Blood, Child death, Death, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Mass/school shootings, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Pregnancy, Sexism, Toxic relationship, and Xenophobia