Reviews tagging 'Misogyny'

The People in the Trees by Hanya Yanagihara

29 reviews

jedeming's review against another edition

I got tired of listening to the narrator's blatant dislike of women, callous descriptions of violence towards animals, and racist/colonialist views about the group of people he was studying. From the books description, the colonialism is the main point, but on top of the other complaints I decided I didn't want to listen to 10 more hours just to get to a possible thesis of "colonialism is bad". 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content, Adult/minor relationship, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Colonisation, Sexual assault, Excrement, Medical content, and Child abuse

Moderate: Racism, Misogyny, Sexism, and Religious bigotry

orlagal's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense slow-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Chronic illness, Confinement, Animal death, Genocide, Gore, Physical abuse, Body shaming, Child abuse, Colonisation, Cultural appropriation, Forced institutionalization, Kidnapping, Medical content, Misogyny, Abandonment, Adult/minor relationship, Blood, Emotional abuse, Incest, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Sexual violence, Animal cruelty, Body horror, Death, Excrement, Fatphobia, Suicide, Death of parent, Grief, Sexual harassment, Suicide attempt, Domestic abuse, Pregnancy, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Trafficking, Gaslighting, Violence, Vomit, and Xenophobia

maidinnah's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious reflective sad tense slow-paced

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

5.0

Audacious and horrifying, yet thrilling, The People in the Trees delves into the life and mind of Dr. Norton Perina, a brilliant, depraved medical researcher armed with terrifying ambition and a deep disregard for life. Yanagihara's detailed, alluring prose explores themes of hubris and abuse on an interpersonal and systemic level, and how figures like Perina become woven into the histories of entire societies. It's moral relativism at its finest -- disturbing, unflinching, and challenging.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Colonisation, Domestic abuse, Sexual content, Adult/minor relationship, Emotional abuse, Incest, Sexual assault, Child abuse, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Racism, Rape, and Slavery

Moderate: Animal death and Animal cruelty

Minor: Death of parent

rpg_gf's review against another edition

challenging dark slow-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

4.75

Beautifully written and terribly disturbing. Even though you know what’s coming, you still won’t be prepared for that moment. 
A slow read for me personally but I enjoyed it. The world building was exquisitely detailed, and the characters were all well fleshed out. Norton is a well written terrible man from the get go if you’re paying attention.
Not for the faint of heart, and I found myself uneasy at certain parts of the story, but it’s one I won’t soon forget. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Sexual violence, Animal death, Child abuse, Pedophilia, Racism, Colonisation, Death, Rape, and Sexual assault

Moderate: Miscarriage, Misogyny, and Suicide

Minor: Death of parent and Terminal illness

hanstin's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Xenophobia, Pedophilia, Rape, Trafficking, Suicide, Sexual harassment, Adult/minor relationship, Animal cruelty, Toxic relationship, Sexual violence, Animal death, Child abuse, Torture, Sexual content, Sexual assault, Misogyny, Sexism, Racism, and Colonisation

msefinney's review against another edition

challenging dark medium-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Incest, Pedophilia, Rape, Child abuse, Dementia, Sexual violence, Trafficking, Adult/minor relationship, Sexual assault, and Sexual content

Moderate: Racism, Mental illness, Misogyny, Domestic abuse, Colonisation, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Physical abuse

Minor: Alcoholism, Suicide attempt, Confinement, Deadnaming, Death of parent, Excrement, Suicide, Slavery, Body shaming, and Suicidal thoughts

kmadsen's review against another edition

adventurous dark medium-paced

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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Rape, Misogyny, Sexual violence, Sexual assault, Pedophilia, Colonisation, Emotional abuse, and Incest

demeryg's review against another edition

adventurous dark reflective sad slow-paced

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

4.0

4/5 
Hanya Yanahigara is a wonderful poetic writer and their world building is top notch.
That said, I hated Norton from the very beginning 😡 so if the intention was to have some contrast between the beautiful island world and history of Ivu’ivu and the mysognist, racist, colonizing, selfish opinions of Norton Perina- then Yanahigara nailed it.
Trigger warning: sexual assault against children.
Interested in reading more of their work, but I think I’ll need something a little lighter after this.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Racism, Colonisation, Fatphobia, and Sexual assault

Moderate: Misogyny

anningana's review against another edition

challenging dark sad tense medium-paced

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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Excrement, Gaslighting, Misogyny, Racism, Child abuse, Classism, Cultural appropriation, Dementia, Medical content, Pedophilia, Sexism, Colonisation, and Sexual harassment

Moderate: Homophobia, Racism, Suicide, Death, Physical abuse, and Suicidal thoughts

readerinthedale's review against another edition

adventurous dark slow-paced

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

3.75

This was an impressive book from a critical perspective- Hanya Yanagihara created an immersive alternate universe through this fictional biography. It is  realistically arranged and structured to appear as a nonfiction book, which is amazing especially for a debut novel. Unfortunately our main character is awful. He is intentionally a bad person, but reading his autobiographical account of his crimes, actions, and opinions is at times overwhelmingly off-putting. I often had to put the book down and struggled to pick it back up because his thoughts were so disgusting. I am glad to have finished and was impressed by this work overall, but at the same time I hated it because I hated Norton. In this case it is a sign of a successful work by the author, but also an unpleasant feeling as a reader.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Forced institutionalization, Child abuse, Colonisation, Dementia, Pedophilia, Rape, and Sexual assault

Moderate: Suicide

Minor: Misogyny, Sexism, Body horror, Excrement, Fatphobia, and Gaslighting