Reviews tagging 'Sexism'

Milkman by Anna Burns

24 reviews

brenncocoa's review against another edition

challenging dark reflective 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

4.5

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Emotional abuse, Rape, Stalking, Sexual harassment, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Gun violence, Homophobia, Misogyny, Sexism, Vomit, Death of parent, and Murder

Minor: Abortion

rory_john14's review

dark funny hopeful mysterious reflective sad slow-paced

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

3.25

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Hate crime, Homophobia, Infidelity, Mental illness, Misogyny, Sexism, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Violence, Police brutality, Religious bigotry, Stalking, Death of parent, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicide, Xenophobia, Blood, Dementia, Grief, Abortion, Pregnancy, Abandonment, and Alcohol

Minor: Body shaming, Incest, Panic attacks/disorders, Racism, Terminal illness, Medical content, Kidnapping, and Mass/school shootings

elliecaholic's review against another edition

dark emotional tense slow-paced

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

4.5

This book can be a bit of a tough read, with long sentences and quickly changing time- and viewpoints. However I think the author used this to effectively transmit the mental state of the main character amidst the turmoil of the Troubles, and does this particularly well for the relationship of this character with her mother.

I think the writing style also helps to depict the community where the character lives, and how their scrutiny of each others actions has such negative impacts on their relationships and happiness. It's incredibly challenging to read about a 40-something year old mans pursuit of a barely 18 year old woman being blindly accepted while there is clear homophobia and religious bias.

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Animal death, Sexism, Violence, Police brutality, Religious bigotry, Stalking, Murder, and Sexual harassment

Minor: Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Child death, Death, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Homophobia, and Misogyny

duarshe's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective tense slow-paced

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

2.0

Do you know that friend that is going to tell you an anecdote that happened to them a while ago, and just seems not to be able to get straight to the point and gets distracted over a million other details before actually telling you what they were going to say from the beginning, and you actually forget what the story was even about? That's middle-sister. Our narrator. So just by saying that, you can kind of imagine how this book is narrated. That is, essentially, the reason why I thought myself uncapable of finishing this, so I'm pretty sure past Sheila must be very proud of me for reading every single page here. It is true that I read this for class, but still it is an achievement. 

The main problem that I find here is that there are many plots, stories and thoughts directed at us by the narrator, that if you chose a fragment from this book and asked me to situate in the plot, there is a small probability that I will actually be able to do it. Many things get repeated over and over, like that damn supercharger. And many others you just cannot know how the narrator even got to that point.

When I updated I was in page 69 I wrote this: "This book is the worst nightmare for people who dislike unconventional narrative style, long paragraphs that go on for pages, little to none dialogue, and long ahh chapters that make up one half of the book. That's me btw. This book is my worst nightmare!!!! 😀" 
And it is true, those aspects do make up for my worst nightmare case scenario (especially this book being the epitome of long chapters), but I was able to manage (barely) anyway. I would say the last two chapters more or less I enjoyed the best, but the rest... God only knows it was not easy...

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Death, Gun violence, Sexism, Violence, Police brutality, Grief, Murder, Sexual harassment, and Colonisation

Moderate: Mental illness, Pedophilia, Suicide, and Death of parent

Minor: Child death and Homophobia

gnatroberts's review against another edition

emotional funny inspiring reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.5

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: Sexism, Suicide, Stalking, and Sexual harassment

lorenag5's review

challenging dark reflective tense slow-paced

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

4.75

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Mental illness, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Violence, Police brutality, Grief, Stalking, Death of parent, Murder, Gaslighting, Sexual harassment, Colonisation, and War

rainbowarpaint's review against another edition

challenging dark funny mysterious reflective tense slow-paced

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

4.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Gun violence, Sexism, Violence, Xenophobia, Stalking, and War

Moderate: Homophobia

notthatcosta's review

challenging dark funny mysterious reflective tense slow-paced

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

2.75

I find this one tough to review because there were aspects that I absolutely loved (the world building and the social commentary around the Troubles). However, I found the writing style almost unbearable at points (the stream of consciousness prose, the long-winded way of addressing characters, the timeline jumps).

The bottom line is that I didn't really like a single character in the book, and even the protagonist made some infuriating decisions at points and overall my feeling was 'this place is not for you, you are above these people and you need to get the hell out of there' - which although a simplification, seemed preferable to sticking around in such a place. Also, her mum was a total arsehole and I don't know if I was supposed to like her, but I certainly didn't. 

Overall, I'm glad I read it, and I feel like most of the aspects I took issue with were at least strong intentional stylistic choices made by the author, and I can always respect a big swing.

Oh and ALSO, the random 11th hour gay subplot was egregious. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Bullying, Child death, Death, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Infidelity, Misogyny, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicide, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Grief, Stalking, Death of parent, Murder, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Sexual harassment, War, and Injury/Injury detail

just_jess02's review against another edition

dark emotional sad tense slow-paced

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

1.5

This book feels like a repetitive, overly wordy stream of consciousness. It’s like being in a conversation that you can’t get out of and can’t get a word in. The text is quick moving and dense but the plot is soooooo slow. The 348 pages could easily have been about 100 and been a more impactful/interesting story. The last 1/4 of the book was much better but not worth the journey to get there. How can this be so dense yet so empty? There’s just not enough meat here other than some general themes. 

On the other hand, Anna did a great job of making the reader understand the existence of middle sister. I felt the anxiety, the fear, the connections, the paranoid state of the community, etc. Maybe she just did too good of a job with the feelings of time passing, the long/drawn out thoughts of every moment, the mundane nature of every day life. When I got to the end I felt like a deserved a big payoff for making it through… but it sort of just fizzled out in a “life goes on” idea. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Sexism, Sexual assault, Stalking, and Sexual harassment

Moderate: Animal death, Body shaming, Death, Gun violence, Homophobia, Mental illness, Rape, Toxic relationship, Violence, Police brutality, Medical content, Grief, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Gaslighting, War, and Injury/Injury detail

nuii's review against another edition

challenging dark funny tense slow-paced

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

3.0

This is tough... I quite enjoyed the story, not the way it was written...The whole thing almost felt like a fever dream. 
The narrator was going through a torturous trauma and I feel it just by reading how it was sucking the life out of her. 
However:
Her stream of consciousness, her jumping back and forth through time and events and thoughts are so tedious, confusing sometimes and a lot to take in. It went on and on and on, by the time it makes one point, it has also gone through 10 others, like sitting in someone else's head with non-stop yammering. Despite being quite funny from time to time, it was mentally taxing to read and put me in a slump for a whole month. 
The story and the characters are frustrating, though I guess it is the point, due to the time and place it took place in (a very suffocating environment!). I felt like giving up a lot but was curious enough to pull through...and now I'm mostly glad it is over. 

P/S: after a while I realized I still occasionally think of this book, so it did have more impact on me than I first thought. Bumping it from 2.75 to 3☆
 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gun violence, Misogyny, Sexism, Violence, Police brutality, and Stalking

Moderate: Sexual harassment