Reviews tagging 'Sexism'

A Thousand Ships by Natalie Haynes

43 reviews

kers_tin's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional medium-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Rape, Death, Misogyny, War, and Sexism

jolibon4e's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad medium-paced

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

2.0

I was expecting much more from this book. To be honest the foreword is better than 90% of the book in the way it treats women. It may be that I expected something different. This book does retell a lot of Greek mythology around the Trojan war from the point of view of women, and it definitely gives them more background and feelings than the original texts. However, it is still the story of men. It tells the full story of the men, as previously told, with a bit of female reaction. For the most part, women are not actors but reactors. They don’t make decisions, they have feelings but follow whatever someone else decides

How do you manage to make Helen a passive figure in the war? Of course she is not solely responsible for the war, but why just take away all of her autonomy?

Also, all if the women have “male perspective” on other women.

Why does Penelope insist that the women with whom Odysseus sleeps are sluts? Why does Hecuba do the same to Helen? They seem to be unwilling to understand basic gender politics and power structures and as a whole women rarely support other women in this book

Also the ecofashism was not fun to listen to even if it was in one chapter. Also it is a very boring proposition in my opinion- instead of exploring the complex aspects of humanity that lead to such a devastating war, you say it was forced on them and it was entirely for ecofashist reasons. Also there some light gender essentialism throughout the book that doesn’t sit well with me - all the women have good intentions, all the men have bad intentions. It oversimplifies and again makes the story less interesting as it refuses to engage with the complexities that make power imbalances and morality so important to discuss.

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Content Warnings

Minor: Sexism and Rape

cerilouisereads's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional medium-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Death, Fire/Fire injury, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, and Sexism

Moderate: Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual assault, and War

rebeccajost's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative inspiring sad medium-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Infidelity, Grief, Genocide, Death of parent, Colonisation, Xenophobia, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Death, Violence, War, Sexism, Slavery, Physical abuse, Child death, and Suicidal thoughts

Moderate: Pregnancy, Rape, Blood, Colonisation, Confinement, and Sexual assault

evieisilliterate's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad 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? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexism, War, Child death, Death of parent, Misogyny, Death, and Grief

Moderate: Pregnancy, Suicide, and Slavery

Minor: Rape

The aftermath of a violent war and its impacts on the remaining women.

ourxstorybegins's review against another edition

dark emotional sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? N/A
• Loveable characters? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Slavery, Death, and Sexism

Minor: Sexual violence, Rape, and Fatphobia

marisa_n's review against another edition

adventurous dark reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Infidelity, Misogyny, Murder, Death, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Gore, Torture, Abandonment, Blood, Fire/Fire injury, Genocide, Grief, Physical abuse, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Sexism, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Pregnancy, Rape, Sexual violence, Slavery, and War

barb_christensen's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional funny sad medium-paced

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

4.0

I just wish there was a happy ending, but alas that was not as it was. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, War, Fire/Fire injury, Gore, Misogyny, Murder, Blood, Child death, Grief, Sexism, and Violence

Moderate: Pregnancy, Rape, Infidelity, and Sexual assault

alexisgarcia's review against another edition

dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

This book was amazing. I absolutely adore greek retellings and this women based greek retelling was beautiful. It reads in chronological order with some chapters involving the writing process of the book from a perspective of a man and letters from Penelope. It was beautifully written and so enlightening. I would 100% recommend anyone to read this book. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Slavery, Cursing, Pregnancy, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Sexual harassment, Animal death, Death, Emotional abuse, Violence, Child death, Infertility, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Adult/minor relationship, Animal cruelty, Blood, Body horror, Classism, Death of parent, Injury/Injury detail, Misogyny, Murder, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Sexism, War, Abandonment, Abortion, Gore, Grief, Infidelity, Rape, and Self harm

hmatt's review

adventurous emotional sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.75

Wow. This book is structured in such a neat way and the stories are compelling and empathetic.

I think you probably need about as much knowledge of the Iliad as I have to appreciate these stories, though. There is some internal explaining, but most are told in a way that inserts the reader right into the scenes without a lot of context. I think this adds to the telling, overall, but I can see how it might discourage readers who don't have the Greek myth 101 primer handy. 

I'm a little wishy-washy on whether I enjoyed some of the more self-indulgent stories in the collection. I do think it was a smart choice to keep Calliope's and the Goddesses' chapters brief, though. They felt more shallow than the stories from the "actual" women, and Calliope's kind of just seemed too on-the-nose. But I'm not familiar enough with the customs of Greek literature to know if these sections were meant to echo existing conventions, so.

A note on the audiobook: it was certainly a choice for the author to also narrate. I actually think they did a great job, though a few times here and there I felt they were too emphatic. Mostly I took issue with some strange pronunciations of Greek names... and, again, I don't actually know enough about the topic to know if there is debate over these pronunciations. They were just different than what I have heard before. Also, in the Afterword, the author pronounces "quasi" really strangely...

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, War, Violence, Trafficking, Slavery, Sexual assault, Sexism, Rape, Physical abuse, Murder, Misogyny, Kidnapping, Injury/Injury detail, Infidelity, Grief, Genocide, Fire/Fire injury, Death, Death of parent, Child death, and Animal death

CWs not exhaustive