Reviews tagging 'Misogyny'

A Man Called Ove by Fredrik Backman

24 reviews

kt2e56's review against another edition

funny reflective medium-paced

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

3.0

I was hoping this would be a five star book for me based on reviews I’ve read but alas, it’s only a 3. I was really enjoying it at first but it started to become very repetitive and quite frankly, Ove kinda sucks. He has some good qualities! He’s saved lives! He does eventually help his neighbors! But he comes across less like a grumpy old badger who just is lonely and more like an outright bigot. He’s super misogynistic (and never really changes that). He’s racist (and never really changes that). He lets a gay man stay with him after he’s been kicked out of his home which is lovely! But he refers to him as (I’m presuming based off of Pervana’s reaction to the phrase) a slur 80% of the time. And I think the most annoying is that he is (but also quite frankly the author is too) WILDLY fatphobic. Like disgustingly so. And Backman himself also seems SUPER fatphobic as he can’t write about Jimmy at all without calling him a slob, talking about whether or not his clothes fit, constantly making him pester everyone about food, etc. It’s gross. I do like the overall message and there are moments that are sweet here but even in flashbacks to life with his beloved wife, Sonja, I can’t help but wonder why she stayed with a man who belittled her pretty frequently and also was just so nasty to others. His hatred of bureaucrats makes sense! His racism, sexism, and other casual bigotry really does not. None of that factors into his backstory and I feel like it’s odd that the author made certain qualities of Ove so repugnant when he could have just been a crotchety old man and loner who thinks everyone else is incompetent. The story would have been just as impactful. It all ties itself up by the end with a neat little bow but there are portions of this that are genuinely draining to get through.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Fatphobia, Grief, Ableism, Suicide, Body shaming, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Death, and Xenophobia

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Fire/Fire injury, Racism, Car accident, Dementia, Homophobia, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Sexism, Terminal illness, Bullying, and Infertility

booknerdsinmn's review against another edition

challenging emotional reflective sad medium-paced

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

2.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide attempt and Fatphobia

Moderate: Death, Racism, Misogyny, Car accident, Xenophobia, Grief, Child death, Animal cruelty, and Body shaming

bridgetkay's review against another edition

Did not finish. Could not finish. I got more enjoyment reading the 1-star reviews for this book. 

The character is problematic as all hell and I really have no interest in a story centred on a white man who’s surrounded by people who aren’t white men as supporting characters to some kind of redemption arc. Any time I attempted to read this, it put me in a bad mood. So for self care purposes, I will not be finishing this. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide attempt, Fatphobia, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Body shaming, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Grief, Religious bigotry, Toxic relationship, Xenophobia, Racism, and Suicidal thoughts

bookchatwithbeth's review against another edition

emotional reflective slow-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide attempt, Grief, and Suicidal thoughts

Moderate: Death and Car accident

Minor: Injury/Injury detail, Fatphobia, Dementia, Infertility, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Pregnancy, Homophobia, Drug use, and Sexism

abominablesnowaro's review against another edition

funny hopeful 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicidal thoughts and Suicide attempt

Moderate: Child death, Chronic illness, Death, Dementia, Domestic abuse, Fatphobia, Homophobia, Misogyny, Pregnancy, Sexism, Terminal illness, Body shaming, Cancer, Car accident, Fire/Fire injury, Xenophobia, Medical content, and Bullying

madelinedalton's review against another edition

emotional inspiring reflective sad slow-paced

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

3.0

Maybe I’m heartless, but this book unfortunately did not emotionally wreck me like I hoped it would. Don’t get me wrong, it was very sweet, but all I did was think “aww, that’s nice” instead of bawling my eyes out like other readers. 

I think the book was just a bit too slow-paced throughout for my taste, and because of that, I found it hard to stay engaged. 

I also found Ove’s (and, let’s face it, the author’s) comments about women and fat people to be pretty offensive at times. The reader would have still found Ove to be just as curmudgeonly if he hadn’t been so misogynistic and fatphobic. Ove is homophobic and xenophobic too. These comments were much more connected to the story, but they could’ve been handled more delicately or even omitted entirely. 

Finally, I found Ove’s age to be very odd. His character would have made more sense to me if he were 70 rather than 59. My own father is 60, and it just felt weird to read about a grumpy curmudgeon who was a year younger than my dad when I don’t view my dad that way at all. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Fatphobia and Suicide attempt

Moderate: Death, Medical content, Homophobia, Misogyny, and Xenophobia

chris_reads's review against another edition

emotional funny hopeful reflective sad slow-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? Yes

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cursing, Death, Fatphobia, Forced institutionalization, Grief, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, and Terminal illness

Moderate: Ableism, Body shaming, Bullying, Car accident, Chronic illness, Dementia, and Pregnancy

Minor: Animal cruelty, Cancer, Homophobia, Misogyny, and Xenophobia

bitterseason's review against another edition

emotional funny sad slow-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? Yes

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Suicide attempt, and Suicidal thoughts

Moderate: Sexism and Misogyny

Minor: Ableism, Animal cruelty, Blood, Animal death, Cancer, Child abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Physical abuse, Car accident, Death, Death of parent, Fatphobia, Forced institutionalization, Homophobia, Cursing, Dementia, Domestic abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Miscarriage, and Violence

elly29's review against another edition

emotional reflective sad medium-paced

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

2.75

It was fine. A little sad, with an obstinate character (whose obstinacy in part causes him more hardship than is necessary). Some of it also felt like the "old man" version of Bella Swan syndrome ("I'm such a klutz, but for some reason all the boys like me idk hahaha" -- in this case, I'm a grump but people still like me anyway and I do carpentry and like Saabs). And then he also merited one woman's love, and she sees something on him the rest of the world can't see. (Lil eyeroll here.)

To be fair, there were moments where one had to be paying attention to get the most out of it. And I was often listening while preoccupied. Ove really did have a good heart, and a heart in grief and pain often lashes out or withdraws into itself. 

Again, fine. And he didn't know how to write a cat. 

CW: suicide and liberal suicidal ideation.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicidal thoughts and Suicide attempt

Moderate: Misogyny and Miscarriage

Minor: Pregnancy, Animal cruelty, and Homophobia

z_thatsit's review against another edition

emotional funny hopeful 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? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Suicidal thoughts, and Suicide attempt

Moderate: Pregnancy, Homophobia, Miscarriage, and Medical content

Minor: Death of parent, Cursing, Fatphobia, Drug use, Homophobia, Misogyny, and Animal cruelty