Reviews tagging 'Classism'

Valley of the Dolls by Jacqueline Susann

4 reviews

kelsie4's review

adventurous dark emotional sad tense fast-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

5.0

Picked up this book not knowing how huge it was (both in size and in popularity) that they made a movie. All the more I was intrigued to read it. If you love a book carried by dialogue this is for you. I devoured this book. As a woman living in New York I feel that pressure to be something or other everyone is trying but you see only the special few make it. It’s an empowering book to see stubborn women paving the way for themselves but of course it comes at a price. Nobody’s likable but you root for them anyways to have a revelation and change. A book I’d like to have a copy of and let everyone I know read

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide, Death of parent, Classism, Suicide attempt, Sexual harassment, Pregnancy, Death, Abortion, Alcohol, Suicidal thoughts, Self harm, Misogyny, Mental illness, Body shaming, Toxic friendship, Fatphobia, Drug use, Cancer, Drug abuse, Eating disorder, and Alcoholism

gabriella_'s review

dark emotional funny sad tense

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

4.5

this book is going to haunt me, i know it. parts of the book are tough to swallow (esp the fatphobia/body shaming, ableism, and homophobia) but if you can power through, it’s so worth it. idk if this is a hot take but i think it has a similar message to the barbie movie but it does it better

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicidal thoughts, Body horror, Gaslighting, Grief, Eating disorder, Fatphobia, Cancer, Classism, Confinement, Addiction, Alcohol, Emotional abuse, Drug use, Forced institutionalization, Homophobia, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Sexism, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Drug abuse, Sexual content, Suicide attempt, Terminal illness, Injury/Injury detail, Toxic friendship, Abortion, Blood, Body shaming, Abandonment, Ableism, Misogyny, Pregnancy, Alcoholism, Bullying, Death of parent, Infidelity, Panic attacks/disorders, Self harm, and Death

robyn1998's review

dark funny informative reflective sad tense medium-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

4.0

I'm glad I read this, but if I ever read the trigger warnings I would've left it alone. There's an enormous amount of diet talk, specific weights (some of which were a bit too real for me), ED behaviour and so on. Not to mention the fatphobia and dehumanisation of women. 
That being said, it's 4 stars because it was somehow so entertaining. I just couldn't put it down. It was like a time capsule and I love that in a book, especially when it's set in the US in the middle of the 20th century. Makes me want to read more Truman Capote books. I liked the characterisations, even though the characters themselves were mostly horrible.  

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Forced institutionalization, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Sexism, Mental illness, Eating disorder, Alcoholism, Drug abuse, Classism, Body shaming, Abortion, Homophobia, Misogyny, Addiction, Fatphobia, and Drug use

morenowagain's review against another edition

dark emotional funny fast-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Toxic friendship, Suicide attempt, Suicide, Sexism, Mental illness, Lesbophobia, Infidelity, Homophobia, Forced institutionalization, Fatphobia, Drug use, and Death of parent

Moderate: Classism, Terminal illness, Toxic friendship, Homophobia, Infertility, Infidelity, Lesbophobia, Pregnancy, Abortion, Fatphobia, Sexism, Suicide, Eating disorder, Mental illness, Misogyny, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Alcohol, Biphobia, Body shaming, Medical trauma, and Toxic relationship

This novel uses the word f*g/f*ggot over 25 times.