Reviews tagging 'Sexual violence'

Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides

8 reviews

annabel_winter's review against another edition

emotional 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

3.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Incest, Transphobia, and Sexual assault

Moderate: Homophobia, War, Sexual violence, and Xenophobia

cinnaminskies's review against another edition

emotional hopeful lighthearted mysterious reflective sad slow-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Incest, Xenophobia, Medical trauma, Sexual violence, and Sexual content

Moderate: War, Lesbophobia, Pregnancy, Outing, Forced institutionalization, Medical content, and Homophobia

flo_sg's review against another edition

challenging emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective slow-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content, Incest, and War

Moderate: Police brutality, Transphobia, and Racism

Minor: Hate crime, Gun violence, and Sexual violence

applesaucecreachur's review against another edition

dark emotional slow-paced

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

2.0

There was a lot wrong with this book. (Though to be fair, I went in thinking that this was non-fiction, an autobiography by an intersex person, and realized with horror only later that it was fiction.) The storytelling style spanned three generations and was therefore unique, and the author clearly has a strong grasp of descriptive prose and timelines. And maybe, maybe, this was a progressive and gender-inclusive book for its time. But my commendations end there. From beginning to end, this book was full of racial stereotypes (particularly anti-Black) and racist accents if listening to the audiobook, one-sided takes on historical events, and incest. Fucking incest. Perhaps the author was not condoning procreation with one's full-blooded biological sibling, but was going into such detail necessary? Regardless of intent, this signaled that aside from being taboo on its own, being intersex is also the result of taboos, a mutation in chromosomes occurring out of inbreeding. 
I'm giving it 2 stars because I liked some of the writing. The writer displays good technique here. I'm taking away 3 because of the contents and everything else about it. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Transphobia, Racism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, and Incest

Moderate: Car accident, Deadnaming, Cultural appropriation, Religious bigotry, Death of parent, Body shaming, Lesbophobia, Dementia, and Sexual content

Minor: Fatphobia

myantigone's review against another edition

emotional hopeful sad slow-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Incest, Medical content, and Car accident

Moderate: Drug use and Death

Minor: Sexual violence and Dementia

loverofeels's review against another edition

challenging emotional reflective slow-paced

• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

i kind of have no idea how to rate this?
on the one hand, middlesex has exquisite writing, wonderfully fleshed out characters, and an unforgettable narrator. 
on the other hand, i found the entire first half of this book psychologically disturbing, and a little bit boring. 
the amount of this book that is dedicated to describing incest love stories is perhaps necessary, and perhaps well-written, but also extremely unpleasant for me to read. 
i also felt a little bit cheated when i got to the end: for so much of the book, the glimpses of cal's adult life were what kept me motivated to keep reading, only for me to find that we don't get to see beyond those glimpses. it would have been nice to get a little less desdemona and milton and a lot more cal.
it's been a while since i read a book that immersed me so fully that i actually felt lonely upon finishing it, though. and i can absolutely see why it might be a modern great american novel—this is a book about which i actually want to have a class discussion.
in spite of it all, it feels criminal to give middlesex less than 4 stars. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Transphobia, Sexual violence, Homophobia, Dementia, Car accident, Incest, and Genocide

shibaunited's review against another edition

challenging 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? It's complicated

3.25

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Body shaming, Bullying, Deadnaming, Death, Transphobia, Death of parent, Sexual violence, Grief, Outing, Homophobia, Incest, Lesbophobia, War, Religious bigotry, and Sexual harassment

beetsnotbombs's review against another edition

challenging emotional informative reflective slow-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body shaming, Deadnaming, Homophobia, Incest, Medical content, Medical trauma, Misogyny, Sexual content, and Sexual violence

Minor: Ableism, Antisemitism, Dementia, Genocide, Hate crime, Islamophobia, Misogyny, Racial slurs, Racism, and Religious bigotry