Reviews tagging 'Misogyny'

Outlawed by Anna North

109 reviews

ynadavis's review against another edition

adventurous fast-paced

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

3.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Transphobia, Body shaming, Dysphoria, Lesbophobia, Medical content, Mental illness, Medical trauma, Misogyny, Murder, Outing, Sexism, Pregnancy, Racism, Gun violence, Infertility, Miscarriage, and Injury/Injury detail

shoohoob's review

adventurous emotional reflective tense 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? It's complicated

3.75

Such an interesting book! It wasn’t what I expected, but not necessarily in a bad way. It was rewarding to read about Ada finding her meaning in the world. That being said, it felt like the last third of the book was a little rushed and the ending wasn’t super satisfying. I think it could have been a little longer. 

All in all, I liked it!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gun violence, Blood, Homophobia, Pregnancy, Transphobia, Abandonment, Infertility, Medical content, and Misogyny

Moderate: Suicide attempt, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, and Self harm

sorry_imbooked's review against another edition

adventurous dark hopeful reflective tense 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? It's complicated

3.5

I loved the idea of this book, its focus on women and trans people trying to make better lives for themselves and others like them, but I found the execution rather bland. Outlawed follows a young woman, Ada, who was forced from her home into a convent because she is unable to conceive a child in a world where women's worth is tied to their childbearing. Determined to find out the reason for barrenness and to help other women like her, Ada leaves the convent to join the notorious Kid and their Hole in the Wall Gang - a gang of other people turned out as women viewed as somehow defective. Ada's goal is to stay with the Gang until she can afford to travel to a fellow midwife who has written a book on women's medical and biological disorders that Ada respects but finds insufficient.

Despite her willingness to become an outlaw, Ada seems to lack (or refuse) agency until nearly the end of the book. The majority of her companions remain underdeveloped and fairly one-dimensional as much of the text is focused on Ada's internal worries and wonderings. As it was, my favorite character was Ada's horse, Amity.  The pacing of the story was irregular and I frequently drifted out of the book. That said, I always picked it back up.

I did really appreciate the timeliness of this book; these are issues that women still face and will for many years to come. The descriptions of the land and settings were rich and lovely - I could picture them vividly. I just ended up wanting more from the characters and the story than I felt I got.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Infertility, Sexism, Gun violence, Miscarriage, and Murder

Moderate: Infidelity, Misogyny, Racism, and Mental illness

mothie_girlie's review against another edition

emotional funny fast-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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Miscarriage and Misogyny

Moderate: Injury/Injury detail and Abandonment

cassielaj's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional tense fast-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

4.5

I’ve never read anything quite like this book. It’s fascinating, full of adventure and heart, sorrow and hope. If you like stories about outcasts, strong women, and found family, this one’s for you. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Medical trauma, Misogyny, Gun violence, Infertility, Medical content, Suicide attempt, Blood, Pregnancy, Sexual violence, Murder, Racism, Sexism, and Xenophobia

Moderate: Rape, Abortion, Animal death, and Self harm

Minor: Incest

hmatt's review against another edition

adventurous fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

3.0

I love the concept of this story so much, and it had so much potential. The world-building is super well done, and I love alternate histories. Unfortunately, I came away with the feeling that the author tried to fit so much world and plot in that these got in the way of both the actual storytelling and the character-building.

Storytelling
I feel like the author was trying to fit too many events into too short of a narrative. This might have been okay, but there were so many minor events that I think we should have spent less time on, and a number of climactic events that we spent barely any time on whatsoever. A lot of these major events "fade to black" as soon as the action starts, and then we are caught up on what happened in retrospect later on - I was REALLY not a fan of this technique, and I don't think it made sense for the "western" genre.

Character-building
We do get a lot of information on most of the characters but, again, it's almost too much for how short of a book it is. What we lose out on, in my opinion, is a more profound emotional connection with the main character. We don't really dwell on her losses or feel them with her, which is extra strange given the whole novel is told in first-person.

TL;DR
The idea behind the novel is fantastic, but it tries to fit too much in. The concepts it seeks to explore are really only half-fleshed-out and the characters are hard to relate to, simply because the plot moves on too fast to hold space for these introspections.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Religious bigotry, Sexual content, Medical content, Infidelity, Gun violence, Misogyny, Blood, Violence, Murder, Infertility, Sexual violence, Racism, Police brutality, Death, Drug use, Homophobia, Emotional abuse, Torture, Sexism, Pregnancy, Medical trauma, Kidnapping, Injury/Injury detail, Hate crime, Gore, Miscarriage, and Mental illness

Moderate: Rape, Confinement, Transphobia, Classism, Gore, Alcohol, Forced institutionalization, Domestic abuse, and Sexual assault

Minor: Animal death and Drug abuse

CWs non-exhaustive

mollslol's review against another edition

adventurous emotional sad tense medium-paced

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

3.0

I was really excited to read this book - a feminist western? Hell yes. But while parts of this book were engaging and the author touched (very briefly) on some important topics - reproduction, gender identity, racism - overall, I was disappointed. The supporting characters were not fully fleshed out, I routinely had to go back and search for their backstory because I kept mixing them up. Despite the fact that they were more interesting and important to the plot than Ada, the main character. Ada makes a lot of stupid mistakes is this novel but never seems to learn from them. On top of that, this book largely focuses on women’s lives being valued and protected on their ability to have children. Ada’s entire mission throughout this book is set on learning more about the female body (not so that she can attempt to change this objectification of women) but so that she can “cure” her barrenness and become valuable once more.

And when she finally reaches Pagosa Springs only to discover that the woman she was looking for is gone, we’re just left with a 1 paragraph wrap up to vaguely explain that Ada took over and accomplished great things.

This story is 95% build up and 5% resolution, which the author just slapped together and tried to tie up with a neat little bow. I feel like this story really had a lot of potential and some exciting characters and plot points, but really failed to deliver. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Misogyny, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Gun violence, Racism, and Violence

cheye13's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional inspiring medium-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

This was very engaging and a fresh take on the genre. It's gave me exactly what I'd been missing from Sarah Gailey's Upright Women Wanted. The world was tangible, and I especially appreciated how well nuances were conveyed – depression, bisexuality, gender identity – without the vocabulary we use.

That being said, I don't think western stories are really for me? There's always such a deep pain and/or hopelessness within them that never seems to hit my catharsis button. This one came very close with each of the outlaw's backstories, but the ultimate plot just left me with, "Well. Okay."

This was definitely my favorite western I've ever read, though. Leagues above.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Death, Gun violence, Hate crime, Medical content, Misogyny, and Infertility

Moderate: Pregnancy, Grief, Blood, Abortion, Confinement, Miscarriage, and Homophobia

Minor: Ableism, Rape, Alcohol, Child death, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Incest, Infidelity, Racism, Sexual content, and Suicidal thoughts

ableism wrt: implied bipolar disorder (or perhaps other psychosis), implied post partum depression medical/injury content wrt: gunshot wounds, childbirth & miscarriage, castration, hypothermia, various illnesses

abominablesnowaro's review against another edition

adventurous hopeful reflective 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? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexism, Violence, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Body horror, Death, Gun violence, Homophobia, Infertility, Injury/Injury detail, Lesbophobia, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Medical trauma, Medical content, and Religious bigotry

Moderate: Suicide attempt, Excrement, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Animal death, Misogyny, and Racism

Minor: Rape

clayclay's review against another edition

adventurous emotional hopeful sad tense fast-paced

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

5.0

This book is an incredible depiction of the oppression of queer and femme bodied people in a way that sheds light and hope on tragedy and suffering. Outcast has an incredible cast of characters and intense depictions of what it’s like to be othered. It charmed me, gutted me, and made me feel so so seen. And I am not a barren queer cowboy from Texas in the late 1800s. Every page of this book made me fall in love! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual violence, Misogyny, Miscarriage, and Homophobia

Moderate: Gun violence, Mental illness, Death, and Transphobia