Scan barcode
annablanna's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Smashed through this in a couple of days. The three stories differ in style and content but each make a nuanced comment on marriage, female emotion, and mania. Inherently French and a picture of second-wave feminist writing.
Graphic: Toxic friendship, Mental illness, and Toxic relationship
Moderate: Child death, Suicide, Death, Suicidal thoughts, and Infidelity
Minor: Racial slurs, Body shaming, War, and Racism
nabila99's review against another edition
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
tense
medium-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
4.5
my first experience with de Beauvoir was reading the second sex for gender theory class at university. if only i knew she was so talented a fiction writer as well!
this book is absolutely heart-wrenching, so much so that i had to start reading another book in the middle of it, even though i was really enjoying it, because it is so heavy....i've read novels with much darker and sadder subject material, but the way de Beauvoir writes about pain, loss of identity, desperation, resentment, hope, and despair is so visceral i cried multiple times, especially in the last eponymous short story. she captures women's suffering like no other.
i only took off a half star because the writing style in the second short story, the monologue, is so difficult to follow (even though it's genius and i admire the technique and contrast in narrative voices), and some of the side characters could have been more fleshed out.
cannot wait to read more of de Beauvoir's work!
this book is absolutely heart-wrenching, so much so that i had to start reading another book in the middle of it, even though i was really enjoying it, because it is so heavy....i've read novels with much darker and sadder subject material, but the way de Beauvoir writes about pain, loss of identity, desperation, resentment, hope, and despair is so visceral i cried multiple times, especially in the last eponymous short story. she captures women's suffering like no other.
i only took off a half star because the writing style in the second short story, the monologue, is so difficult to follow (even though it's genius and i admire the technique and contrast in narrative voices), and some of the side characters could have been more fleshed out.
cannot wait to read more of de Beauvoir's work!
Graphic: Toxic relationship, Grief, Stalking, Drug abuse, Child death, Infidelity, Emotional abuse, Body shaming, Alcohol, Misogyny, Death, Mental illness, Gaslighting, and Suicidal thoughts
Moderate: Eating disorder, Suicide, Abandonment, and Toxic friendship
Minor: Blood, Abortion, Homophobia, Lesbophobia, Racism, and Sexual content
More...