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windwithinthepages's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
sad
tense
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
4.0
_changingtime's review against another edition
5.0
Meena Kandasamy's unflinching and raw look at an educated woman being the victim of domestic violence is a sight to be beheld. Emotional, hard-hitting and even a little funny at times, I can't imagine that I am the only one who believes that this should have won the Women's Prize for Fiction. Either way, it is a book that I won't be forgetting anytime soon and one that I cannot help but press into the hands of everyone that I meet.
sugarpopreads's review against another edition
challenging
dark
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Rape, Domestic abuse, and Sexual violence
shuvraaa's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
sad
tense
medium-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
3.75
twitchywitchy314's review against another edition
dark
emotional
sad
tense
fast-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? No
5.0
a heart-wrenching expression of the fear & pain of feeling stuck and alone in an abusive relationship
Content Warnings
Graphic: Misogyny, Physical abuse, Domestic abuse, Sexual violence, Sexual assault, and Rape
Moderate: Gaslighting
snowyeti's review against another edition
challenging
dark
fast-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
4.0
sigridjacobs's review against another edition
5.0
I honestly don't know what to say. Please read this book.
sam_bizar_wilcox's review against another edition
5.0
This book is harrowing and horrifying. This is a book that I wanted to end almost immediately after I started. This is a book that I cannot recommend to every reader for the sake of its content.
And this book is amazing. Meena Kandasamy is one of the most brilliant writers of her era, and this book stands out as a masterpiece of socially conscious, critically informed fiction writing. She is a rebel, and her weapons are sharp observations. While I wanted the book (detailing a woman's suffering in an abusive marriage) to end, my ebook is now riddled with bookmarks to highlight passages where Kandasamy writes - in plain language - observations that resonate beyond the confines of the book (I'll have to go through and record them before I return the book to the library). Citing feminist scholars throughout the novel, When I Hit You often reads as if a work of French feminist theory. Yet it is always grounded in the narration of the protagonist; the work of theory never upends the work of fiction.
Kandasamy has written a Kunstlerroman imbued with ferocious creative energy. It is at once a post-colonial treatise, a feminist manifesto, and, most importantly, an intimate character study. A book to be endured, but a book to defiantly return to.
And this book is amazing. Meena Kandasamy is one of the most brilliant writers of her era, and this book stands out as a masterpiece of socially conscious, critically informed fiction writing. She is a rebel, and her weapons are sharp observations. While I wanted the book (detailing a woman's suffering in an abusive marriage) to end, my ebook is now riddled with bookmarks to highlight passages where Kandasamy writes - in plain language - observations that resonate beyond the confines of the book (I'll have to go through and record them before I return the book to the library). Citing feminist scholars throughout the novel, When I Hit You often reads as if a work of French feminist theory. Yet it is always grounded in the narration of the protagonist; the work of theory never upends the work of fiction.
Kandasamy has written a Kunstlerroman imbued with ferocious creative energy. It is at once a post-colonial treatise, a feminist manifesto, and, most importantly, an intimate character study. A book to be endured, but a book to defiantly return to.