Reviews tagging 'Misogyny'

The Chosen and the Beautiful by Nghi Vo

16 reviews

tinyjude's review against another edition

challenging mysterious reflective medium-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? Yes

3.75

I really wanted to love this. Unfortunately I feel it fell short to my expectations, perhaps because I was acquainted with the author's other works and I didn't realise this was the first one published. I felt like Nghi Vo wanted to dwell on several topics but barely grazed over them in the end, much in the Great Gatsby itself. The writing style and characterization is very similar so props to Vo for that, because still they felt like Original Characters. The good thing mainly is that we follow Jordan's pov, whereas in the original she was a secondary character, and this book takes the queer subtext and just screams at you QUEER QUEER QUEER in almost every page subtlety and loudly, simultaneously.

Despite that, Jordan's heritage and how the political landscape of the time will affect her are barely addressed by. Her paper cutting magic and the magic realism aspects could have been used more prominently and the queerness of, especially Nick and Jordan, could have been explored in more detail. It felt as if still we only got them as a couple who were each fascinated by Daisy and Jay, rather than madly in love with them. I get it was supposed to feel confusing but I think it didn't translate that well into the text.

The interpretation about the souls was interesting, thou.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Infidelity, Racism, Alcohol, Misogyny, Xenophobia, Car accident, Racial slurs, Classism, Death, and Deportation

Moderate: Toxic relationship, Toxic friendship, and Sexual content

Minor: Trafficking, War, Violence, and Physical abuse

talonsontypewriters's review against another edition

mysterious reflective medium-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

2.0

Vo's prose is as lovely as ever, and the magical realism elements are interesting, but the added magic and focus on Jordan are really the only major divergences from Gatsby -- overall, the story felt heavily reliant on the reader already being familiar with Gatsby (which I say as someone who is Very Normal about Gatsby), and I don't know that it really offers any more nuanced or thorough a glance at most of the characters, including Jordan. Could have definitely been a lot more fleshed out and more of a genuine retelling than effectively a companion novel, just feels a bit disjointed and shallow.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Toxic relationship and Toxic friendship

Moderate: Racism, Xenophobia, Misogyny, Sexism, Abortion, Sexual content, Alcohol, Car accident, Colonisation, Injury/Injury detail, Gore, Classism, Death, Murder, Infidelity, and Domestic abuse

Minor: Suicide, Antisemitism, Fire/Fire injury, War, Gun violence, Kidnapping, and Homophobia

honeybeewitched87's review against another edition

emotional reflective sad tense medium-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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content and Car accident

Moderate: Alcohol, Cursing, Abortion, Blood, Death, Gaslighting, Infidelity, Misogyny, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, Xenophobia, Murder, and Racism

itsheyfay's review against another edition

emotional mysterious reflective medium-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Alcohol, Classism, Racism, Homophobia, Xenophobia, Biphobia, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Abortion, Sexual content, Vomit, Car accident, Injury/Injury detail, Misogyny, Cursing, Infidelity, and Pregnancy

Minor: War, Abandonment, Blood, Death of parent, Murder, and Suicidal thoughts

larbster90's review against another edition

emotional reflective medium-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death, Sexual content, Misogyny, Car accident, Racism, and Xenophobia

Minor: Deportation, Drug use, and Classism

scifi_rat's review against another edition

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Infidelity and Alcohol

Minor: Abortion, Classism, Misogyny, Pregnancy, Sexism, Drug use, Homophobia, War, Racial slurs, Racism, Religious bigotry, Sexual content, and Violence

madamenovelist's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional tense 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? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Misogyny, Sexism, Religious bigotry, Pregnancy, Medical trauma, Gun violence, Gore, Death, Death of parent, Classism, Car accident, Blood, Alcohol, Abortion, Violence, Cursing, Alcoholism, Xenophobia, Trafficking, Homophobia, Grief, and Drug use

atamano's review against another edition

dark medium-paced

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Classism, Car accident, Emotional abuse, Misogyny, Homophobia, Death, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Sexual content

zoiejanelle's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense slow-paced

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

3.5

you actually need to love Gatsby to enjoy this book. as someone who was fascinated and inspired by The Great Gatsby, i really liked how closely this book resembled the original text in terms of pacing, plot, and themes. the dissimilation and destruction of Jordan’s “American Dream” is an interesting parallel to Gatsby’s, and i really loved how the author added a new layer of complexity and authenticity through her perspective as well as her backstory and heritage. Jordan was, like all the characters, a bad person. her struggle to reconcile her tumultuous upbringing, the standards and values of the world around her, and the question to defining and understanding her own identity (as a Vietnamese person and a queer woman) were interesting and unlike anything i’ve read before. i loved seeing the world — Daisy’s flightiness, Nick’s perceptiveness, Tom’s abuse, Gatsby’s ambition — through her eyes and i especially loved that she and Daisy in particular had more agency in their own stories.

as many others have stated in their reviews, i didn’t fully enjoy the magical elements. i think this was due to a lack of proper world-building at the outset. after immersing myself in one version of Gatsby so many times, i wasn’t keen on blindly accepting the, at some points, poorly explained magic systems. however, the magic was sooooo cool and i wish these systems and histories would have been fleshed out so i could have bought into them with more enthusiasm.

the writing style, the pacing, the hopeful (yearning) conclusion were all extremely reminiscent of Fitzgerald’s original work, and Vo’s unique perspective on immigration, Vietnamese culture and community, and womanhood make this work really stand out. a very interesting book that certainly won’t be for everyone but definitely holds its own in comparison to other Gatsby retellings. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Alcohol, and Death

Moderate: Car accident, Classism, Drug use, Infidelity, Xenophobia, Homophobia, Misogyny, Racism, Toxic friendship, Murder, Sexism, and Suicidal thoughts

voxelbee's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious reflective medium-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Murder, Injury/Injury detail, Abortion, Alcohol, Car accident, Toxic relationship, and Violence

Minor: Misogyny, Violence, Sexism, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Physical abuse, Murder, Homophobia, Racism, Grief, Death, Gun violence, Classism, Biphobia, War, Xenophobia, and Suicide