Reviews tagging 'Sexism'

Severance by Ling Ma

9 reviews

darthbiblia's review against another edition

dark funny tense 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

5.0

Whoa. This book came out years before COVID, but the descriptions of the early stages were so uncanny. The dry humor and office politics, concerns about foreign labor and gender issues. I loved the story of her immigrant parents assimilating in the United States, then bringing her as a small child. This was a beautiful story, and I was sad that it ended. I look forward to more from this author. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Body horror, Violence, Death, Sexism, Vomit, Confinement, Death of parent, Gore, Pregnancy, Grief, Misogyny, Pandemic/Epidemic, and Terminal illness

erikwmj's review against another edition

dark funny reflective sad 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

4.5

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: Pregnancy, Confinement, Xenophobia, Suicide, and Murder

Minor: Sexism and Racism

dedusmuln's review against another edition

adventurous mysterious tense fast-paced

5.0

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: Pregnancy, Misogyny, Death, Blood, Sexism, and Confinement

Minor: Racism and Xenophobia

kaiyakaiyo's review against another edition

dark emotional slow-paced

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

2.0

i was gonna be generous and do 3 stars because the cultural parts of this book were compelling, but frankly this book was a snooze fest with a whimper of an ending 

warm bodies starring nicolas fucking hoult managed to make me feel more about an apocalypse and the ~literary~ elements of this book are so overwrought it borders on self-sucking. the most poignant moments in this story are overshadowed by clunky cult shenanigans, a terrible flashback and flash-flashback structure, and an incredibly silly detour into strange & unnecessary sex. not to sound like the internet purity police but the phrase “Schwarzenegger dick” should be banned on every continent. jail for 1000 years

when are synopses going to stop using “satirical” and “deadpan” when they just mean that the author is too dry to write an actual apocalyptic novel so they wrote some handwavy overly meta shadow of one & called it literary fiction. boooooooo tomatoes tomatoes

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Pandemic/Epidemic

Moderate: Blood, Sexism, Misogyny, Murder, Gore, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Suicide, Suicidal thoughts, and Religious bigotry

cheye13's review

dark emotional tense 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

4.0

This was a very interesting premise that I really wanted to love.

And I did love Candance and her voice, and how real and rounded she felt as a character. I appreciated the nuances and commentaries on her job and her life "before" and the plot of "after" and how the two intercepted.

I think the dual timeline hurt the narrative a little, but I also think it's the only way the story could be told. I was extremely bored by the "before" timeline, which I assume was kind of the point, but it read so much like general millennial ennui fiction that I just hate. I didn't hate it here, and maybe that was because it was intermittent or just because of how complex Candance's character felt. Meanwhile, the "after" timeline felt incongruous to the book's intent, and also like the only plot we're given.

I think I personally would have preferred a book that was just the "after" timeline with some flashbacks, but I did really appreciate where the timelines aligned at the end of the book and the point that was made.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Death, Violence, Body horror, and Gun violence

Moderate: Drug abuse, Pregnancy, Sexism, Sexual content, and Suicidal thoughts

Minor: Abortion, Alcohol, and Religious bigotry

There is an off-page implied drug overdose.

aandromeda's review against another edition

dark mysterious reflective slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• 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

Thank you Ling Ma for reminding me that I love to read.

---

Content Warnings

Minor: Blood, Confinement, Death, Death of parent, Drug use, Gaslighting, Misogyny, Murder, Pregnancy, Religious bigotry, and Sexism

moiracampbell23's review against another edition

adventurous dark funny mysterious reflective tense 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? Yes

4.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Confinement, Death, and Grief

Moderate: Gore and Misogyny

Minor: Drug use, Sexism, and Violence

bencaroline's review against another edition

dark reflective tense slow-paced

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

3.75

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Death, Terminal illness, and Grief

Moderate: Xenophobia, Sexism, Medical trauma, Gun violence, Physical abuse, Panic attacks/disorders, and Mental illness

Minor: Death of parent, Racism, and Religious bigotry

Pandemic

sarah984's review against another edition

reflective sad slow-paced

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

3.0

Parts of this book really sucked me in - the pandemic itself, the way people reacted to it in different ways, the way that the protagonist had felt disaffected with her work because of how it exploits others for basically meaningless commodities.

However, I found the characters boring and unappealing (and those sex scenes - yuck) and the cult stuff wasn't that interesting.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Death, Dementia, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Racism, Sexism, Suicide, Terminal illness, and Vomit