Reviews tagging 'Misogyny'

Young Mungo by Douglas Stuart

46 reviews

johannamrr's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad slow-paced

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

3.0

first of all, this book needs a fucking content warning jesus christ
anywayyy, the pacing was a bit off for the first 150 pages in my opinion bc nothing happened and it was getting slightly boring imo 
the writing is great though it‘s just the plot (and how graphic it is) that I struggled with
also, this book is advertised in such a weird way?? like people need to start making it clear when a book is as violent as this one is because they really didn‘t and I don‘t like when stuff like this is being jumped on me (my bad for not looking up the content warnings first, i guess)

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Animal cruelty, Homophobia, Infidelity, Rape, Sexual violence, Alcohol, Drug abuse, Pedophilia, Pregnancy, Violence, Abandonment, Murder, Addiction, Animal death, Blood, Child abuse, Death, Hate crime, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Alcoholism, Cursing, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Misogyny, Abortion, and Physical abuse

em_h_ma's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense 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? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Death, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Homophobia, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Alcoholism, Animal death, Animal cruelty, Blood, Adult/minor relationship, Domestic abuse, Gore, Murder, Pedophilia, Rape, Addiction, Alcohol, Bullying, Cursing, Drug abuse, Pregnancy, Sexual assault, and Sexual content

isaiahh's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional tense medium-paced

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

5.0

holy fucking shit. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Violence, Sexual assault, Rape, and Physical abuse

Moderate: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Blood, Child abuse, Religious bigotry, and Murder

Minor: Pedophilia, Pregnancy, Misogyny, Homophobia, Animal cruelty, Animal death, and Death

samstar's review against another edition

dark emotional sad tense fast-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Death, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Homophobia, Rape, Addiction, Cursing, Emotional abuse, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, Drug use, Gaslighting, Miscarriage, Sexism, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Alcohol, Classism, Blood, Child abuse, Misogyny, Sexual content, Drug abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Violence, Murder, Sexual assault, and Sexual violence

signeskov's review against another edition

dark emotional sad 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

5.0

This novel quite literally left me breathless and in a pool of fresh tears. More than that, it provoked physical reactions in me so intense that I would swing from heartfelt smiling and happiness in one moment to nausea and horror in the next – and honestly, I probably felt most of the latter. So, with all due respect, check the content warnings before reading. I went into reading this book with no context and without having even read the blurp, and while that was part of a surprisingly good reading experience for me, preperation for what was ahead might have been necessary for others.

Douglas Stuart's writing is something special. Some of its lyricism brought me to read certain paragraphs or sentences over and over because it simply put human reflection so perfectly and elegantly to paper. His writing, and in particular his dialogue, is also skillful in encapsulating a certain group of characters in time and space, and, if you are an outsider to that group, you slowly learn to have a peek in through the blinds, and what you find at a closer look is beautiful and simolteanously traumatizing.

In many ways, the themes in this book touched places so deep in my heart that I cannot remember when I last had such an experience – perhaps A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara. The struggle of growing up in a family stretched thin across generations; the power of sacrifice; love in all of its ugly and beautiful forms; soulcrushing self-destruction; horrendous, Nietzschean violence; and not at least, masculinity.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Homophobia, Rape, Sexism, Toxic relationship, Violence, Misogyny, and Sexual violence

Moderate: Abortion

hypocrisis's review against another edition

dark reflective sad slow-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

4.0

felt like i was being wrung out like a wet towel, truly gut wrenching passages in there which is why i had to shelve it for a couple of months before reading the second half. there are beautiful moments of hope but you never get to savour them as the inevitable next chapter looms over peaceful scenes like a dark cloud. 
what i love about stuart's work is the realistically complex full characterisation of the families in his books, once again the mother figure sticks out in this regard. definitely worth a read if you can stomach it!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Sexual harassment, Alcohol, Bullying, Death, Emotional abuse, Hate crime, Blood, Alcoholism, Physical abuse, Rape, Addiction, Classism, Drug use, Kidnapping, Murder, Pedophilia, Torture, Vomit, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Homophobia, Violence, and Drug abuse

Moderate: Abortion, Domestic abuse, Outing, Excrement, Infidelity, and Misogyny

Minor: Death of parent, Xenophobia, and Suicidal thoughts

faithtrim's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? N/A
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Sexual violence, Rape, Pregnancy, Addiction, Violence, Sexual assault, Abortion, Misogyny, Mental illness, Injury/Injury detail, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Homophobia, and Murder

lrose's review

challenging emotional hopeful tense slow-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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Rape, Violence, Child abuse, Cursing, Alcoholism, Physical abuse, Religious bigotry, Alcohol, Homophobia, Sexual violence, Sexual assault, and Pedophilia

Moderate: Abandonment, Blood, Kidnapping, Murder, Drug use, Misogyny, and Death of parent

Minor: Animal death, Abortion, and Incest

aleksanski's review against another edition

dark hopeful 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 assault, Bullying, Classism, Domestic abuse, Rape, Religious bigotry, Sexual harassment, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Blood, Cursing, Injury/Injury detail, Pedophilia, Violence, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Alcoholism, Death of parent, Gore, Misogyny, Murder, Adult/minor relationship, Police brutality, Sexual content, and Outing

Moderate: Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, and Vomit

Minor: Suicidal thoughts

skudiklier's review

dark reflective sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character

2.5

Please read the content warnings before reading this book.

It's written well, and Mungo is a likable and sympathetic character (especially his autism, which I immediately related to). But overall this book is just too sad, dark, and upsetting to me. I didn't get enough out of it for the darkness to be worth it. I might have DNF'd it if it wasn't for a book club I'm hosting; the time pressure was my only real motivation to keep reading. I didn't even necessarily want to know what would happen, because I knew it wouldn't be good.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Murder, Ableism, Child abuse, Hate crime, Homophobia, Abortion, Pedophilia, Rape, Religious bigotry, Violence, Sexual assault, Bullying, Child death, Classism, and Abandonment

Moderate: Cursing, Misogyny, Pregnancy, Sexism, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Blood, Domestic abuse, Excrement, Outing, Infidelity, and Suicide attempt

Minor: Fatphobia