Reviews tagging 'Misogyny'

Vagabonds! by Eloghosa Osunde

9 reviews

nojerama's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful informative inspiring mysterious reflective sad 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

4.5

OK, I absolutely LOVED this. The best way I can describe it is whimsical eldritch horror, set in a world of magical realism. It deals hugely with themes of queerness and being an outsider in your own body and home, and how those around you try to force and mould you into their shape. How you can escape that and find your people who will love you as you are. Phenomenal book. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Child death, Deadnaming, Infidelity, Terminal illness, Trafficking, Bullying, Cursing, Death of parent, Drug abuse, Homophobia, Misogyny, Violence, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, Outing, Stalking, Toxic relationship, Abandonment, Ableism, Acephobia/Arophobia, Alcoholism, Biphobia, Body shaming, Child abuse, Classism, Colonisation, Drug use, Dysphoria, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Grief, Hate crime, Lesbophobia, Medical content, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Police brutality, Rape, Religious bigotry, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual content, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Toxic friendship, and Transphobia

laurareads87's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional inspiring reflective medium-paced

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

4.5

4.5.  I am so glad that JesseOnYoutube chose this as a group read for Blackathon2024 as I may never have found this text at all otherwise.  I don’t know what I expected when I picked up Vagabonds!  It wasn’t this, but the way Osunde captures the spirit of Lagos is extraordinary; this feels like more of a collection of very slightly intertwined short stories than a novel, but the connecting thread to all of it is Lagos itself, and particularly queer experiences of Lagos. It was a little bit inconsistent, but Osunde's writing held my attention throughout and some sections I found very emotionally impactful. 
 I found Osunde’s descriptions – particularly of queer pain and joy, of exclusion, of internalized queerphobia – deeply impactful and deeply true, and found myself highlighting frequently.  I will absolutely pick up Osunde’s next book.

<i>Content warnings:</i> violence, homophobia, transphobia, misogyny, domestic abuse, forcible confinement, sexual assault, suicide, murder, death, grief

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault, Grief, Murder, Transphobia, Suicide, Homophobia, Misogyny, Domestic abuse, Death, and Violence

rjo's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful inspiring mysterious sad fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Misogyny, Sexual content, Blood, Body horror, Death, Drug use, Fire/Fire injury, Gore, Lesbophobia, Hate crime, Murder, Violence, Homophobia, Transphobia, and Torture

Moderate: Child death, Sexual violence, Sexual harassment, Sexual assault, Police brutality, Pedophilia, and Death of parent

Minor: Trafficking and Kidnapping

hailstorm3812's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful 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

5.0

I picked this up by chance at the Aesop Queer Library and I am so glad I did. As an American it took a bit to understand some of the dialogue but it is worth it. For a lot of the book it functions almost like short stories with a thematic through line for each section, but the end threads them all together beautifully in a way that made me sob. I loved it and will be looking for more from this author.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Homophobia, Transphobia, Death, and Religious bigotry

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Body horror, and Classism

Minor: Physical abuse, Hate crime, Emotional abuse, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Police brutality, and Deadnaming

maceydowns's review

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad slow-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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Misogyny, Sexual harassment, Suicidal thoughts, Alcohol, Child abuse, Classism, Death, Grief, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Dysphoria, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Infidelity, Lesbophobia, and Sexual content

chapstickdealer's review

challenging dark emotional funny hopeful inspiring mysterious reflective 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? Yes

3.5

Great book, hard to get through if you're not keen on anthologies.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Car accident, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Police brutality, Sexual assault, Death, Gaslighting, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, Murder, Suicide, and Violence

uranaishi's review

adventurous challenging emotional inspiring mysterious 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? No

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Domestic abuse, Gaslighting, Alcohol, Classism, Confinement, Cursing, Death of parent, Physical abuse, Death, Emotional abuse, Grief, Homophobia, Misogyny, Abandonment, Murder, Sexual content, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, and Violence

Minor: Blood, Bullying, Sexual harassment, Drug abuse, Police brutality, Vomit, Cancer, Colonisation, Medical content, Pregnancy, Rape, Sexual violence, Abortion, Addiction, Trafficking, Transphobia, Child abuse, Drug use, Dysphoria, and Miscarriage

jayisreading's review against another edition

challenging emotional reflective medium-paced

4.0

This was an interesting novel, and I’m still struggling to find the words describe how I felt about it. There’s more of a theme than a concrete plot to follow, which is about the so-called vagabonds of Lagos: those who are queer, poor, and so on. It’s about the everyday lives of these vagabonds and their messy and tender lives, all of which are stitched together to reveal something ugly yet beautiful but all so very real. The stories of Osunde’s characters are packed with emotion, and some characters’ stories were darker than others. However, she always approached her characters with care and grace, making a safe space for them to say what they need to say.

The pacing was a little awkward, and sometimes it was hard to keep track of what was happening, but I found Osunde’s storytelling captivating. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexism, Lesbophobia, Homophobia, Domestic abuse, Misogyny, and Death

Moderate: Murder and Violence

thewordsdevourer's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

3.0

vagabonds! is an inventive and original novel that's surprisingly dense, though quite rambling.

the book's premise is so fresh in concept w/ the world of the living and in-betweens overlaying one another. the exploration of its themes through the lagos setting is incisive and thought-provoking, and the queer characters + their stories range from macabre to sad to wholesome.

however, i personally find this book not very readable; aside from how surprisingly dense it is, sth just makes getting through it low-key a chore, making it the book i take the longest to finish this yr. the pacing could be a factor as it slogs at times, w/ the middle chunk esp rambling bc of the huge cast of interconnected characters who arent explored deeply enough. the novel's inventive concept couldve gone further into more fun - or at least unexpected - territory as well; somehow the magic and supernatural aspects of it arent fully taken advantage of, im afraid.

this is a provocative novel that treats queer stories w/ care and nuance, and adeptly explores themes that also interlink w/ its setting. im personally inspired by its craft but also think it hasnt yet reached its full potential both in terms of story and structure.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Domestic abuse, Homophobia, Lesbophobia, Misogyny, and Sexism

Moderate: Confinement, Murder, Sexual content, and Violence

Minor: Suicide, Abandonment, Cancer, and Infidelity