Reviews tagging 'Transphobia'

Lone Women by Victor LaValle

65 reviews

sarah984's review against another edition

dark informative reflective tense medium-paced

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

5.0

I really liked this book - the history is interesting and the characters are well drawn. I didn't think the horror was that scary and a few parts were a bit silly to me but overall this is a great story about family, revenge, and the meaning of forgiveness.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Death of parent, and Deadnaming

Moderate: Confinement, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Xenophobia, Colonisation, Grief, Racism, Transphobia, Violence, Gun violence, Animal death, Blood, Body horror, Child abuse, Classism, and Fire/Fire injury

Minor: Ableism, Abandonment, Child death, Alcohol, Domestic abuse, Racial slurs, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Homophobia, Medical content, Pregnancy, Slavery, and Misogyny

rorikae's review

challenging dark emotional mysterious 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

4.75

'Lone Women' by Victor LaValle is an engaging horror novel that focuses on one woman attempting to flee her past by moving east to become a homesteader. 
Adelaide sets her childhood home and her parents corpses afire and then leaves for Montana with only a locked steamer trunk. She's determined to leave behind the life that she lived and the past that has plagued her family. But she's brought along a sliver of it in the steamer trunk and as she finally begins to settle into her new life in Montana, what lurks in the steamer trunk begins to grow restless.
LaValle is an expert at slow, character driven horror and he knocks it out of the park in 'Lone Women.' He slowly unravels Adelaide's truth and what is in her steamer trunk while also building our understanding of her character. By the time we learn what is in the trunk, we're fully invested in Adelaide and her desire to create a new life for herself. This story is very much rooted in the characters and the women who are working to create a new life for themselves by homesteading. This cast is fully fledged and easy to care for, especially when set in light of the more monstrous characters that are their foils. In the end, this story highlights how humans are the true monsters.  

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Murder, Misogyny, Violence, and Transphobia

Moderate: Kidnapping and Xenophobia

sshabein's review against another edition

adventurous dark hopeful mysterious tense fast-paced

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

5.0

Outstandingly good, and it actually gets Montana right, history and weather-wise. (Yes, authors, WE CAN TELL when you haven't done your research, and Victor LaValle definitely has.) There's a lot to say here about embracing your whole self and circumstances, who is actually monstrous in this world, and how we all define survival.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death and Violence

Moderate: Racism and Transphobia

readingbrb's review against another edition

dark emotional fast-paced

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence and Blood

Moderate: Racism and Transphobia

Minor: Deadnaming

thatnerdclaire's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark hopeful mysterious tense

• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Gun violence, Violence, and Transphobia

awebofstories's review against another edition

adventurous dark tense medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death of parent, Racism, Child death, Murder, and Transphobia

minervacerridwen's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense 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

3.5

"Lone Women" is a masterful take on the old theme of "Who is the real monster here?". I loved the writing style, which kept me rushing through the pages far past my bedtime. Those short chapters are dangerously tempting!
While the first half left me a little underwhelmed and thinking it would all play out rather predictably, it turned out to be the setup for some brilliant storytelling and interesting twists.

I loved the ending, and not only because Elizabeth was actually named a dragon after all the hints!

I even learned some history.

I was happy that the book club suggested this book because I must admit this would never have been on my radar otherwise, as a western horror story isn't something I would naturally gravitate towards. I'm afraid that is also the reason why I personally can't give this a higher rating: it was a lot to stomach sometimes, and not a book I think I'll easily reread myself. In some parts, it became too real for me to work as a relaxing read. I definitely think the book club discussion will be interesting, as the reader is left with a lot of food for thought.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Transphobia, Violence, Ableism, Confinement, Racism, Fire/Fire injury, Gore, Body horror, Death, Murder, Racial slurs, and Physical abuse

Moderate: Alcohol, Animal death, Child abuse, Deadnaming, Gun violence, Hate crime, Sexism, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Drug use, and Homophobia

alienor's review against another edition

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Murder, and Blood

Moderate: Transphobia and Racism

directorpurry's review against another edition

adventurous emotional hopeful medium-paced

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

3.5

In the 19th and early 20th century, the Western United States was vast land, nearly uninhabited by people.(excluding, of course, the Indigenous communities whose ancestors had lived on the land for millennia, or the Indigenous people who had been driven there by the initial influx of white colonizers on the East coast. But I digress.) In order to bolster the population, homesteading and claim staking were available to many - if you were willing to work the land, for a small fee a parcel could be purchased and it would be yours, free and clear, after a certain amount of time. 
This is the landscape in which Lone Women takes place. Adelaide Henry's parents are dead. After burning her house in the very opening pages - leaving readers, or at least myself, with some VERY intense questions - she packs up a single steamer trunk and heads to promised land in Montana. 

This is a story populated by women. Lone women, specifically, unencumbered by husbands or brothers, out to find a place for themselves in the inhospitable Montana prairies. LaValle very deftly writes a series of diverse, intriguing women, almost all of them sympathetic, despite the burdens they bear of past misdeeds. This is genuinely one of my favorite examples of a man writing so many female characters. 

One element that drew me out of the story was the casual use of more modern phrases in the narrative writing. Not being in first-person, his use of "fucked up/fucking up" or "slapped the shit out of" didn't seem the most period accurate. While I know swearing is absolutely period accurate, I'm not sure I'm convinced by the way the phrases were presented. I could be very wrong, of course, but at the time they definitely weren't keeping me engaged in the story. 

Rep includes: Black female MC, a Black and Chinese lesbian couple, and a transgender boy 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Death, Gore, Confinement, Gun violence, Death of parent, Racism, and Violence

Moderate: Transphobia and Child death

apworden's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional hopeful informative 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Transphobia, Violence, Blood, and Racism

Moderate: Slavery, Outing, Hate crime, Gun violence, Murder, Miscarriage, Child death, Grief, Fire/Fire injury, Confinement, Body horror, Deadnaming, Gore, and Animal death