Reviews tagging 'Sexual violence'

Flicka, kvinna, annan by Bernardine Evaristo

111 reviews

chr_luisa's review against another edition

challenging emotional funny hopeful inspiring 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

Moderate: Child death, Sexual violence, Violence, Sexism, Misogyny, Rape, Death of parent, Racism, Toxic relationship, and Suicidal thoughts

Minor: Drug use

ninascozydayreads's review against another edition

challenging inspiring reflective relaxing slow-paced

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

4.5

 I bought this book years ago and cannot tell you how many posts I made where I said “I’m definitely going to read it this month!” (too many, that’s the answer). And February was the month! I buddyread it with @taketowlu (<3) and genuinely, I really enjoyed it. When I first heard that it had no punctuation I got a little scared, but it works. Girl, Woman, Other is a beautiful mix between prose and poetry, highlighting what Audre Lorde once said: “poetry is not a luxury, it’s a necessity”. It is through poetry that she manages to bring out the urgency of seeing the connection between humans, and the flaws of humans. It is through this poetry that Evaristo manages to tell the stories of all kinds of people and women: citylivers and countrydwellers, non-binary teens and (frankly) bigoted teachers. It is through this poetry that all these stories are intricately interwoven. 

This book was a powerful piece of storytelling, of testimony, combining past, present and future. It shows that none of us exist in a vacuum, no story exists alone, there is always more of it, and honestly, I loved that. 

It wasn’t the mindblowing book I had expected it to be, if I’m honest. To be fair, I had high expectations because I’d put it off for so long, but I wasn’t wowed at every turn of the page. It also wasn’t disappointing, not at all, but rather than mindblowing I was stunned. I was stunned by the writing and mode of storytelling. There was a calmth while I read it, allowing for the words to sink in. 

There were some hard moments to read; some perspectives are from women who simply aren’t progressive. Those are the only few chapters (luckily there’s not a lot) that I’m not sure how to feel about. I know Evaristo meant to simply tell stories of people, meaning all stories of all kinds of people, and I appreciate that, but they still felt a little off. They didn’t take away from my enjoyment of this book though. 

In short, I really did love this book, as a book that I’m gonna carry with me forever. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Homophobia, Death of parent, Sexual violence, Death, Miscarriage, and Sexual assault

Moderate: Addiction

amberwinsor's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful inspiring reflective fast-paced

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

5.0

Listened to this as an audiobook and the reader Anna-Maria Nabirye was amazing. Couldn’t stop listening and finished it in 2 days.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, and Racism

Moderate: Child death

Minor: Suicidal thoughts, Addiction, and Police brutality

orangegirl22's review against another edition

challenging emotional hopeful inspiring sad slow-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

4.0

such an interesting & complicated read, each chapter felt like it could be its own novel. truly unique and wonderful. taught me a lot. the writing style was a bit complicated i’ll say, and some characters were really hard to stand, though i guess that was sort of the point. amazing read overall - just not quite perfect. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Domestic abuse, Rape, Sexism, Emotional abuse, Lesbophobia, Miscarriage, and Sexual violence

mopare's review against another edition

emotional reflective 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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual violence and Xenophobia

Moderate: Homophobia

grandpabuxton's review against another edition

challenging emotional hopeful inspiring reflective fast-paced

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

4.75

beautiful, poetic, wrenching, relatable, unexpected, prescient. one of my favorite reads in a long while. an incredible breadth of a story, and I felt inside the heads and hearts of each of the characters.

My only disappointment was I felt the epilogue was a little predictable and I wanted more from it, but not sure what. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Addiction, Suicide attempt, Sexual content, Gaslighting, Child abuse, Abandonment, Sexism, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual harassment, Outing, Miscarriage, Mental illness, Pregnancy, Sexual assault, Rape, Misogyny, Grief, Death, Deadnaming, Cultural appropriation, Colonisation, Classism, Transphobia, Sexual violence, Racism, Islamophobia, Incest, Homophobia, Forced institutionalization, Emotional abuse, Drug use, Toxic relationship, Child death, and Infertility

errie's review against another edition

emotional reflective 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? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Racism, and Emotional abuse

Moderate: Drug use, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Slavery, Xenophobia, Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Homophobia, Mental illness, Misogyny, Classism, and Colonisation

moviemagus's review against another edition

reflective fast-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Hate crime, Physical abuse, Sexual violence, Sexual assault, Colonisation, and Lesbophobia

Moderate: Drug use, Misogyny, Child abuse, Classism, Death of parent, Racial slurs, Racism, Alcohol, Drug abuse, and Abandonment

Minor: Slavery

hannahbailey's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad tense 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

I loved this! What a cracking book, I can't believe I didn't read this sooner.

Generally I prefer not to read character-vignette novels written in third-person. But this novel just goes to show that when done well, I can really enjoy them! I loved the distinct voice of each character and how they would be name-dropped in one chapter only to be the main character of the next one. It built such an interesting and creative narrative without leaving me feeling I didn't know enough about them–which is usually the case for me with character-vignettes.

Surprised to see some reviews stating the character dialogue and mix of poetry/prose was hard to believe and unrealistic. I completely disagree! The inner dialogue of the female characters was relatable and familiar. I enjoyed the exploration of womanhood and motherhood and how this intersects with race in Britain. It was an interesting and sobering read.

It was almost 5 stars, but there was a part where the character overcomes drug addiction by sheer willpower–they literally stay at home for a week without any form of support and somehow recovers? This didn't feel realistic to me especially given the vulnerability and young age of the character. That said, this was one of the chapters that really stood out to me in its exploration of body/gender dysphoria and trans joy.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Alcoholism, Bullying, Cancer, Child death, Incest, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Child abuse, Classism, Colonisation, Misogyny, Pregnancy, Rape, Sexism, Domestic abuse, Lesbophobia, Racism, Alcohol, Abortion, Addiction, Cursing, Deadnaming, Drug use, Blood, Body shaming, Death, Death of parent, Dysphoria, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Gaslighting, Grief, Homophobia, Infidelity, Miscarriage, Sexual content, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Violence, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Sexual assault, Slavery, Transphobia, and Xenophobia

sylvia_reads's review against another edition

challenging emotional reflective fast-paced

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

4.5

To be honest, I was not expecting to like this book as much as I did. I read it as part of a university-wide project where we could get the book cheap through the university and go to activities around it, but I don’t think I would have otherwise picked it up. 
But I am glad I did! Because this was a very good book. I loved how every story was interconnected and it really made me think about gender/race issues I’d never even considered before. 
The only small gripe I have about this book is that I feel like the younger characters are not always taken as seriously by the narrative as the older characters, but that might just be because I personally identify more with them and hence feel these things more strongly. 
Overall, I’m very glad I own this book now because I will definitely want to reread it some day.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Toxic relationship, Domestic abuse, Racism, Sexual violence, and Transphobia

Moderate: Slavery, Misogyny, Pregnancy, Suicidal thoughts, Child death, Miscarriage, Sexism, and Xenophobia