Reviews with content warning for Rape - Donne che parlano

An interesting take and fictionalization on true events. I’m not sure what I was expecting exactly, given all the hype the movie has gotten, but I flew through this in a weekend. The writing was excellent, although I never felt particularly moved or emotional while reading. This was a slow paced, not plot heavy book without use of quotations. All of those things worked together well for me and lent well to the themes, but I can understand why those factors would turn some readers off.

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lucyhcurtis's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional hopeful reflective sad medium-paced

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

4.75

Phenomenal.

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sydapel's review against another edition

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challenging dark reflective slow-paced

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

3.5

For me, this is an issue of form rather than subject matter. Perhaps because I was reading this knowing it would become a movie, but I struggled heavily with how limited this feels textually, particularly as it's through a male perspective. Which I know is part of the point, and I would have fun arguing about that in an English classroom.

If you're looking for an really profound philosophical debate about faith, forgiveness, guilt, anger and difficult choices that women living in deeply patriarchal societies face, this excels. It's hard to digest, especially knowing it's based on reality, so please do check trigger warnings.

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linguaphile412's review against another edition

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dark emotional hopeful reflective sad 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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lauowens's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional hopeful reflective sad tense fast-paced

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

3.0

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ismerene's review against another edition

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dark sad slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? No

2.0

My review will echo others. In short, this is an deadened, back-and-forth circular discussion on the topic of whether to leave or stay in light of horrific abuse, all viewed through a religious Mennonite lens. The story throws some jabs, and the ending did pull some heartstrings, but ultimately I'm left confused and annoyed.

I think the biggest misstep in this novel that cascaded into other issues is the method of which the story is told. No speech is direct. Everything, save for our narrator, is spoken in passive statements, and it serves to deaden a lot of emotion about the situation at hand, as well as removing a large bit of personality from each character. There were a few moments of creepy, chill-up-your-spine implications and sudden, graphic depictions - all of which had heavier impact due to the otherwise banal narration - but overall it only served to turn much of the story into a slog.

The narrator's gender didn't bother me as much as his long-winded inserts did. Separate from him explaining certain cultural nuances, the insert of his background or his encounters outside the meeting felt frustrating. What really chapped my hide however were the comments and odes about one character he pines for. In the context of what this novel is centered on, it comes across as almost... creepy. It's all soft and emotional, but like, she's pregnant because she was raped. I'm not sure if this is to grow the narrator's character, or to illustrate a statement on men overall, but either way it was, also, annoying.

Based on other reviews, it seems as if the choices made here were stylistic, in which case I can confidently say the style is not for me. I think if this had been handled a bit differently, and maybe some choices - in narrator, particularly - were changed, this would be rated much higher. As it stands however, I didn't much care for it.

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ptolemystoned's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional hopeful reflective sad slow-paced

3.75

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danidimuzio's review against another edition

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funny inspiring reflective 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

4.25

After seeing the reviews I was a bit nervous to read this book, but I’m glad I did anyway. The writing is very stylized, conversational and wandering, and every once in a while, shocking. I thought the way the author imagined the decision-making process of the women was beautiful and showed a spectrum of female strength. It’s definitely an interesting choice to tell this story from the perspective of a man but I think it highlighted that toxic masculinity is taught and learned, not something that is inherent in men. This is a great book for book clubs and I would even go so far as to say it could be assigned reading for feminist literature or sociology courses.

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