Reviews tagging 'Death'

Frankissstein by Jeanette Winterson

21 reviews

andreamatallin's review against another edition

medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Transphobia, Sexual harassment, Death, Sexual assault, Sexism, Mental illness, and Medical content

deezy's review

adventurous challenging dark funny mysterious reflective sad medium-paced

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

2.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Transphobia, Death, Deadnaming, Sexism, Rape, and Misogyny

circesophelia's review against another edition

reflective medium-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

3.5

oh wow. update to come.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault and Sexual content

Moderate: Death

Minor: Gore

githgorlfriend's review

i am conflicted! beautiful writing and very mind-twisting, but it does get confusing and either i was bad at figuring it out or it could have been more satisfying at the end. also i don't need to make a conclusive statement about whether this book does things well or not because i don't know how to measure that but i think certain things people have qualms with in the book are supposed to be there (ex. victor's weird attitude towards trans people, ron's misogyny - they serve a purpose and are clearly not author-endorsed) but some other things may be insensitive. IF YOU ARE TO ANY DEGREE UPSET BY DEPICTIONS OF SEXUAL ASSAULT SKIP PAGES 241-243 it made me sick to read. sorry for long and nonsensical review

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual violence, Sexual assault, Transphobia, Sexual content, and Deadnaming

Minor: Child death and Death

therainbowshelf's review against another edition

dark slow-paced

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

3.0

💭 My thoughts 💭: This wasn't the right book for me, but it is a good book. I didn't enjoy the ongoing existential conversations about what life was, and whether life was still life if you were in a new body. I also didn't appreciate the sex robot guy (but I think that's what the author was going for). I really liked the dual timeline looking back at Marry Shelley as she conceptualizes Frankenstein, though! 

📚 The gist 📚: Along a dual-timeline, Mary Shelley dreams up a monster novel in the 1810s, and a man two hundred years later ponders over what constitutes life and death.  

📒Representation📒: Ftm mc, mlm mc, cherecter with a more flexible sexuality

💕 For readers looking for 💕: the existential questions of what constitutes life dredged up by Frankenstein, books about books (kind of), and characters becoming real

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death, Cursing, Medical content, Misogyny, Rape, Sexual content, Sexism, Toxic relationship, and Transphobia

radfordmanor's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Alcoholism, Body horror, Death, Grief, Medical trauma, Sexism, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, and Transphobia

Moderate: Child death, Death of parent, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Lesbophobia, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual violence, Sexual harassment, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, and Violence

mryshells's review

challenging dark reflective medium-paced

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

1.0

Huge TW for transphobia towards characters in the book but also in the clearly problematic views the author must hold that come through in the writing.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Deadnaming, Grief, Hate crime, Homophobia, Medical content, Medical trauma, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Transphobia, and Violence

Moderate: Ableism, Alcohol, Antisemitism, Body horror, Child death, Cursing, Death, Gore, Infidelity, Lesbophobia, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Outing, Pregnancy, Religious bigotry, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Sexism

angel_kiiss's review

adventurous challenging dark informative mysterious reflective tense 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

2.75

I’ve never read any other book by Winterson, but - based off this book - I’d say she’s more a philosopher or robotic sociologist than she is a storyteller. 

There’s a stark difference between the stories she’s comfortable telling and the story she obviously is leaving her comfort zone to explore. Ry Shelley is an incredibly complex character who Winterson is ill-equipped to handle and does horrifically wrong at almost any given opportunity (that’s where the major content warnings come in). 

The gender exploration of a person who lives outside the binary while simultaneously finding comfort in an identity on the binary is compelling and relevant and real, but Winterson obviously hasn’t met anyone who actually lives like this otherwise she’d be aware of what not to do when writing a trans character. 

It’s disappointing, because the story is actually beautifully written but is horrifically marred by the events that surround the trans character. Winterson’s stances on many political debates are also written in the most clunky way imaginable: “You must be one of those #MeToo women.” As if it were necessary to not only show the reader but tell us every characters politics. 

I may also claim that the prose are very nice, but it needs to be acknowledged that the entire book looks like a first draft. Dialogue is not in quotations and characters with accents have their accents written out only for the reader to stumble over the words. You get used to it more as you read but it’s weirdly not used as a narrative device since it’s used throughout in both past and present storylines. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Deadnaming, Hate crime, Outing, Rape, Sexual assault, and Transphobia

Moderate: Death, Medical content, and Miscarriage

thoroughlyenjoyedbooks's review

challenging reflective medium-paced

• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body shaming, Child death, Deadnaming, Death, Fatphobia, Grief, Hate crime, Homophobia, Miscarriage, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, and Transphobia

samwardhaugh's review

dark reflective fast-paced

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

2.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault and Deadnaming

Moderate: Death