Reviews

The Men by Sandra Newman

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justbeth's review against another edition

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dark mysterious tense fast-paced

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

3.75

arowan's review against another edition

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fast-paced

5.0

theellamo's review against another edition

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dark mysterious reflective medium-paced

Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? Yes

3.75

Newman’s storytelling simultaneously soothes and spooks me. Her exploration of relationships, love, society, disaster mitigation, and how we change one another are as equally haunting as they are humbling.

Content Warnings

mileva_lit's review against another edition

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dark emotional mysterious slow-paced

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

1.5

noukka's review against another edition

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I grabbed it because the concept sounded cool, but the tone of the book made it hard to read for me. And then when I read the reviews to see if I should keep reading, they brought up excellent criticisms that ultimately put me off.

katyab's review against another edition

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1.0

I can't believe I was even interested in picking this up, when the premise (sudden disappearance of all people with Y-chromosomes from the world) should have made me more cautious than I was. It took me two days of rage-reading to understand what a mess this book was, and just horrible to read most of the time.

I had no idea what this book was trying to do, or what I was supposed to feel at the end of the book. The resolution was not even bitter-sweet, nor was it actually a "resolution"; it was just awful and tragic. And trigger warnings abound in this book, many of which I believe arise from the author's inability to dissect their own ideas and notice extremely problematic implications (of which there are plenty). Violence, sexual violence, rape, childhood sexual assault, transphobia and transphobic violence, racism... Honestly, I can't (and don't want to) go into detail about all of these, but if you do want to know the extent of them, please read Ana Mardoll's insightful and in-depth review here. It really helped clarify my thoughts on this book, and highlighted a lot of the awfulness that I missed.

So with the above horribleness, coupled with flat characters, a meandering plot, and passive pacing, this was not enjoyable in the slightest. I only had the grim satisfaction of powering through it with the mindset of a JCB. I wish I'd spent two days in bed reading something else.