Reviews tagging 'Xenophobia'

The Bandit Queens by Parini Shroff

9 reviews

barbarella85's review against another edition

dark hopeful

4.25

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Murder, Sexual assault, Misogyny, Xenophobia, Domestic abuse, and Sexual harassment

Minor: Emotional abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Drug abuse, Domestic abuse, Religious bigotry, Alcoholism, and Animal cruelty

bethancy's review

dark funny fast-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? It's complicated

5.0

Absolutely loved it, characters are brilliant and the story had me gripped! I love a revenge story. Really funny in places, but tackles some really dark issues. Check the CWs. Highly reccomended, and I would read it again myself!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Xenophobia, Sexual assault, Physical abuse, Sexual violence, Murder, Violence, Gun violence, and Domestic abuse

Moderate: Toxic relationship, Injury/Injury detail, and Alcoholism

Minor: Suicide and Rape

bellagasparro's review

emotional funny inspiring lighthearted fast-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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Sexual assault, Domestic abuse, Rape, and Xenophobia

lemonsaurus's review against another edition

adventurous dark funny medium-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexism, Murder, Alcoholism, and Domestic abuse

Moderate: Rape, Xenophobia, Toxic friendship, Suicide, Sexual violence, Sexual harassment, Physical abuse, Misogyny, Animal cruelty, Police brutality, Racial slurs, and Sexual assault

Minor: Vomit, Violence, Death, Cancer, Death of parent, Suicide, Racial slurs, Miscarriage, Torture, Emotional abuse, Cursing, Animal death, Classism, Religious bigotry, Infertility, Gun violence, Grief, Physical abuse, Fatphobia, Bullying, and Blood

heatherjchin's review

adventurous dark emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Racism, Religious bigotry, Gun violence, Abandonment, Sexism, Murder, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Xenophobia, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, and Rape

Moderate: Child death, Pedophilia, and Child abuse

Minor: Terminal illness, Animal death, Infidelity, Self harm, Alcoholism, Pregnancy, Slavery, Vomit, Animal cruelty, and Suicide

hcumbie's review

dark funny informative mysterious medium-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? It's complicated

4.0

Couldn't Put It Down! 
I loved the cast of characters in this book. You learn so much about Indian culture,  too. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Xenophobia, Rape, and Sexual assault

emoweaboo's review

dark funny hopeful mysterious medium-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? It's complicated

4.5

i love women so much
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In a clever story wrapped in dark humour, Shroff takes us along with Geeta and half a dozen women from her villages on a journey to become "self-made widows" and get rid of useless, abusive men. A surprisingly funny read, but that I had a tremendously hard time getting into it. I was losing hope around the 45% mark, but then the pace suddenly picked up, and the story went way faster and became way more interesting. Another hindrance was that the audiobook reader had an odd way of pronouncing Gujarati names and bits in Hindi - which took a lot of patience to get over. But besides that, the story is original, empowering and puts forward the importance of community. Female friendships are truly wonderful. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Addiction, Domestic abuse, Sexism, Murder, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Injury/Injury detail, Rape, and Xenophobia

Minor: Vomit, Fatphobia, Death of parent, Infertility, and Police brutality

cada's review against another edition

challenging dark tense medium-paced

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

4.5

This is the first book in a while that made me want to go back to it over and over, when not reading/listening I thought about it.

A complex story with moral grey zones and difficult decisions, it focuses on so many trials of women and the relationships they have to each other - often complex and antagonistic.

Really a unique voice and a treat to listen to. The narrator seamlessly shifted between characters and brought the book to life.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Xenophobia, Suicide, Violence, Rape, Sexual assault, and Toxic relationship

smblanc1793's review

adventurous dark emotional funny lighthearted mysterious 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? Yes

3.5

The premise—“Who’s more invisible than [middle-aged housewives]? We can get away with murder. Literally.”—is strong, and it maintains a heavy presence throughout the novel, a clear thesis statment that the story certainly substantiates (in it’s own highly quixotic way.) 

 

The overall result is enjoyable, if not slightly discordant. The dialogue is as often quippy and smart as it is distractingly kooky. The balance between serious discussions of oppression and domestic abuse sometimes fall in step with and sometimes grate clumsily against the outlandish slapstick comedy of it all. It was not perfect—it could have been funnier when it was funny; it could have been more impactful in its moments of consequence—but it was still enjoyable, full of memorable characters, surprising twists, and a taste of culture and setting that I rarely see represented on the page.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Rape, Xenophobia, Racism, Sexual assault, Domestic abuse, Sexual violence, and Sexism