Reviews tagging 'Gaslighting'

The Bandit Queens by Parini Shroff

57 reviews

saurahsaurus's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny inspiring sad medium-paced

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

4.75

Goodness, I love this book. At times grueling to read when it showcased female trauma in all its myriad forms, but always worth the journey. Beautifully told, fucking hilarious, and impossible to put down. I fucking love this book and know I’m going to revisit it over the years for its universal truths.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Emotional abuse, Murder, Addiction, Abandonment, Bullying, Classism, Alcoholism, Domestic abuse, Misogyny, Religious bigotry, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Violence, Cursing, Gaslighting, Physical abuse, and Toxic friendship

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Rape, Ableism, Infertility, Blood, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Pregnancy, and Body shaming

Minor: Excrement, Hate crime, Miscarriage, Pedophilia, Suicide, and Drug use

javafenn's review

funny hopeful mysterious reflective 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

This book was amazing! It took me a really long time to finish because I needed major surgery and took a couple months to get my life back on track but once I got on to reading it I was astounded! It was funny but also intense. The drama was palpable and you really rooted for Greta. I will read this again and again! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Domestic abuse, Sexual assault, Fatphobia, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Abandonment, Addiction, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Classism, Death, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Murder, Animal cruelty, Police brutality, Suicide, Toxic relationship, and Toxic friendship

Moderate: Blood, Body shaming, Bullying, Child death, Confinement, Cursing, Death of parent, Grief, Gun violence, Infertility, Infidelity, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, and Misogyny

blinnja's review against another edition

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Domestic abuse, Body shaming, Gaslighting, and Fatphobia

Moderate: Alcoholism, Toxic relationship, Toxic friendship, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Addiction, Animal cruelty, Violence, and Sexism

Minor: Suicide, Miscarriage, Classism, and Islamophobia

bethantg's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional tense medium-paced

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

2.75

Kept me hooked, and I enjoyed reading it. Humour could be a little cringe and sometimes just jarring, also swear there’s a recycled joke in there? The characters were fun though and the story accomplished what it set out to do.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Physical abuse, Alcohol, Animal cruelty, Toxic relationship, Violence, Domestic abuse, Gun violence, Misogyny, Addiction, Classism, Gaslighting, Alcoholism, Cursing, Death, Emotional abuse, Murder, and Religious bigotry

Moderate: Police brutality and Pedophilia

Minor: Excrement, Rape, Sexual assault, Death of parent, Sexual violence, and Fatphobia

emmagreenwood's review against another edition

dark funny informative lighthearted mysterious fast-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Classism, Domestic abuse, Gaslighting, Suicidal thoughts, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Ableism, Animal cruelty, Blood, Injury/Injury detail, Bullying, Child abuse, Grief, Hate crime, Infertility, Infidelity, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Police brutality, Racism, Rape, Sexism, Abandonment, Body horror, Body shaming, Death, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Kidnapping, Misogyny, Murder, Pedophilia, Racial slurs, Sexual assault, Torture, Toxic friendship, Violence, Islamophobia, Alcohol, Sexual violence, and Suicide

rachjy's review against another edition

emotional funny inspiring 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Bullying, Addiction, Sexual harassment, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Death, Domestic abuse, Fatphobia, Gaslighting, Violence, Abandonment, Animal cruelty, Body shaming, Classism, Gun violence, Murder, Rape, and Sexual assault

Minor: Suicide

jlaz_13's review

adventurous challenging dark funny lighthearted reflective 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? Yes

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Cursing, Death, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Violence, Addiction, Domestic abuse, Gun violence, and Misogyny

Moderate: Body shaming, Body horror, Bullying, Death of parent, Rape, Toxic relationship, Blood, Infidelity, Sexual assault, Animal cruelty, and Abandonment

Minor: Classism, Infertility, Toxic friendship, and Kidnapping

julieclair's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny informative inspiring lighthearted 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? It's complicated

5.0

I loved this book! It deals with so many dark, sad topics, but manages to do so with humor. The author injects levity at some of the oddest moments… but it works. What really comes through is the power of women’s friendships, even when the women are flawed, or oppressed, or sometimes not even very nice. This would make a great movie!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Fatphobia, Infidelity, Murder, Physical abuse, Sexism, Sexual assault, Violence, Alcoholism, Domestic abuse, Gaslighting, Misogyny, and Bullying

kassy182's review

challenging emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring tense 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

5.0

This book was amazing and hilarious and I have so many new insults to add to my repertoire. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault, Pedophilia, Sexual violence, Animal death, Animal cruelty, Alcoholism, Addiction, Violence, Bullying, and Rape

Moderate: Gore, Ableism, Islamophobia, Religious bigotry, Body shaming, Classism, Excrement, Gaslighting, Vomit, Blood, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Body horror, and Domestic abuse

scrubsandbooks's review

adventurous dark emotional funny reflective medium-paced

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

2.5

I have listed almost all the content warnings I can think of it, and yeah, that full list can be pretty damn intense, and at first I thought I was going to have to take this book in small increments because a lot of these triggers may be really hard to deal. BUT, the book is wrought with dark humor, and it was sufficiently hilarious enough that I was able to keep going while not watering down or minimizing the serious topics discussed.

The main character, Geeta, is a social pariah in her village because her abusive husband left her five years prior to the start of the novel and they all think that she murdered him. She never confirms or denies this because it means people leave her alone while at the same time, buys from her jewelry business because they don't want to piss off the woman because heaven forbid she come after them! It all starts spiraling out of her control when one of the women of the village comes to her and asks her for help in killing her abusive husband. The Bandit Queen of the title references  the Real Life Bandit Queen, Phoolan Devi and she is talked about repeatedly in the book for the sake of making parallels to the MC. I strongly suggest looking up her life story, it is so interesting.

As you can see, the story has a lot to do with misogyny, domestic abuse, the patriarchy that plagues a lot of areas of India. There's a lot of classism spoken on in the book as well. Parini Shroff is able to make a reader both laugh and wince at what the MC and her found family (yes, this one has a found family trope!) go through.

Okay, I know I'm praising the book but why the lower rating? Because there's some ableism and fatphobia/fat-shaming that happens that is mostly just super glossed over or played for laughs. The MC uses it to insult her best friend turned enemy turned ally again and although afterward, she apologizes for her behavior, the fat-phobic jokes/insult still keep coming well into the end of the book. I feel like the author could have done a way better job addressing those issues because even if the book focuses heavily on sexism and domestic abuse/SA, I don't think ableism or body-shaming should EVER be used as comic relief. Because of this, honestly, I cannot recommend the book, but if you decide to read it, you will learn about another culture, but keep in mind all the trigger warnings as well as topics that Shroff could have done better. I would suggest keep an Internet search bar open as well because while I'm from India and understood all the foreign words and customs, readers might not because not everything is explained fully in the book.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcohol, Classism, Death, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Violence, Alcoholism, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Bullying, Cursing, Domestic abuse, Sexism, Gaslighting, Injury/Injury detail, Misogyny, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Infidelity, Islamophobia, Drug use, Fatphobia, Ableism, Addiction, Body shaming, and Death of parent

Minor: Animal cruelty, Cancer, Miscarriage, Pedophilia, Police brutality, and Suicide