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tinstae's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.25
Graphic: Misogyny, Cursing, Lesbophobia, Homophobia, and Child abuse
Moderate: Racial slurs, Death of parent, Racism, and Sexual content
Minor: Sexual assault, Rape, Incest, and Adult/minor relationship
piastri's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
2.25
it’s an interesting exploration of queer experiences and sexuality, but the line of taboo is very blurred and that doesn’t work in the book’s favour. with the adult/minor relationships, incest being encouraged, sexual assault perpetrated by the main character, racism and antisemitism, and the butch-phobia, it’s a lot to stomach that i’m not really sure is worth the read.
Graphic: Sexual content, Incest, Adult/minor relationship, and Homophobia
Moderate: Racial slurs and Racism
Minor: Antisemitism
hubes's review
4.0
Graphic: Incest, Sexual content, and Lesbophobia
Moderate: Adult/minor relationship and Death of parent
Minor: Racism and Antisemitism
aus10england's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Graphic: Sexual content, Homophobia, and Emotional abuse
Moderate: Incest, Pedophilia, and Abortion
Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Death of parent, and War
arsenic_'s review against another edition
3.0
Moderate: Incest
Minor: Sexual violence, Religious bigotry, Adult/minor relationship, and Racism
whimsykat's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
Graphic: Lesbophobia, Misogyny, and Homophobia
Moderate: Death of parent, Religious bigotry, Blood, Abortion, Gaslighting, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Forced institutionalization, Infertility, Infidelity, and Adult/minor relationship
Minor: Suicide, Pregnancy, Incest, Classism, Alcoholism, Racism, and Sexual harassment
sib_reads's review against another edition
- 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
3.5
Graphic: Child abuse, Death of parent, Lesbophobia, Rape, Sexual assault, Homophobia, and Incest
Moderate: Physical abuse, Religious bigotry, Sexual content, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Pedophilia, Abortion, Adult/minor relationship, Death, Grief, and Toxic relationship
Minor: Alcohol, Domestic abuse, Excrement, Fatphobia, Infertility, Suicide, Vomit, Forced institutionalization, Racism, Antisemitism, Infidelity, Pregnancy, Racial slurs, Sexism, and Misogyny
mollyv's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.0
I can see why it has the praise it does, to read about such a confidently queer female character in a book written in 1973 and set even earlier was really interesting. To see the struggles that came with being queer and working class in the USA at the time was also very illuminating.
However, the stance the book takes on some issues disturbed me. The acceptance of incest was particularly jarring and made me extremely uncomfortable. The several dub-con moments between the main character and others was also difficult to read and never critically discussed. The bandying about of slurs and racist opinions was also something that was not handled as well as I would have liked. There was also very weird adult/minor sexual relationships and moments which were extremely uncomfortable but not called out. Be warned it is also very sexual, this is not a criticism, but it was something I was not expecting to that extent and did find a little difficult at times, especially when the main character was a child.
Overall, as a queer woman I am glad I read it due to its importance to the community but I do not know if I could recommend it to others without a whole slew of warnings attached.
Graphic: Incest, Adult/minor relationship, Racial slurs, Homophobia, and Racism
Moderate: Antisemitism, Misogyny, Cancer, Lesbophobia, Child abuse, Adult/minor relationship, Sexual assault, and Outing
Minor: Infidelity, Infertility, Ableism, and Suicide
githgorlfriend's review against another edition
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
Moderate: Incest, Adult/minor relationship, Homophobia, and Death of parent
marprokup's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
2.5
This book is marvelously progressive and bold for being written in the 1970s. It is fiercely feminist and queer, yet still holds a bubbly nature with its awkward and funny scenarios. I will wholeheartedly give this book credit for its raw, honest descriptions of coming to terms with being queer, and the blunt desire that Molly has to be an independent woman. This book can make you uncomfortable, but with a humbling familiarity to real human experiences. This holds so much weight and I want to give credit to that.
However, there are just some things I can't let slide about this book:
1. Rita Mae Brown's voice bleeds through the main character too often. This book is supposed to be vaguely and indirectly based off of Rita's life, but through a separate character known as Molly. Molly goes through many experiences that mirrors that of Rita's. However, it feels sometimes that Molly's character blends the line too much of being her own, individual character in a novel versus simply being a vessel of Rita's thoughts. This includes some lengthy sections that are heavily narcissistic and self-righteous that can get annoying to read at times. However this is a gradual shift, since Molly seemed to be much more of her own individual character in the first half of the book. As a result, many of the characters introduced in the last half of the novel seem to contribute very little to Molly's character development or the story (*spoiler* pretty much everyone after Calvin just did not leave much of an impression on me).
2. (Trigger warning) Rape and/or character inconsistencies. These two kind of go together, but alas I can only really explain through **spoilers**: In the second to last chapter of the book, Molly berates another film student who did his final film project on a half people/martian gang-rape. Obviously, yes, not good. However, Molly also pressured Polina into having sex with her earlier in the book while intoxicated. Polina tries to mention this, asking why Molly wouldn't have asked before kissing her, but Molly says it wouldn't have done much good because she would have said no (yikes). This may have been an intentional character flaw, however I find that hard to believe based on the way Molly's character was written. She's not particularly meant to be disliked.
3. (Trigger warning) Justifying (consensual) incest. Consent is justified towards the latter half of the book, but there are two separate incest incidents that are nonchalantly justified and accepted. ( ****Spoilers** until the end of this paragraph**): In the beginning of the book, a young Molly and her non-biologically related cousin Leroy decide to try having sex together since they are both confused by their sexuality. Although the early relationship Molly had with Leroy was uncomfortable, it really drove Molly's character development as she tries to figure out her sexuality at a young age. This wasn't where I was set off and decided to bring down my ranking of the book. It was when Molly is with Polina and her daughter Alice that I really was set off and disturbed. Molly and Alice (who is 16) talk about her and her mother having sex together, and how Alice believes her mom is attracted to her. They both address this as fine as long as it's consensual. I could not seem to find any connection or point to bringing up this conversation of incest. It had almost no contribution to Molly's character development, to the plot, or any other themes in the book. It was simply justifying incest just to... justify it. This is such a traumatizing and disagreeable stance that it just made me upset that it was included at all when it served minimal purpose in the book, but take that as you will.
4. Sex with minors. Don't think I need to say much more about this. Minor (no names mentioned) spoiler: a 16 year old is sexualized towards the last half of the book and a 24-year-old has sex with her.
Graphic: Homophobia, Lesbophobia, Sexual content, and Misogyny
Moderate: Death of parent, Toxic relationship, Outing, Adult/minor relationship, Infidelity, Toxic friendship, and Grief
Minor: Classism, Gaslighting, and Emotional abuse