Reviews tagging 'Misogyny'

The Power of the Dog by Thomas Savage

12 reviews

itismebruna's review against another edition

dark tense medium-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty and Animal death

Moderate: Alcoholism, Homophobia, and Misogyny

nikereadsbooks's review against another edition

4.25

This is not my usual kind of book so I was surprised a bit by how much I enjoyed it. I loved how it was focused  on the characters, keeping the third point of view not only on George and Phil, but also adding other characters. Especially Phil's character was really interesting.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Animal death, Death, and Homophobia

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship

Minor: Misogyny, Racism, and Antisemitism

rhdj's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Racial slurs, and Suicide

Moderate: Homophobia and Misogyny

violetturtledove's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

• 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

4.75

This was a great book, although for the most part i can't exactly say i enjoyed reading it. It's uncomfortable reading, the character of Phil is both intriguing and thoroughly hateable (in fact all of the characters are flawed and brilliantly observed). It's tense, and the narrative skips differently from one point of view or time to another (sometimes it goes from present to recollection, or jumps forward a month, without a clear indication in the text). This is a bit confusing, but also I think it keeps you hooked, wanting to know more.
Once you read the end you can suddenly look back at all the little hints and foreshadowing and then it hits you how clever the story really is

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Bullying, and Suicide

Moderate: Alcoholism, Misogyny, Racial slurs, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, and Colonisation

Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Death, and Antisemitism

cellyphane's review against another edition

dark tense slow-paced

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

4.5

After watching the movie, I became interested in reading the original text. It's tense and slower than I usually like but compelling. Each character didn't need to be likable to be interesting, and that's a huge strength in this novel. Savage explores masculinity in a variety of ways, and I was quite impressed at the level of commentary for other intersections. He is certainly deserving of more recognition in the general public.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Alcoholism, Animal death, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Misogyny, and Colonisation

Minor: Death

larseneiii's review against another edition

dark emotional tense slow-paced

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

2.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Misogyny, Racism, Blood, Antisemitism, Religious bigotry, Gaslighting, and Colonisation

felofhe's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense slow-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Bullying, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Mental illness, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexism, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Blood, Excrement, Antisemitism, Grief, Death of parent, Gaslighting, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Adult/minor relationship

arthur_ant18's review against another edition

dark mysterious reflective slow-paced

• 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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Death, Homophobia, Misogyny, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Suicide and Toxic relationship

Minor: Blood and Antisemitism

kate_lemer's review against another edition

dark mysterious reflective medium-paced

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

3.75

The way this book's written is fascinating. A combination of literary and flowery exposition with the author's own twist on the stream of thought. The key about reading it and not being bored is immersing yourself in the words. You need to let them flow and breath. As a reader, you stand removed from the plot. It is cold, clinical. At times it is shocking, but in my opinion, that's mainly because it's written in such a sterile way. The fancy writig is a nice juxtaposition to that. 

The causal bigotry in this book adds an interesting twist to it, especially since it's delivered in such a way as to seem the characters think of themselves as 'accepting' and 'open'. The characters seldom do any sort of introspection, so you are free to do it yourself without the author forcing any opinions on you, demeaning your intelligence as a reader. 

The characters are very interesting themselves. All of them quirky and psychologically damaged in their own way. Most of all Phil and surprisingly, Peter. Supposedly, Phil is a sadist set on torturing his brother's wife. I don't see, to be honest. He acts like a child, yes. He has anger issues, yes. But sadistic? No, she is just very frail and sensitive if silence can unsettle her in such a profound way.

Phil is who I imagine the stereotypical white man from the U.S. to be, even now. Obsessed with being butch and appearing properly masculine. Intent on poiting out other people's failings and setting himself up as the obviously better one, because of course, he would never deign to demean himself like all those self-obsessed society-conscious idiots. Most of all, he is above all earthly pleasures. Not to mention his obsession with Bronco Henry. This all leads you to feel that underneath it all, there is a whisper of something else, tantalizing you. It's dispersed throughout the novel. An illicit affair, perhaps? 

The biggest psychopath of them all is Peter, the son. He is so obsessed with his mother and creating a life for her just like the one he's assembled from cut out pictures in his scrapbook, that he murders a man for it.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Animal cruelty and Misogyny

Minor: Antisemitism

joshhornbeck's review against another edition

challenging dark reflective medium-paced

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

3.5

FIRST THOUGHTS:
The characters are richly drawn and so much is given in the layered subtext of the novel. I love the way the film explores misogyny, deconstructs traditional masculine codes, and even looks at homosexual desire - and written in a time when that was rare to find in a Western. The way the novel jumps between point of view is also really compelling, giving us insights into characters other than the white menu at its center. The language and sentence structure throughout is a bit too convoluted for my tastes - phrasings and sentences are organized in ways that often get themselves List before they reach the end. But the characters themselves are richly drawn.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Bullying, Emotional abuse, Misogyny, Sexism, and Blood

Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Death, Genocide, Self harm, Suicide, Death of parent, Murder, Cultural appropriation, and Colonisation