Reviews with content warning for Misogyny - Páradais

Reviews tagging 'Misogyny'

Páradais by Fernanda Melchor

58 reviews

aaafton's review against another edition

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dark sad tense fast-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

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bloupibloupreads's review against another edition

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dark tense fast-paced

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

3.5

Horrific, disgusting, frightful and nauseating, ‘Paradais’ is a story about porn addiction, taking the reader directly in the mind of a raging misogynistic boy.

Located in a lavish residential complex in Mexico, ‘Paradais’ follows Polo, 16, alcoholic, living in an abusive house with his mother and “oversexed pervert” cousin Zorayda and Franco, or “Fatboy”, an overweight teenager addicted to pornography living in the wealthy residence of Paradise where Polo works as a gardener. Franco develops an unhealthy obsession with his neighbor, Senora Marian, a beautiful woman married with two children.

The two boys end up in an mutualist relationship, Polo gets free alcohol from Franco and Franco gets to have an ear to listen to his horrific rants about Senora Marian. As time goes by, Franco convince Polo to follow him in a gruesome scheme he planned.

‘Paradais’ is narrated in this torrent of prose and stream of thoughts, clustered-like paragraphs that make the reader feel trapped in Polo’s mind as he slowy drives himself to madness.

I knew from the very beginning how the novel would end, not because I was spoiled but because it is quite obvious and yet I still found myself hoping for a good ending, a redemption arc from the characters, wishing for them to back up from their original plan.

I was planning on giving 4 stars but I settled for 3.5 because this book just doesn’t sit right with me. Upon finishing it, I felt like it was more revenge-violence-porn oriented and was lacking in concrete depth and moral. I felt disgusted to say the least. This book is nasty, in a good and bad way.

After sitting and letting the book marinate in my mind I came up with the conclusion that it was not a fun read and was never intended to be one. It is, ultimately, a book about violence and how normalized it is in our society. I applause Fernanda Melchor for her talent.

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syd_the_bookish_kid's review against another edition

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dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

3.25

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paulken's review against another edition

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dark

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No

3.0

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fatkidatheartreads's review against another edition

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4.0

wtf!

tw: rape, sexual assault, murder, unchecked misogyny, violence and brutality

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seethinglloron's review against another edition

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challenging dark tense medium-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

4.25

Hard to put words to how this made me feel. I might have been primed to finish it tonight, and I felt truly cored like an apple by the end. The whole time, Melchor's praise is like a corkscrew to the eye, digging and digging into the nerves until I was left as electric with misery as Polo. Incredible work here.

My only gripe is that I felt the start was a tad slow, but the whole thing is so short that you're through the whole thing in the amount of time it takes to flinch at the sound of a gunshot. My g-d.

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