Reviews tagging 'Sexism'

The Poppy War by R.F. Kuang

367 reviews

middumullu's review against another edition

4.75

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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Very good book. If you want to read, please please go through content warnings. I loved just about every character and also could not put this book down. It was very dark and very disturbing and intriguing. I don't think the summary does it justice - over half of the book is spent on war, not schooling. Honestly just want everyone to go to therapy.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Body horror, Bullying, Child abuse, Confinement, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gore, Mental illness, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Xenophobia, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Religious bigotry, Medical trauma, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, War, Injury/Injury detail, Classism

Maybe I forgot some? There's just a lot of traumatizing events and a lot of trauma that presents in a variety of ways. Since it's based on history, there is a chapter that graphically reflects the rape of Nanjing. also war is rough, there's a lot about corpses, drugs, opium use.

nyxluvstoread's review against another edition

5.0

adventurous dark emotional sad 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: Yes

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Death, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gore, Infertility, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Medical trauma, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Sexual harassment, War, Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Addiction, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Cursing, Drug abuse, Drug use, Mental illness, Sexism, Suicide, Torture, Grief, Alcohol, Classism

firehart's review against another edition

5.0

dark emotional funny mysterious sad 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: Yes

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Torture, Violence, War

Moderate: Addiction, Child death, Genocide, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Colonisation, Classism

kaybuzzy's review against another edition

4.5

adventurous challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual violence, Violence

Moderate: Sexism, Pregnancy

rhum's review against another edition

4.75

adventurous challenging dark emotional medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Animal death, Child death, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Genocide, Gore, Misogyny, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Torture, Blood, Grief, Murder, Sexual harassment, War, Injury/Injury detail, Classism

onionboy82's review against another edition

4.0

challenging dark sad medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Plot

Strong character development: No

Loveable characters: No

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Drug abuse, Genocide, Racism, Sexism, Sexual assault, Violence, Colonisation, War

mousmoulo's review against another edition

5.0

adventurous dark emotional informative reflective sad tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Genocide, Gore, Physical abuse, Racism, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Fire/Fire injury, War, Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Confinement, Cursing, Misogyny, Self harm, Sexism, Abortion

Minor: Vomit, Alcohol

also: human experimentation (mainly on children)

val9230d's review against another edition

2.5

adventurous dark sad tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: No

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

---

It was my mistake thinking this was a somewhat stereotypical YA book. I don't like saying anything is strictly not YA, but this is definitely not for the younger side of YA.

I like going into very popular reads as blind as possible so I'm not biased, so I was not aware of the historical basis of this book. Knowing vaguely about the history of China and Japan, I picked up on the comparison pretty quickly, so the hatred of these two fictional nations didn't seem to come from nowhere to me. When I say I vaguely know the history,

I know the name Nanjing, I know truly horrific things happened that I never looked into because I did not want to know the specifics.

I fully understand that my ignorance, up until reading this book, was a luxury. If that's a luxury you'd like to continue to indulge in, either skip Chapter 21, or the whole book.

I felt like I read 2 different books. I liked both in their own ways, but the only characters I actually liked by the end had been given very little page time. I love complex characters, and I don't necessarily need to like the MC, but there's too much of what I didn't enjoy to continue. None of that makes it a "bad book" it just makes it not for me.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Animal cruelty, Child abuse, Child death, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gore, Mental illness, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racism, Rape, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Slavery, Torture, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Trafficking, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Toxic friendship, Colonisation, War, Injury/Injury detail

meetmeinthebookstore's review against another edition

3.75

adventurous challenging dark emotional informative sad tense fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Plot

Strong character development: No

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Body horror, Child death, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Genocide, Gore, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Torture, Violence, Blood, Grief, Murder, Sexual harassment, War, Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Addiction, Bullying, Misogyny, Racism, Sexism, Death of parent, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Fire/Fire injury

Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Animal death, Body shaming, Cursing, Infertility, Pedophilia, Suicidal thoughts, Excrement, Vomit, Medical content, Alcohol

xerlynz_reads's review against another edition

5.0

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Bullying, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Genocide, Gore, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Violence, Blood, Grief, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Colonisation, War, Injury/Injury detail, Classism