Reviews tagging 'Racism'

Rodham by Curtis Sittenfeld

8 reviews

hmih's review against another edition

informative reflective tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• 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: Racism, Infidelity, Sexual harassment, Suicide, Misogyny, Sexism, Rape, Gaslighting, Sexual assault, and Sexual violence

Moderate: Sexual content, Bullying, Sexual assault, Cancer, and Sexism

Minor: Drug abuse, Death, Toxic relationship, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Cancer, Vomit, Toxic friendship, Drug use, Suicide, Racism, Xenophobia, Bullying, Sexism, Sexual assault, Cultural appropriation, Sexual harassment, Infidelity, Death of parent, Classism, Body shaming, Rape, and Gaslighting

samburkhouse's review

challenging emotional informative inspiring reflective slow-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content, Misogyny, and Sexism

Moderate: Toxic relationship, Sexual assault, Body shaming, Infidelity, Cancer, and Sexual harassment

Minor: Gaslighting, Medical content, Racism, Suicide, and Death of parent

amberjackonski's review

adventurous challenging hopeful informative inspiring reflective tense slow-paced

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

2.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexism and Racism

Moderate: Rape and Sexual assault

lindsayerin's review

challenging dark reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• 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: Racism, Sexual harassment, Infidelity, Misogyny, and Sexism

Moderate: Cancer

Minor: Death of parent

placebogirl's review

emotional funny inspiring lighthearted reflective

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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Toxic relationship, and Misogyny

Moderate: Rape

Minor: Death of parent

my_plant_library's review against another edition

funny hopeful inspiring fast-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexism

Minor: Racism

amyvl93's review against another edition

funny inspiring reflective medium-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? Yes

4.0

 

I thought this was a lot of fun. Rodham is a fictionalised memoir of Hillary Rodham, who - when Bill Clinton proposed for a third time - said no. Curtis Sittenfeld then explores what could have happened to this version of Hillary Rodham, what would her life have looked like if her public identity was not wholly attached to a man?

As a reader, you spend all of the novel in Hillary's head. As a person to spend time with, she is funny, sharp and deeply ambitious. If you want a novel that doesn't show someone's flaws this is not for you - Hillary takes action in this book that are not the 'nice' or maybe even 'right' thing to do, but are actions that progress her goals and it was pretty refreshing to read about unashamedly ambitious women. Sittenfeld doesn't make her a perfect person - she is still a Hillary we recognise and her blind spots (e.g. race) are still here and unchanged. She also invests time in building Hillary's relationships - you totally understand her and Bill's relationship, and Hillary also has a range of female relationships that Sittenfeld builds complex and real-feeling bonds.

Part of the fun of the novel is how Sittenfeld plays with the narratives we know and tweaks them slightly - so I wouldn't want to give too much away but there are some great wink wink moments. However, one of the things that Rodham gets right is that whilst some things are different, a lot of the responses to a woman running for a position of power feel very real.

There were aspects of the novel that lagged a little, and the 2015 section felt a little too neat for me - but overall, I really enjoyed this.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Sexual assault and Sexism

Minor: Infidelity and Racism

penelopereads's review

adventurous inspiring medium-paced

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

Great story. A bit cringey with the fictionalised sex scenes and well known people but I like Sittenfeld’s no-nonsense approach to writing said scenes. I liked playing ‘what if’ and I found it quite funny at times. It wasn’t all glowing and fan-girly, there were moments where I really had to take a step back and think: ‘wow, that was *questionable*’ or ‘wow, that was morally grey!’ But I appreciated that.
It was actually inspiring and made me mourn for what the world could have had the past four years. (Funnily enough I’m writing this in the early hours of January 20, 2021.)

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Content Warnings

Minor: Rape, Racism, Sexism, Suicide, Bullying, Sexual content, Sexual assault, Racial slurs, Terminal illness, Cancer, Body shaming, Cursing, Death, Infidelity, and Misogyny