Reviews tagging 'Torture'

The Women Could Fly by Megan Giddings

28 reviews

cinnamonmarti's review

emotional mysterious reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

3.75

This was a peculiar and thought-provoking read. I think the author found a great way to meld together dystopian elements with intersectional feminism and magic. At times the social commentary was very blatantly spelled out, but I didn't mind that much, maybe because I found a lot of my own thoughts and worries in there.
I really loved the prose, the idea of magic as a powerful driving force for creativity, community and self-growth, the harsh choice between running away to a safe haven or facing the evils of a rotten society. The whole underlying question that torments Jo , 'how can I know I truly love someone and want to follow this path if it's the only way to get a modicum of freedom?' -- ouch. That hurt so much.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Torture

Minor: Suicidal thoughts

aliciae08's review against another edition

challenging dark reflective medium-paced

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

3.75

When I started reading The Women Could Fly, I was expecting a remake of The Hand Maid’s Tale— only “make it Black”. 

I’m really glad it wasn’t that though. I thought it was better and more terrifying. The magic was real, even though the ways to tell if a woman bore that magic were not. The way people act when they have all of the power was real, too. The way men know how to leverage that power, manipulate it so that the women are scared but wouldn’t be able to put their finger on why. It just worked.

There were plenty of things i didn’t like about this book. The pacing for the first two-thirds felt so slow, while the last third flew by. It almost felt like the author couldn’t wait to just finish it. 

None of the characters are all that likable, but I wonder if a part of that was simply that we don’t get to know any of them. Even Josephine keeps us at an arms length. I don’t find Jo or Angie to be that funny either—even though their whole schtick is about using humor/comedy to feel alive. 

Jo’s parents are disappointing in their own way, but I can probably forgive Tiana for leaving when you can see who she married—a man that couldn’t/wouldn’t stand up for his daughter probably did even less for his wife.

Still, this is a book where we can see:

• how racism and income disparity can impact the enforcement/policing of bodies  that don’t/can’t conform
• How members of the same sex/gender-expression can also be culpable with oppression even if it goes against their own freedoms
• How power and control can make people behave to those without

While magic was the thing that was added and feared, we can translate that to be anything that society fears. In fact there were instances where the fear of magic went with:

• racist stereotypes that played on old tropes of white is might
• homosexuality and gender nonconformity being dangerous 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Torture and Misogyny

Minor: Suicide attempt, Racism, and Homophobia

carijacqueline's review against another edition

dark hopeful 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? No

3.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Torture

rcsreads's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful inspiring 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? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide attempt, Misogyny, Gaslighting, Hate crime, Police brutality, Racial slurs, Racism, Alcohol, Suicidal thoughts, Blood, Bullying, Death, Fire/Fire injury, Death of parent, Homophobia, Drug use, Grief, Physical abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Lesbophobia, Mental illness, Murder, Violence, Religious bigotry, Sexism, and Torture

lpdx's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious 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? No

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Misogyny, Racism, Blood, Fire/Fire injury, Forced institutionalization, Lesbophobia, Alcohol, Biphobia, Homophobia, Sexism, Torture, Abandonment, Confinement, Drug use, and Transphobia

superiour_medium's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful mysterious reflective medium-paced

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

4.5

An incredible bite size book in the style of Atwood but far surpassing  her works. Giddings’ has demonstrated ability to put her in the ranks of N.K. Jemison & her contemporaries in the realms of urban fantasy/magical realism

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Mental illness, Religious bigotry, Torture, Misogyny, Grief, and Violence

Moderate: Body shaming, Bullying, Colonisation, and Blood

Minor: Body horror

jenmcreads's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Police brutality, Sexism, Religious bigotry, Racism, Forced institutionalization, Torture, Toxic relationship, Physical abuse, Misogyny, and Grief

kaiyakaiyo's review

challenging emotional hopeful reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

this was incredibly bleak, as i expected from the author who wrote Lakewood! the bleakness was a refreshing, interesting kind though: what new, horrifyingly realistic form of oppression & reckoning can Giddings come up with next? that sounds bad but honestly it was incredibly cool to me how magic felt so real and lived while seated next to true life misogynoir. magic pulses through this book, but it didn’t escape or detract from the main theme of how any uniqueness, any difference, any potential power that women, specifically Black ones, even more specifically queer Black ones have is viewed as dangerous and in need of regulation for other peoples “safety” or wellbeing. 

There were so many interesting layers to this story, and Jo’s relationship with Tiana made my heart ache and my eyes well in a very specific Black mom to Black daughter way. Mother daughter relationships are my Achilles heel (see: me crying my way through EEAAO and Turning Red), so seeing one in my shade was a bit of an arrow to the chest in the best way. 

All that being said, this book ends, not quite hopefully, but upliftingly; everything isn’t sunshine and roses, but there is promise of a better future as created by community. nothing materially changes, but the feeling it gives is a positive one. I really liked this book, and will be buying it in print for my shelf :)

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Kidnapping, Torture, Violence, Religious bigotry, Fire/Fire injury, Misogyny, Homophobia, Police brutality, Forced institutionalization, Racism, and Sexism

Minor: Alcohol, Blood, Lesbophobia, Transphobia, Acephobia/Arophobia, Bullying, and Biphobia

cryfest's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful relaxing medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexism, Torture, Grief, Lesbophobia, and Misogyny

Moderate: Fire/Fire injury, Genocide, Confinement, Injury/Injury detail, Animal death, Racism, Religious bigotry, Suicidal thoughts, Homophobia, and Murder

meecespieces's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Misogyny, Torture, Sexism, Confinement, and Forced institutionalization

Moderate: Abandonment

Minor: Blood and Alcohol