Reviews tagging 'Sexual harassment'

The Henna Artist by Alka Joshi

25 reviews

danah_kmt's review

adventurous challenging emotional inspiring reflective slow-paced

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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Infidelity, Sexism, Sexual content, Abortion, Classism, Domestic abuse, Misogyny, Miscarriage, and Pregnancy

Minor: Injury/Injury detail, Abandonment, Alcohol, Vomit, Religious bigotry, Death, Sexual harassment, and Islamophobia

reddeddy's review against another edition

challenging emotional hopeful informative inspiring sad medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Death, Domestic abuse, Infertility, Infidelity, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Medical trauma, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, Sexism, Sexual content, Vomit, Abortion, Child abuse, Child death, and Classism

Moderate: Alcohol, Blood, Body shaming, Colonisation, Death of parent, Drug use, Dysphoria, Eating disorder, Religious bigotry, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Stalking, Violence, Xenophobia, Bullying, and Cursing

Minor: Ableism, Car accident, Cultural appropriation, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Islamophobia, Racism, Slavery, Suicide, and Toxic relationship

beyourbestshelf's review against another edition

emotional inspiring medium-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Abortion and Pregnancy

Minor: Sexual harassment, Infidelity, Infertility, Domestic abuse, Death of parent, and Miscarriage

jashanac's review against another edition

medium-paced

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

2.75

 The characters were, for me, the least enjoyable part of this book. Lakshmi was slightly a "too stupid to live" type of character. She was stubbornly trying to go through her life with blinders on, and when her 13 year old sister shows up, completely naïve and unpredictable, she does next to nothing to give her any kind of grounding foundation. She doesn't try to bond with her, doesn't try to genuinely explain how life in Jaipur works -- she just recites some "rules" at her and mostly shoos her out of her way as she tries to continue on with her life like nothing has changed in it. 

 So much of the drama in this story could have been avoided entirely or solved easily, if Lakshmi had actually communicated with her sister. 

I really enjoyed the historical and cultural aspects of this - it's set in India and it felt very immersive for me as a reader.  I also appreciated the story of a woman gaining her own success and independence in a time and culture that absolutely did not freely give that to women as an option. 

 I don't wish that I hadn't read this -- the writing style was enjoyable as was the cultural aspects -- learning about Jaipur in the 1950s was interesting. However the only tabs I used while reading this were my "annoyed" or "angry" ones, due mostly to Lakshmi and her poor decision making and willful ignorance. She kind of just seemed to want to cover her ears, shield her eyes, and hum to herself as shit fell down around her, wishing for everything to be okay rather than actually DOING anything truly helpful to make things okay. Characters like that make for a less-than-enjoyable reading experience for me -- it's too frustrating. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Miscarriage, and Infidelity

Moderate: Medical content, Infertility, Abortion, and Pregnancy

Minor: Sexual harassment

halopink's review against another edition

medium-paced

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

3.5

3.5 

For me the ending specifically felt a bit too neat. I’ve seen a lot of reviews saying the story really picked up around the 60% mark but I have to say I enjoyed the first half significantly more. 

Also, this story had a large focus on access to abortion, which I was a fan of. The caste system and actual history of India I found to be brushed over. The story starts when India gains independence and much of it had to do with remaining English customs and people. 

I can see why reviewers from India have said this book is written specifically for the western gaze.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abortion and Pregnancy

Minor: Domestic abuse, Physical abuse, Miscarriage, Sexual harassment, Sexual content, Adult/minor relationship, Death of parent, and Medical content