Reviews

The Woman Destroyed by Simone de Beauvoir

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meganstromer's review

5.0

Okay, I will admit that the second story, The Monologue, was borderline unreadable. It’s heavy steam of consciousness with virtually no punctuation. But de Beauvoir was right in quoting Flaubert: the monologue is a woman’s revenge. The first story recounts a woman struggling to cope with the passage of time and what it means for her, her husband, and her son. But it is the last story, The Woman Destroyed, that devastated me. A woman’s husband has an affair and, not wanting to have to choose, asks her to play nicely and accept it (so do all her friends). She has really two choices: forge a new life for herself or fall to pieces. She chooses to fall to pieces, and it is horrible and glorious.

annaavian's review against another edition

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sad slow-paced

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

1.0

This book is severely overrated.

Content Warnings

gracerobinson_'s review against another edition

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reflective sad medium-paced

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

4.0

wraithlike's review against another edition

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emotional reflective tense medium-paced

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

4.0

jolovesbookstbh's review

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5.0

She was in fact the woman destroyed. Lessons: fuck men (not literally), don’t be a mother and everything in life is unfair and terrible and painful. As a woman, you will be mocked and suffer no matter what you do, so you may as well be an unhinged bitch.

(The middle story - The Monologue - is excluded from this review (I’d give it about 2 stars). 5 stars belong solely to the final story - The Woman Destroyed.)

katias's review against another edition

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challenging reflective slow-paced

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

3.5

Not what I expected, though I'm not sure, that's the book's or my expectations' fault. Women and aging for sure is a socially interesting and important topic and I do think, de Beauvoir is indicating the complexity of it in these three short stories. However, I do find the writing quite cumbersome and that just unfortunately spoiled the reading experience for me. Since I've read in German and not in French, it might be partly due to the translation.