Reviews tagging 'Misogyny'

Blood on Her Tongue by Johanna van Veen

53 reviews

yorweth's review against another edition

5.0

dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Complicated

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Animal cruelty, Body horror, Child death, Chronic illness, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gore, Infidelity, Mental illness, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Terminal illness, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Grief, Cannibalism, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Lesbophobia, Gaslighting, Abandonment, Sexual harassment, Injury/Injury detail, Classism

yogomagpie's review against another edition

5.0

dark tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Complicated

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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She knew instinctively and hotly that she would destroy anyone who dared to hurt her sister.

This was so nasty. I loved it.

The atmosphere was so, so beautifully written. So very gothic and moody. Even when everything crumbled and hell broke loose. Ah, sisterly love.

For those who need to know what happens to the dog (a minor character but who is so prominent on the cover):

she lives, presumably getting a happy ending in a loving home, and is mostly unscathed aside from some injuries gained from one scene

.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child death, Cursing, Death, Gore, Infidelity, Mental illness, Misogyny, Self harm, Suicide, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Cannibalism, Murder, Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Forced institutionalization, Grief, Pregnancy

beatledirt's review against another edition

3.0

challenging dark mysterious sad tense fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: No

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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It wasn't bad, but I don't think it was my cup of tea. It felt like the characters were sort of just thrown at me and none of their decisions really made much sense. But in that way it also felt nice to engage with reading that I wasn't 100% on board with 100% of the time. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Chronic illness, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Infidelity, Mental illness, Misogyny, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Cannibalism

honey_bee_reads's review against another edition

5.0

dark mysterious medium-paced

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Misogyny, Self harm, Blood, Cannibalism

Moderate: Child death, Sexism, Vomit, Schizophrenia/Psychosis

Minor: Animal cruelty, Toxic relationship

caseyreadslol's review against another edition

3.5

dark fast-paced

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Misogyny, Toxic relationship

Moderate: Child death, Suicide attempt

caughtbetweenpages's review against another edition

5.0

dark emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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Blood on Her Tongue is vampire horror as it was always meant to be: marked by excess in all aspects. It is seductive past the point of enjoyment to the point of frantic pain; curiosity-inducing to the point of relentless obsession; decadent, but like a fruit on the knife’s edge between ripe and rotting. As you may have guessed, I really loved this book.  

From a craft perspective, Van Veen’s prose is clean and haunting, and blends well with the gothic themes of stagnation and decay. It isn’t anachronistic, and rather lends itself to the suspension of disbelief and allows the focus of the narrative to be on the protagonist Lucy’s character arc or the story’s plot progression. There are lovely turns of phrase, but never is the prose purple, and I think the most effective passages are when the focus is on the visceral (I’d say “the body horror scenes”, but that would be ignoring that the sex scenes have much the same effect of forcing the reader to look at something uncomfortable).

I was also a big fan of the thematic resonances of this story. It’s one deeply centered on the nuances of womanhood, and what the right sorts of it are (given the socio cultural context of the setting). We get glimpses of the criminalization of queer identity (Aunt Adelheid’s institutionalization), socioeconomic realities (whether one is a disabled widow with no family who must pay for companionship to get by, or an impoverished relation who’s too highborn to work but must still rely on a male relative’s charity to maintain one’s lifestyle, or a serving woman, or a wife who’s husband is a philanderer and chauvinist, there’s no outcome where a woman’s financial position is truly secure and independent), the axis of sexuality/desire (Lucy’s desire for Michael is shameful and mirrors her sister’s ill and perverse thoughts about the bog woman), and so much more, all as a secondary focus to the horror. Or, rather, a glimpse of a horror story all the more haunting for its roots in reality. 

The horror of the story was brilliantly done. The unsettling closeness of the sisters, the weirdness of the supporting cast, all of the characterization lends to the things feeling slightly… off. Couple that with a rainy, boggy landscape, a gloomy old mansion, and the Heroic era of medicine making it so attempts to fix medical catastrophes just make them worse, and you have one spooky setting. The suspenseful pace made the 300+ pages of the book fly by even as the body- and psychological horror scenes kept me rooted in place. 

Most of all, I loved Lucy as a protagonist. I loved the places where she was steadfast to the point of madness, especially because they contrasted the many places where she was passive, and her inaction caused problems to escalate. I love her blind devotion to her sister, and the way she’s ready to love ugly things but shies away from the gentle, easy ones if they’re not what she truly wants. Her consistent nature made it so her choices were easy to see coming even as they escalated in intensity, which was a point of anchoring and comfort for me as I made my way through the disquieting world/plot (yes, even when Lucy’s actions were themselves disquieting!).

I recommend Blood on Her Tongue for fans of A Dowry in Blood, Paris Paloma’s song “Labour”, and any woman who’s felt her skin to be a cage in our patriarchal society. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Gore, Mental illness, Misogyny, Sexism

Moderate: Child death, Forced institutionalization

nostoat's review against another edition

4.75

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Every author who writes stories about obsessive devoted siblings: thank you, I love you. This book was...just so good. So good. Lucy and Sarah are twins, and only recently have lived separately. Sarah is now married and Lucy lives elsewhere as a companion for an elderly widow. Then a series of distressing letters arrives announcing Sarah's decent into illness (and insanity, perhaps). This book is so deeply potent in its portrayal of grief, loyalty, jealousy, everything wrapped up in the entanglement of siblings - especially siblings as close as twins usually are. At one point a character remarks that Sarah's husband would feel a deeper grief than Lucy at Sarah's death and Lucy is deeply taken aback and upset by this, something I found I understood so deeply. This is a bloody, messy vampire-ish story with a core of fathomless love to it and I couldn't put it down. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Gore, Misogyny, Cannibalism, Suicide attempt

Moderate: Sexual violence

There is extremely graphic eye gore/trauma in two separate scenes, as well as repeated descriptions of the aftermath of a severe eye injury.

mauxdencre's review against another edition

5.0

adventurous dark tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Plot

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Complicated

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Misogyny, Self harm, Toxic relationship, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Grief, Cannibalism, Murder, Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Sexual assault, Sexual content, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Lesbophobia

santavibezz_24's review against another edition

3.5

dark informative mysterious 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

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This was a fun read!! A lot gorier than I expected, but it was fun indeed! I enjoyed the plot a lot. It kind of reminded me of a book by T. Kingfisher. Anyway, loved the sisters and their strong relationship together.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Misogyny, Blood, Cannibalism, Murder

filipa_maia's review against another edition

4.0

dark mysterious sad tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: No

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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This is, in fact, a very unconventional story. Every time I thought I knew where the story was going, I was thrown for a loop.

I hate every single one of these people: they are horrible to each other and they do terrible things. But I really liked the plot - full of details and little things that made me want to keep reading and for a (somehow) "happy" ending. I particularly enjoyed the dynamics between the twin sisters: despite everything they really love each other.

I really want to read other books by this author.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Infidelity, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Cannibalism, Murder, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Injury/Injury detail, Classism

Moderate: Child abuse, Child death, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Abandonment

Minor: Animal cruelty, Death of parent