Reviews tagging 'Homophobia'

When Women Were Dragons by Kelly Barnhill

90 reviews

juliaureads's review against another edition

adventurous emotional hopeful informative mysterious medium-paced

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

4.5

 ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️.5/5⁠
"Anger is a funny thing. And it does funny things to us if we keep it inside. I encourage you to consider a question: Who benefits, my dear, when you force yourself to not feel angry?" She tilted her head and looked at me so hard I thought she could see right into my bones. She raised her eyebrows. "Clearly not you.”⁠
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⁠We all know I love a story about women getting mysterious powers, so of course, I had to grab this over the summer. ⁠
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When Women Were Dragons is a historical fiction/magical realism/alternate history where the world reacts to a "mass dragoning" - one day a bunch of women leave their homes and families and turn into dragons, never to be seen again.⁠
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We see these events through the eyes of two sisters - one who was old enough to understand what happened, the other too young to remember. They both come of age in a world that doesn't speak of dragons, and certainly not of the ones who left.⁠
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The most resonant part of this story for me was not the dragoning itself, but society's reaction to it. Society chooses to sweep the dragoning under the rug. Speaking about family members who left becomes taboo - everyone simply moves on without explanation or finding out why. ⁠
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The culture of silence and avoidance hit deeply, coming from a conservative Catholic family, I am familiar with these coping mechanisms - seeing them on a global scale in this world threw everything into sharp relief.⁠
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I highly recommend this to anyone looking for historical fiction that hits differently. Lightly sapphic (romance is certainly not the main plotline), this is a coming-of-age story that dives into how the questions of our past can shape our future. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Homophobia, Gaslighting, Lesbophobia, Misogyny, Death of parent, and Sexism

kbpfaulkner's review against another edition

emotional mysterious reflective slow-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death of parent, Sexism, Homophobia, Child abuse, and Abandonment

mooshake's review against another edition

emotional hopeful inspiring reflective medium-paced

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

5.0

"women do be dragons" i say with tears rolling down my face 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Child abuse, Death of parent, Homophobia, Grief, Misogyny, and Sexism

Moderate: Body horror, Cancer, Racism, and Fire/Fire injury

cameronreads's review against another edition

emotional inspiring reflective medium-paced

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

4.0

This book, whilst not completely revolutionary, nor all-encompassing, was an interesting read, with a compelling concept. The writing was very good, with some very quotable lines, and I liked how it was told as an autobiography. I though the characters were suitably complex and interesting to read about, and I loved exploring the relationships Alex had with everyone around her. It didn’t exactly bring anything new to the table, and whilst it did touch on the intersectionality between being a women and being trans (although in a somewhat clunky way, with trans women once described as ‘women by choice’) there was no touching on race, which was disappointing, especially considering when this books was set and the means of protesting and discrimination that we saw. I wouldn’t recommend this as a book to open your eyes to something, or to challenge your views on feminism, but I would as an enjoyable read. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Abandonment, Cancer, Death, Sexism, Child abuse, and Death of parent

Moderate: Fire/Fire injury, Homophobia, and Lesbophobia

Minor: Physical abuse and Medical content

twistykris's review against another edition

adventurous emotional hopeful inspiring reflective 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, Death of parent, Abandonment, Cancer, Sexism, and Emotional abuse

Moderate: Infidelity, Lesbophobia, Homophobia, Toxic relationship, and Grief

typedtruths's review against another edition

I’m not enjoying it as much as I hoped. Excellent premise, just wish another author had attempted to execute it. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Misogyny and Homophobia

breadwitchery's review against another edition

emotional 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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Sexism, Death of parent, and Death

Moderate: Cancer, Homophobia, Sexual assault, Animal death, and Panic attacks/disorders

Minor: Domestic abuse, Alcoholism, and Infidelity

alexreads111's review against another edition

reflective sad medium-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent and Misogyny

Moderate: Homophobia

lynxpardinus's review against another edition

challenging emotional hopeful reflective

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Terminal illness, Abandonment, Cancer, Grief, Misogyny, Death, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Death of parent, and Sexism

Moderate: Addiction, Alcohol, Body horror, Physical abuse, War, Sexual harassment, Alcoholism, Domestic abuse, Homophobia, Infidelity, Pregnancy, Xenophobia, and Dysphoria

Further warning for descriptions of menstruation.

kelseyr713's review against another edition

adventurous emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious reflective sad 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

5.0

"He looked at the window, toward the sky. In a brief, wild moment, I imagined it filled with dragons. Burning houses. Burning buildings. Swallowing men whole. I imagined the entire Mass Dragoning happening again, but bigger this time—every city, every town, every block, dark wings and sharp jaws and bright scales crowding the sky. I imagined myself unleashed, unhooked, unraveled, an explosion of heat and rage and frustration. My bones felt hot. My skin felt tight. The air in my lungs seemed to sizzle."

This alternate history fiction is a love letter to women, libraries, and science. Under the surface, it’s also challenging notions of what should be considered "normal" and encouraging not ignorance and fear, but love and acceptance. I loved and devoured it.

Content warnings: homophobia, parental emotional abuse, death of parents, cancer, body horror (although I personally found the dragoning described beautifully, this may not be true for all readers).

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Lesbophobia, Misogyny, Fire/Fire injury, Homophobia, Cancer, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, and Sexism

Moderate: Grief, Terminal illness, Abandonment, Body horror, and Dysphoria

Minor: Murder, Physical abuse, Infidelity, and Pregnancy