Reviews tagging 'Sexism'

Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut

9 reviews

jonwood's review against another edition

dark reflective sad tense fast-paced

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

2.0

I was quite disappointed with this boo and found it more gimmick than good. Sure, the nonlinear story telling may have been new at the time, but just because something is the first dose not make it the best. Perhaps Doctor Who and Christopher Nolan have spoiled me with a diverse selection of nonlinear story telling (both well and not so well executed), but even removing comparisons of executions, I didn't find that much substance buried within Slaughterhouse-5. I've read and seen much better reflections on tragedy and post-traumatic stress (just tune into MASH or China Beach). My take away is that the main character is losing his mind and that the aliens and time travel really aren't there, just metaphors and illusions, but I feel that is giving the author too much credit. There's a lot of disgusting things litter in the book, weather it's about people urinating/vowel movements, one character taking glee in describing tutor methods, or just how the narrator describes women (one example is of the narrator describing a woman as dull, but having a body that makes men want to fill her up with babies) that left a bad taste in my mouth.

 Frankly, I don't think there was much reflections going on. I suppose the theme is that there are moments in time we are powerless to change, and sometimes there's no fighting it, one person can't always make a difference, "so it goes." However, it would have been more interesting seeing that struggle play out and the character learn the lesson via failure (like Clark Kent in the 100th episode of Smallville unable to prevent tragedy completely, and altering events only made other things worst), but instead the narrator just tells us this and the protagonist, Billy, just accepts this form of "enlightenment" without ever trying to fight it. Also, I did not find this book all that funny, despite it supposedly being funny at the same time as being traumatic, the book just lack heart for me.

Between the lack of entertainment, and the gross nature of some of the narration, I highly doubt I'll want to try to read another Vonnegut novel, and am left wondering why he has the reputation of literally genius that he does.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, War, Body horror, Death, Gore, and Misogyny

Moderate: Pregnancy, Medical content, Cursing, Sexism, Sexual content, Mental illness, and Medical trauma

_fallinglight_'s review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional informative reflective sad medium-paced

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

3.5

Banned Books Week 2023

The OG Everything Everywhere All at Once but of the horrors of war, death, and dehumanization, C-PTSD, depression, suicide ideation, aliens, and what even tf fuck is time? It also goes hard on how the US is a danger to itself and others, and well, I can see why war mongers, pro-2A people, capitalists and the like absolutely hate this book lol. I personally didn't see the funny in this (I was aware of the satire but instead of wanting to laugh I wanted to cry; this book is horrifyingly sad) and it wasn't an enjoyable read to me, but, I still appreciate what KVJR set out to do with it and haters gonna hate but he was spitting facts left and right idk what to tell yall.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: War, Animal cruelty, Violence, Death, Genocide, Animal death, and Mental illness

Moderate: Ableism and Fatphobia

Minor: Sexism, Sexual content, Racial slurs, Sexual violence, and Misogyny

sister_philosophy_dropout's review against another edition

adventurous funny lighthearted fast-paced

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

4.5

Put this classic off for years because I'd been cautioned many times that it was "pretty dark." If you have read any firsthand accounts of any war or know what happened during WWII, no content in this book will shock you. That said, it was even funnier than advertised by friends. Just goofy. If you enjoy Vonnegut's voice, this is a must-read.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: War

Minor: Sexual content, Sexism, and Infidelity

reachingforstardust's review against another edition

dark funny slow-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: War and Death

Moderate: Genocide, Mental illness, Medical trauma, Misogyny, Sexism, Car accident, Fire/Fire injury, and Animal cruelty

allidone's review against another edition

dark tense slow-paced

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

1.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Genocide, Excrement, Violence, Animal death, War, Medical trauma, Bullying, Alcoholism, Injury/Injury detail, Physical abuse, Mental illness, Racism, Gun violence, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Animal cruelty

Moderate: Sexual content, Homophobia, Sexism, and Mass/school shootings

Minor: Transphobia, Racial slurs, Murder, Fatphobia, and Body shaming

kira226's review

dark funny reflective fast-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: War and Sexism

lastsilversunset's review against another edition

dark reflective sad medium-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Violence, Confinement, and War

Moderate: Excrement, Pregnancy, Sexism, and Sexual content

Minor: Car accident, Fatphobia, and Racial slurs

chekara_kane's review

emotional reflective slow-paced

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

3.5

The flow of ideas and events in the book is really good, even when the pacing feels like a snail. The characters feel almost unimportant, and I didn't find myself liking any of them. It did bother me that there were very few female characters, and even lesser positively portrayed ones. Even so, it makes sense, given the context of the events in Germany, but there are some points where the way women are spoken about feels off, most notably

in the scenes with Montana Wildhack. The scene where Billy finds the pornographic photo and when the book describes the necklace she wears on her nude body (in my book there was an image and I found that to be really weird).

Even so, would recommend - Vonnegut's writing is very engaging, and the anti-war themes are carried through the book really well.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: War

Moderate: Death

Minor: Body shaming and Sexism

coskob's review against another edition

challenging dark funny fast-paced

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

4.25

Wow, this was really good. Horrifying and gross and very of-its-time writing style (complete with more than a few eye-roll-y choices but whatever), but I liked how it played with structure and narration. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Excrement, Fatphobia, Gore, Gun violence, Medical content, Mental illness, Misogyny, Murder, Physical abuse, Sexism, and Violence

Moderate: Sexual content

Minor: Slavery, Sexual assault, and Animal cruelty