Reviews tagging 'Misogyny'

Mad Honey by Jennifer Finney Boylan, Jodi Picoult

27 reviews

joey1914's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Blood, Grief, Emotional abuse, Deadnaming, Death, Medical content, Misogyny, Murder, Outing, Suicide attempt, Child abuse, Child death, Domestic abuse, Dysphoria, Self harm, Bullying, Mental illness, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, and Suicide

logikitty's review

challenging emotional sad slow-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? N/A

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Transphobia, Death, Grief, Physical abuse, Suicide attempt, Child abuse, Deadnaming, Domestic abuse, Dysphoria, Suicide, Gaslighting, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Emotional abuse, Bullying, and Outing

Moderate: Misogyny and Sexual content

amanda_reads13's review against another edition

emotional informative inspiring sad tense fast-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

4.75

One evening Olivia gets a phone call that no mother wants to get, her son, Asher, is being questioned for the sudden death of his girlfriend Lily. He is adamant that he is innocent. 

This is such a beautiful story. As we flip between Olivia and Lily's POVs shocking secrets are revealed. Olivia is torn between believing her son and her fear that he could be like his father. We see how her own baggage and ignorance influences how she sees the world and her son's trial.

We follow Lily as she struggles to navigate not only her new relationship but her own identity and secrets. She has had extensive trauma and struggles to trust people.

She is nervous to let Asher know her true self but, as we see in the flashbacks, he is actually able to handle it with maturity. He shows a deep love for Lily.

There were some twists in this book that shocked me, in a good way. I love the direction this book took. This is such a heavy topic that was approached with incredible sensitivity and care. 

My only qualm is the ending,

I felt that it was rushed and that Maya's confession came out of nowhere. There was no real indication of her jealousy throughout this book. It was shocking the she allowed her "best friend* to go through the trial knowing he was innocent and when she finally confesses there are no consequences.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Deadnaming, Emotional abuse, Domestic abuse, Abandonment, Bullying, Child death, Grief, Misogyny, Suicide attempt, Gaslighting, Medical content, Toxic relationship, and Transphobia

mollyb13's review against another edition

challenging emotional informative reflective sad 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? It's complicated

5.0

Such a beautiful and heartbreaking novel. I went into this without knowing exactly what it was about and this was so much more than the courtroom drama I first thought it was going to be. The authors blended their writing seamlessly and I enjoyed the alternating POVs. Highly highly recommend this to everyone (though please be mindful of the content warnings because some very heavy topics are discussed).

The only thing that I had a bit of trouble with was

that some of the passages explaining gender and transitioning and the experiences of transgender people felt a bit forced. These passages, while packed with important information, came off as an educational aside and really kind of jolted me out of the story. I wish that they would have worked this information into the plot more seamlessly. This feeding of information made more sense in the courtroom setting where it could be realistically explained to a jury, but otherwise felt almost like the authors were breaking the fourth wall. 

Despite this, I'm keeping my rating at 5 stars. I don't think it is enough to bring down what was otherwise a very powerful novel.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Outing, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Transphobia, Violence, Suicide attempt, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Medical content, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, Death, Grief, and Mental illness

Moderate: Blood and Injury/Injury detail

kimveach's review against another edition

emotional informative mysterious reflective sad fast-paced

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

5.0

I didn't know anything about this book besides that it was by one of my favorite authors.   I'm glad I didn't because it made the story more surprising and exciting.   I highly recommend it.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Domestic abuse, Misogyny, Child abuse, Gaslighting, Grief, Medical content, Murder, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, Bullying, Emotional abuse, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, Violence, Transphobia, Sexual content, Abortion, Blood, Self harm, Suicide attempt, Death, Forced institutionalization, Injury/Injury detail, Medical trauma, and Suicidal thoughts

Moderate: Alcohol

dernhelms_bag's review against another edition

dark emotional inspiring slow-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? It's complicated

5.0

This is basically To Kill a Mockingbird but begging oblivious readers capable of human empathy to give a shit about trans people. I DO NOT recommend this to trans readers or anyone who already has trans people in their life they love and respect because this is intentionally deeply upsetting.  A trans woman and activist asked Picoult to write this with her to make an appeal to society to do something about the violence and persecution.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Deadnaming, Physical abuse, Domestic abuse, Misogyny, Suicide attempt, Suicidal thoughts, Sexual assault, Child abuse, Toxic friendship, Sexual violence, Outing, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, Transphobia, Sexual harassment, Sexism, Death, Abortion, Medical content, Hate crime, and Animal death

herheadinherbook's review against another edition

challenging emotional inspiring mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

As I was about to begin reading this book, I saw on one of the author’s IG page that there is already talk of banning this book in parts of America. 

How dare they think about banning this book? 

To do so is to wipe out or silence so many different women - the ones who loves unconditionally, the ones who survive abuse in all its forms and the ones who fight for survival and for their identity. 
God forbid we read literature that moves us and inspires us to empower every other type of woman. Do they really thing banning this book will keep us from doing any of the above? 

Mad Honey is a tense and powerful read. I found myself taking my time to read it because the characters were so vivid and real that it felt like the events of the book were happening to women I knew and loved .  My heart broke for Olivia, Lily and Ava. It’s an incredibly moving book which spotlights an important issue.

I did guess the circumstance of Lily’s death but that’s no problem. However, for me the revelation and the consequences around Lily’s death was the weakest and most frustrating part of the book. It was dealt with in almost one sentence,  and so it felt rushed. That was strange and totally out of character for a novel that was so detailed and all encompassing its portrayal of the issues it covers.

 If I substract that element, it was a definite 5 star read that kept me guessing about what happened to Lily , but more importantly thinking about her experience of the world. I would certainly recommend it.

Thanks to Jodi Picoult and Jennifer Finney Boylan, their publisher and NetGalley for the opportunity to review an advanced copy of the book in exchange for an honest review

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Physical abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Self harm, Injury/Injury detail, Misogyny, Body shaming, Bullying, Gaslighting, Grief, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Transphobia, Child abuse, Deadnaming, and Emotional abuse