Reviews tagging 'Gaslighting'

Dykette by Jenny Fran Davis

8 reviews

itstheesilvie's review

dark emotional funny hopeful reflective sad tense medium-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? Yes

4.0

Fortunately or unfortunately this book made me reflect on myself and previous relationships I had with some of the women in my life. It was definitely a book that every character was so relatable yet unhinged and fucked up. It was incredibly raw writing.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug use, Gaslighting, Injury/Injury detail, Self harm, Sexual content, Blood, Body horror, Toxic relationship, Gore, Infidelity, and Toxic friendship

kelkelkelkelly's review

challenging dark tense medium-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

3.0

I’m rating this book right in the middle because I’m not sure what to make of it. I believe it’s satire but even then I’m not sure it’s even particularly good satire. But it’s definitely unique and I will be thinking about it for a long time.

The story is like if White Lotus read a bunch of queer theory, spent 50+ hours on lesbian TikTok engaging in discourse, then declared it could be the voice of a generation. It’s hyper-niche - I think the only people who could get through it are upper middle class queers in major metropolitan areas of North America. The references are so specific and trend driven that it already feels dated to read, and will probably be illegible in ten years.

The POV character Sasha is deeply unlikable, self-obsessed, manipulative, performative, controlling, and vain. The other characters are all thinly drawn, and it’s hard to tell if that’s to underscore Sasha’s self-obsession or bad writing. Lou, the only character of colour, is a particularly egregious example of this, seeming to be mostly ignored in the story as though the author couldn’t decide what to do with them, or otherwise demonstrating by omission that Sasha doesn’t care about anything she can’t fuck, control, or hate.

The novel is an uncomfortably frank look at how power works in queer social dynamics, albeit a very narrow sampling of the highly wealthy, mostly cis, and butch/femme conforming. It depicts the ways femme identity can be weaponized to conceal manipulation and controlling behaviour, brushed off as games and “high femme camp antics”, and insisting that if you don’t get you simply must not be smart enough. The book misapplies therapy speak and queer theory citations constantly, blurring the line between critique and asinine nonsense.

In all this, it’s impossible to tell if this was the author’s intent or if she’s just done a sloppy job at writing a complicated character. Either way, it gets points for originality and entertainment value.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Fatphobia, Classism, Sexual content, Body horror, Body shaming, Bullying, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Infidelity, and Toxic relationship

Minor: Excrement

Explicit kink content needle play

m_onalisaa's review

hopeful inspiring lighthearted relaxing

• Loveable characters? Yes

0.25

i no longer identify as a lesbian

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Infidelity, Lesbophobia, Bullying, Sexual content, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Alcohol, Animal cruelty, Cursing, Abandonment, Body shaming, Medical content, Blood, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Biphobia, Sexual violence, Body horror, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Homophobia, Injury/Injury detail, Torture, Drug use, and Toxic relationship

icmcmx's review

challenging fast-paced

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

0.25

Don't. Just save yourself the time and just go straight to therapy. 

It's like the writer took the most absurd things she could think of & threw them together in this grotesque mess of words. 


This is not being queer.  Please don't think that this is it. 

Also would love to call the RSPCA for that poor dug. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Antisemitism, Body shaming, Drug use, Sexual content, Torture, Ableism, Alcohol, Animal cruelty, Biphobia, Classism, Gaslighting, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Homophobia, Medical content, Infidelity, Lesbophobia, Medical trauma, Sexual violence, Toxic friendship, and Toxic relationship

the_lesbrarian's review

dark emotional funny tense slow-paced

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

3.0

This disturbing and complex novel is one I will be thinking about for a long time, but will probably never be able to read again. Centered around three very online butchfemme couples on Christmas vacation in upstate New York, Dykette explores the nuances of contemporary lesbian identity through the eyes of a deeply unlikeable narrator, Sasha. We watch relationships unravel into queer body horror at the intersection of exaggerated performance of online and real-life identity. 

rep: 3 main lesbian couples, non-binary lesbians, butch/femme dynamics, he/him lesbians, they/he/she lesbians

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content, Body horror, and Gore

Moderate: Gaslighting, Infidelity, Dysphoria, Emotional abuse, and Medical content

Minor: Sexual violence

geo81's review

slow-paced

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

1.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Toxic relationship, Sexual content, and Infidelity

Moderate: Toxic friendship, Drug use, Gaslighting, Injury/Injury detail, and Biphobia

Minor: Excrement

megansoetaert's review

tense medium-paced

• Loveable characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

1.75

that’s a no from me dog

everyone was so unlikable & i do not vibe with ppl who cannot take responsibility for their own shit. the whole time i was like… 😒🫤 no thanks.  white-authored portrayals of unhinged white women never give what they’re meant to give.. 

i also don’t think the author was successful in the messages she was trying to spark... it felt like a tacky attempt at being reflective and sardonic tbh

also… all the content warnings

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Toxic relationship, Infidelity, Body horror, Gaslighting, Injury/Injury detail, and Sexual content

Moderate: Mental illness

Minor: Excrement

growliegrl's review

dark emotional lighthearted reflective medium-paced

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

3.0

Loved the idea of this story: queers just being queer and the drama that comes along with just living life. We deserve queer books that aren’t only about trauma or coming out. However…… I did find the characters a bit flat (like some other reviewers here). The manipulative main character’s self-absorption was painful to read. Does this actually make this book genius? Maybe sort of. I’m all for the feminist horror of a protagonist driven to hysteria. But this book just didn’t hit like a Mona Awad novel does. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Toxic relationship, Sexual violence, Gaslighting, Bullying, and Body horror