Reviews tagging 'Sexism'

Weyward by Emilia Hart

198 reviews

somills's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character

4.0

Went looking for cozy cottage-core witches, found 400 years of generational trauma. That one’s on me; I didn’t read the description especially closely.

This did absolutely nothing to restore (establish?) my faith in men, but it is a beautiful story of female resilience and connection to nature, and is the first book to make me cry in a while.

There was a really weird minute where I was very afraid that this book is anti-choice, but fortunately that’s not the takeaway here. 

FOR THE LOVE OF GOD CHECK THE CONTENT WARNINGS. I am very upset. Again, that one’s on me.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Miscarriage, Misogyny, and Abortion

Moderate: Domestic abuse, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, and Suicidal thoughts

Minor: Infertility, Medical trauma, and Stalking

pastelhxrmony's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-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? It's complicated

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Incest, Miscarriage, Pedophilia, Rape, Sexual assault, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Sexism, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, and Pregnancy

Minor: Abortion

kayceero's review

DNF. Trauma porn. Felt like the characters existed only to put them through various traumas. Unremarkable writing and flat, one-dimensional characters. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Gore, Incest, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Violence, Stalking, Abortion, and Pregnancy

Moderate: Forced institutionalization

piebelly's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring reflective medium-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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Grief, Abortion, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Incest, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Medical trauma, and Gaslighting

Minor: Cancer, Child abuse, Confinement, Death, Infertility, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Suicidal thoughts, Forced institutionalization, Stalking, Car accident, and War

thatokiebird's review against another edition

dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

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

1.75

I picked up Weyward for book club and it was just not my jam. It's dark, sad, tense, unhappy, full of strife and way way more rape than I want to ever read about, both in mentions and in graphic detail. There just weren't many redeeming happy moments to make up for all the darkness. There was a bit of good revenge which we're definitely here for, but otherwise it was just women being beaten down for nearly the 11 hour audiobook.

The discussion for Weyward during book club was interesting, as the majority of people thoroughly enjoyed this novel and I was glad to hear their perspectives and what they took from the book. And although I didn't like it, it was immensely readable. The audiobook is narrated by three different narrators, one for each of the three main characters of the book, and it was easy to continue reading to (for me) hope something nice happens to someone eventually. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Miscarriage, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Abortion, and Sexual harassment

okgm's review

Gosh, I really tried and tried and tried with this one and it got to the point where I simply had to throw in the towel. I really hate dnf-ing books and usually pull through until the ending, but knee deep into the book and I still had absolutely no idea what the point was. I realize that perhaps the book is about empowering women to overcome their horrifying circumstances but I'm not sure if it was really hitting home for me? The writing was pretty good but a lot of the trauma was incredibly heavy handed, like, a LOT more telling than showing, and a lot of the historical White Feminism really made me cringe (this book is Not for womanists). I was hoping there would be a lot more magical elements but the closest we got was a connection to nature and the use of elderberries (I could be wrong as I did not finish the book). A part of me wishes that the author took more time to do research on tinctures or SOMETHING, because the magic-in-question was just based off of "odd" vibes and being outside. It felt more about historical aestheticism than hereditary witchcraft (maybe that was the point??? that these women are being accused of witchcraft and they actually just like bugs??? irdk???). It just wasn't for me and I wanted so badly to enjoy it. Oh well, on to the next.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Misogyny, Rape, Sexism, and Pregnancy

morganvw's review

challenging dark emotional mysterious 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? Yes

4.75

personally i loved this book although wish they had some content warnings as this read was darker than expected (like lots of dark stuff). out of the three povs, i really liked violet and wanted more from altha; kate was kind of a boring character but since her story tied together with the others’ i wasn’t that bothered overall. women’s resilience was the clear theme throughout the book, and although i liked that message, it felt like there was so much darkness that happened to get to the resilience, we didn’t see them actually *being* resilient after. so the hopefulness that i think the author wanted to highlight wasn’t really shining in the end. i really enjoyed the mystery around it and bouncing from pov to pov to pov and piecing things together with the characters.

now i want to befriend a crow.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Miscarriage, Rape, Sexism, Sexual violence, Suicide, and Abortion

Moderate: Misogyny, Sexual assault, Death of parent, and Pregnancy

Minor: Violence and War

jgzatkin's review

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Rape, Sexism, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Abortion, and Pregnancy

basil_touche's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful mysterious reflective sad tense 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? Yes

3.0

I wasn't quite sure I'd enjoy this when I started listening to it, but it turns out I found it engaging, if a little repetitive with the descriptions (you could make a shot game out of the times that kate's heart pounds). 

I like that with the audiobook the three women were narrated by three different narrators; helped them feel like distinct characters. Altha was my favourite. Her voice felt very of the period (1619), and her personality felt very distinct from Violet and Kate. The way that their stories linked up over the centuries was well done, though perhaps a tad too contrived at points (especially how Violet is linked with a certain event in the last chapter). The book is filled with heavy subject matter, but I think that it is treated with care. Fair warning that it does get very graphic at times. I did feel that most of the antagonists were a bit one note/dimensional

with the exception of Fredrick

(a little like the man bad woman good trope, this book can get a bit gender essentialist at times)

I'm not sure if I'm fully happy with how all their plot threads end

(The fact they feel like their obligated to carry on the Weyward legacy by getting pregnant bothered me, especially in regards to Altha, just kinda robbed her of some of her agency)

, although I do like how understated the magical elements are, how it's mainly a connection to the animals and insects.

Overall I enjoyed this, probably won't read it again or other books similar to it. Kinda feels like if you've read one, you've read them all

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Body horror, Child abuse, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Incest, Infertility, Mental illness, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Medical trauma, Stalking, Abortion, Suicide attempt, and Pregnancy

Moderate: Alcoholism, Miscarriage, Forced institutionalization, Religious bigotry, Death of parent, Murder, Gaslighting, and Abandonment

Minor: Animal death, Suicidal thoughts, Car accident, War, and Injury/Injury detail

mels_reading_log's review against another edition

dark emotional inspiring medium-paced

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

4.5

This book tells the stories of three women along the same family line, separated by hundreds of years. Each of the women were extra connected to nature, able to connect with animals, bugs and birds as well as heal with herbs and other plants. Each one of them had to deal with difficult people, cruel men, and heartbreaking situations. Of course there were accusations of witchcraft. Men need to be happy women are just looking for equality and not revenge, because we have suffered so much over the years.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Abortion, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Car accident