Reviews tagging 'Misogyny'

House of Leaves by Mark Z. Danielewski

27 reviews

valentinaambrosius's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious 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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Chronic illness, Cursing, Domestic abuse, Gaslighting, Grief, Mental illness, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Sexism, and Misogyny

Moderate: Rape, Alcoholism, and Death of parent

Minor: Terminal illness, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Panic attacks/disorders

dogfishpoem's review against another edition

dark mysterious sad tense slow-paced

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

2.5

The unique structure of the book was fun, but why do men have to write like that :/ This was so misogynistic it read like satire at points. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Gun violence, Self harm, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Panic attacks/disorders, Murder, Misogyny, Mental illness, Forced institutionalization, and Sexual content

Moderate: Racism, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Suicide, Suicidal thoughts, and Eating disorder

Minor: Rape

everyotherpageorso's review against another edition

While the mind-numbing pseudo-academic style of much of the book was the bulk of the reason I found this book unenjoyable, the excerpts from Johnny Truant were much worse. Almost every single contribution he made to the book included a description of his sexual encounters, which don’t fit the tone of the rest of the book at all. That’s not the real issue either. The problem is: almost every single female character outside of the Navidson Record exists SOLELY to have sex with Johnny or his friend Lude. What really made me throw in the towel (and I don’t consider this a spoiler, because like I said, these intermissions literally have no impact on the actual plot) was “Lude’s List” where he writes the names, ages, and cursory descriptions of the women he’d slept with that month, as well as date and times of day. In the second of these lists, the women are listed only by their names and traumas, and many of them were either raped or molested. These women are glossed over and their trauma is used to describe the revelation of Johnny and Lude that maybe November wasn’t as fun as they thought and that their fleeting relationships with these women and others meant nothing 😐.   In which case, why objectify their trauma at all ?? Then goes on to describe (literally on the very next page) a new conquest’s DDD breasts on the very next page, as well as how he’s both entranced and disgusted by her. Further, right before THAT, one of Johnny’s intended hookups (Clara) tells him about her rape and decides not to sleep with him, and he wonders to himself and the reader if she is defective, broken, or “devoid of meaning and love” because of it. Every time I felt like I could really immerse myself in a bit of the eeriness of the book (and NO, this book is not scary or frightening, it’s very mild) Johnny or Lude detail more of their slimy exploits. It was greasy and gross and I don’t even really feel that bad for not finishing it. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death and Violence

Moderate: Misogyny and Rape

Minor: Child abuse and Pedophilia

alylentz's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark mysterious tense slow-paced

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

3.0

I'm still not entirely sure how I feel about this book, but I do know I really respect what it does and can see why so many people love it. Personally, I think you're going to get the most out of it if you really commit with a lot of effort, including multiple rereads and reading theories online, and I'm just not really in a place to do that right now (and to be frank, it grab me enough to do so). I still enjoyed it and found it worthwhile, but it is definitely not a book I would recommend to everyone just on the simple fact that it is intentionally frustrating and intimidating. Additionally, I think there are some classic misogynistic early 2000s horror elements to this that make it lose a little bit of its shine when reading it today. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Blood, Confinement, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Forced institutionalization, Gore, Gun violence, Grief, Infidelity, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Suicidal thoughts, and Violence

Minor: Ableism, Sexism, and Misogyny

possum's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious tense slow-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content, Misogyny, Mental illness, Addiction, and Death

soapyporridge's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful inspiring mysterious reflective sad tense slow-paced

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

4.5

 I am indefinitely biased towards this book as I did my dissertation on it so my rating is more of a consequence of personal opinion and attachment than based upon the craft. That being said I still find the ways this book pushes the boundaries of the media to be important. We view books to be isolated incidents when they are far more capable of stretching past the limits of their pages and binding than we can ever fully grasp.
 I know it has many shortcomings. I know that some of it will always just be out of reach of my understanding and some of it will make me angry and frustrate me but I am ok with that.

I took my morning walk, I took my evening walk, I ate something, I thought about something, I wrote, I napped and dreamt something too, and with all that something, I still have nothing because so much of sum’thing has always been and always will be you.

I miss you.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal death, Blood, Body horror, Body shaming, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Death of parent, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Grief, Gun violence, Mental illness, Misogyny, Murder, Panic attacks/disorders, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, and Vomit

anonymousreader's review against another edition

1.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Misogyny