Reviews tagging 'Death'

Дівчина, жінка, інакша by Bernardine Evaristo

61 reviews

culown's review against another edition

adventurous emotional reflective tense medium-paced

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

5.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Abortion, Addiction, Alcohol, Bullying, Cancer, Child abuse, Child death, Deadnaming, Death, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Dysphoria, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Forced institutionalization, Grief, Hate crime, Homophobia, Medical content, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Pregnancy, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Slavery, Suicide, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, and Violence

Moderate: Transphobia and Xenophobia

davidrb's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional funny hopeful reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

UGH so good! More than deserving of all the acclaim. The characters feel like living, breathing people, while also cutting clear strokes about real world issues. Highlights for me were Amma, Yazz, Carole, and Bummi. Less impressed with Shirley, Winsome, and Penelope, though even then, the way they tie into the themes and story is wonderful. Just a fantastic read. The style works so, so well.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Alcohol, Body shaming, Chronic illness, Deadnaming, Death, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Dysphoria, Emotional abuse, Grief, Hate crime, Homophobia, Infertility, Infidelity, Lesbophobia, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Pregnancy, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Transphobia, Violence, and Xenophobia

char1otte's review against another edition

emotional hopeful inspiring reflective sad fast-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

5.0

As soon as I finished the last sentence, all I wanted to do was start again from the beginning.
Such a deeply emotional, clever and captivating book! As someone who at a first, superficial glance has little in common with the characters, I still found it so easy to relate to the profoundly human topics explored here and have to admit I learned a lot about myself. Would recommend to anyone - even though I was first stirred away from this by a friend who didn't like it.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism and Sexism

Minor: Addiction, Alcohol, Abandonment, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Colonisation, Death of parent, Death, Drug use, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Infidelity, Lesbophobia, Misogyny, Racial slurs, Rape, Slavery, and Transphobia

agnieszkaszuba's review against another edition

emotional informative reflective 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? It's complicated

5.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Toxic relationship

Moderate: Child abuse, Dysphoria, Emotional abuse, Racism, and Xenophobia

Minor: Miscarriage, Child death, Death, Death of parent, Drug abuse, Drug use, Homophobia, Lesbophobia, Transphobia, Misogyny, Pregnancy, Murder, and Sexual violence

glitterpricked's review against another edition

emotional inspiring reflective medium-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? Yes

3.5

first, before reading this book, I often saw it described as telling the story of twelve interconnected Black British women. this synopsis is unfair, in my opinion, as one of the twelve characters is actually non-binary. other than that, the book most certainly does depict themes such as womanhood.

it took me about 80 pages to get into the book, and I was convinced I'd end up rating it about 2.5*. however, I'm glad I continued because I enjoyed it a lot more than I thought I would. Amma started off the book and was the hardest section to get through as it read more like a list than a novel. Yazz, Amma's daughter, followed, a character I found somewhat unlikeable so hard to read.

however, I concede that me struggling for the first 80 pages could be because: Amma acted as the set-up to the book; I was getting used to the writing style (little punctuation and not very prosaic); and the book I read before this was The Picture of Dorian Gray, which has long flowy descriptions at times, very different to this book.

reading tips: I'd say power through the first two characters, Amma and Yazz, and only decide to give up while you're reading Dominique's story. also keep in mind that the author is purposefully making these characters complex, so there will be character traits that you do not like.

things I liked about the book:
- the way the author depicted certain themes, including (but probably not limited to): success, generation gaps, motherhood, sisterhood, misogyny, racism, womanhood, aging
- characters are often portrayed as acting in ways that are hypocritical or selfish, which makes them very realistic
- the "happy endings" are realistic and subjective
- the characters are all from different backgrounds and have very distinct personalities
- I cried NINE times during this book... that says enough
- the interconnections were done really well: some sections made me really empathise with characters who I previously did not like because of their treatment of other characters
- the ending very nicely tied one plotline together

things I did not like:
- the author comes across as a little out of touch during Yazz's section, using unnecessary slang (e.g. "squad"...) and hashtags thrown in for no reason (e.g. #whitegirltrumpsblackgirl...)
- to begin with, switching from character to character tired me out a little bit (e.g. by the end of Yazz's section, I wanted to know more about her and her group of friends)
- there were a few points where the discourse felt a little surface-level and so didn't offer anything new
- didn't have much of an opinion on Amma until Dominique's section, which is strange as the first two sections were about Amma and Amma's own daughter
- character flaws feel like they're going too far sometimes
- there was one character who I wish the author came back to at the end but didn't
- this may be my fault but other reviews have also said that at some points, the character names got confusing, especially with all the minor characters in chapter five

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: Blood, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Homophobia, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Racism, Rape, and Transphobia

gaylien420's review against another edition

emotional funny slow-paced

• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes

4.5

4.5 stars, because the characters were a bit confusing,there were too many for me to follow, but i liked that they were all connected somehow.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Toxic relationship, Transphobia, Sexual assault, Police brutality, Physical abuse, Misogyny, Lesbophobia, Infidelity, Infertility, Miscarriage, Emotional abuse, Death, and Death of parent

Moderate: Drug use

Minor: Slavery

renjamin's review against another edition

emotional reflective 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

I read this book almost entirely in one day and I found the stories to be incredibly captivating. Evaristo has a way of drawing you into a book with so many characters that I was worried it would all feel lost and quite muddled but I couldn't have been more wrong.  My main critique of the book and the thing holding me back from giving this a five-star review is the way that it treats its trans characters. For a book called Girl, Woman, Other, I would've expected a much more nuanced perspective on trans issues. I felt like Morgans character development was rushed and I didn't appreciate the consistent use of the wrong pronouns for them even at points from their own perspective. I also really didn't like that so many of the queer women expressed terf like views that were barely challenged by the people around them even when they disagreed.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Deadnaming, Death, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Grief, Homophobia, Infidelity, Misogyny, Pregnancy, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexism, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Toxic relationship, and Transphobia

Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, and Miscarriage

Minor: Antisemitism, Eating disorder, Islamophobia, Mass/school shootings, and Police brutality

zombiezami's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional hopeful mysterious tense slow-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

4.0

I generally enjoy books that jump from one perspective to another, and this is no exception. I liked slowly realizing how each of the characters connected with the others. I will admit, however, that some of the narratives ran together, and some narratives were a lot more fleshed out than others. 

The one thing I didn't like flat out was the way trans topics were handled in the book. I thought it was great to read about Morgan's understanding of themselves and their loving long-term relationship. However, the other characters in the book repeated anti-trans talking points almost completely unchallenged. Given the growing anti-trans sentiment in Britain in particular, plus the fact that so few cis people claim to know anyone who is trans or be informed on trans issues, I felt that this was not a responsible way to frame these conversations. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Pregnancy, Homophobia, Transphobia, Misogyny, Rape, Sexual violence, Sexual content, Sexual assault, Racism, Deadnaming, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Infidelity, Grief, Xenophobia, and Biphobia

Moderate: Animal death, Miscarriage, Suicidal thoughts, Vomit, Racial slurs, Hate crime, Police brutality, Adult/minor relationship, Infertility, Child death, Child abuse, Mental illness, Cursing, Body shaming, Bullying, Death, Death of parent, Drug abuse, Drug use, Fatphobia, Toxic relationship, Violence, Incest, Islamophobia, and Medical content

Minor: Antisemitism, Vomit, Forced institutionalization, Self harm, and Mass/school shootings

bronzeageholly's review against another edition

challenging emotional hopeful inspiring reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Sexual assault, Death, Domestic abuse, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Homophobia, Mental illness, Racism, and Transphobia

Moderate: Grief, Infidelity, Deadnaming, Alcoholism, and Drug use

rosh's review against another edition

challenging emotional reflective medium-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? Yes

4.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Miscarriage, Rape, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Drug use, Homophobia, Racism, Racial slurs, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, and Transphobia

Minor: Deadnaming