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zeldazonks's review against another edition
dark
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Surprisingly satisfying feminist revenge fantasy, tense at times and quite graphic. Also enjoyed that it was very much set in Brighton with lots of references to the area!
songteller's review against another edition
dark
reflective
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
robowchow's review against another edition
challenging
dark
reflective
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
4.0
bobbygw's review against another edition
4.0
This is strong, provocative fiction whose style is reminiscent of the writers Gordon Lish (e.g., Peru, Dear Mr. Capote), early Jenny Diski (e.g., Nothing Natural) and Andrea Dworkin (Mercy, Ice and Fire), in terms of its honesty to consider and portray ugly realities and truths through the experiences of their female characters and the chameleon forms of violence perpetrated against women. Dirty Weekend, an account of 48 hours of violence against one woman, and her retributions, is by turns bizarre, poignant, powerful and empathetic.
From the outset, the story of Bella takes on the level of a fable or parable. By the opening pages, she has already been threatened with sexual violence by a man who lives opposite her. He promises to pour acid on her skin. But then 'Fate found Bella one night ... and whispered in her ear. And when she woke up, she knew she'd had enough'. It is from this point that she is empowered; no longer wishing to remain persecuted and victimised by the ignorance and violence so common in so many men. She decides, with the help of a mystic, that - since men seem only to view her as a victim - she is unable to at least act even as a bystander and avoid their glare, so concludes that she has no other choice than to take action.
In a series of explicitly and clinically described episodes, Bella enacts her ideas of retribution upon one violent man after another. If these extreme scenes are powerful, it is because of the brutal honesty in the evocation of Bella's pain and outrage, and the attitudes of the men that only wish to threaten and oppress any iota of self-regard that she may have.
It is an uncompromising novel, working as it does within the ugly, hypocritical shadows that our supposedly moral society casts. Occasionally cliches do spill over the overall quality of the writing, yet Zahavi's strength - to be celebrated, and foolish, if not impossible to deny - is in her fluidity and razor-blade precision to evoke a dark vision; a sinister fable-like version of feminist understanding and empowerment.
From the outset, the story of Bella takes on the level of a fable or parable. By the opening pages, she has already been threatened with sexual violence by a man who lives opposite her. He promises to pour acid on her skin. But then 'Fate found Bella one night ... and whispered in her ear. And when she woke up, she knew she'd had enough'. It is from this point that she is empowered; no longer wishing to remain persecuted and victimised by the ignorance and violence so common in so many men. She decides, with the help of a mystic, that - since men seem only to view her as a victim - she is unable to at least act even as a bystander and avoid their glare, so concludes that she has no other choice than to take action.
In a series of explicitly and clinically described episodes, Bella enacts her ideas of retribution upon one violent man after another. If these extreme scenes are powerful, it is because of the brutal honesty in the evocation of Bella's pain and outrage, and the attitudes of the men that only wish to threaten and oppress any iota of self-regard that she may have.
It is an uncompromising novel, working as it does within the ugly, hypocritical shadows that our supposedly moral society casts. Occasionally cliches do spill over the overall quality of the writing, yet Zahavi's strength - to be celebrated, and foolish, if not impossible to deny - is in her fluidity and razor-blade precision to evoke a dark vision; a sinister fable-like version of feminist understanding and empowerment.
idamariiee's review against another edition
3.0
I have a sick feeling in my stomach whenever I close this book. But a good kind of sick feeling. Empowering? I don´t know.
o0eileen0o's review against another edition
dark
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
dunia_der's review against another edition
challenging
dark
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Rape, Stalking, and Murder
rosof5's review against another edition
dark
slow-paced
2.0
This book looks like a graphic novel where the cover is very enticing, but when you open it up it's some black and white old drawings.
It feels trash like an old noir movie mixed with some gray dystopia with a silent manic pixie dream girl as the protagonist. and it made me question the gender of the author many times, but I think it was because of the accuracy of the sexism mixed with this very plain simple idea of female rage, that only works in fiction. Bella is so plain, we can feel her rage but we never get to know her, nothing about her is interesting, and the story is more to show the gore side of sexism.
It makes me question, how Female rage has risen as a media trend in movies and books, and that they should be seen only as symptomatic fiction, and never as a manifesto since it doesn't propose anything reliable or sustainable.
The fact that Bella looks like a side character of her own life (meaning we don't know anything about her, and everything happens to her, instead of her creating things) shows how much it's not about character development, and only for the plot, but since I'm not into this types of thrillers. It's not even a thriller, because we know from the beginning where the story is heading.
I feel like it was a huge mistake to always speak about Bella from a third-person perspective because maybe that's what made her look distant and dull. When there were reflections of gender it never went deep enough because of the third-person perspective, it was always at a surface level even when the violence got quite gore.
I feel like it's just a sadistic reverse version of gender violence.
I wonder what a movie adaptation of this movie would look like, I imagine a gray dystopia noir mixed with I Spit on Your Grave, but I would really hope the project would look more like Promising Young Woman.
I realized close to the end, that this book is not about the main character at all: it's about the excuses men who commit gender violence tell themselves to justify their violence.
It feels trash like an old noir movie mixed with some gray dystopia with a silent manic pixie dream girl as the protagonist. and it made me question the gender of the author many times, but I think it was because of the accuracy of the sexism mixed with this very plain simple idea of female rage, that only works in fiction. Bella is so plain, we can feel her rage but we never get to know her, nothing about her is interesting, and the story is more to show the gore side of sexism.
It makes me question, how Female rage has risen as a media trend in movies and books, and that they should be seen only as symptomatic fiction, and never as a manifesto since it doesn't propose anything reliable or sustainable.
The fact that Bella looks like a side character of her own life (meaning we don't know anything about her, and everything happens to her, instead of her creating things) shows how much it's not about character development, and only for the plot, but since I'm not into this types of thrillers. It's not even a thriller, because we know from the beginning where the story is heading.
I feel like it was a huge mistake to always speak about Bella from a third-person perspective because maybe that's what made her look distant and dull. When there were reflections of gender it never went deep enough because of the third-person perspective, it was always at a surface level even when the violence got quite gore.
I feel like it's just a sadistic reverse version of gender violence.
I wonder what a movie adaptation of this movie would look like, I imagine a gray dystopia noir mixed with I Spit on Your Grave, but I would really hope the project would look more like Promising Young Woman.
I realized close to the end, that this book is not about the main character at all: it's about the excuses men who commit gender violence tell themselves to justify their violence.
chloelj27's review against another edition
dark
reflective
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gun violence, Misogyny, Murder, Sexual harassment, Blood, Violence, Sexual violence, Death, Injury/Injury detail, and Sexual assault
Moderate: Physical abuse
Minor: Vomit