Reviews tagging 'Body shaming'

Paradais by Fernanda Melchor

35 reviews

sarrna's review against another edition

challenging dark tense fast-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Toxic friendship, Torture, Stalking, Murder, Alcohol, Sexual violence, Sexual assault, Addiction, Emotional abuse, Body shaming, Gore, Fatphobia, Sexual content, Bullying, Rape, Kidnapping, Gun violence, Classism, and Child abuse

seethinglloron's review against another edition

challenging dark tense medium-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

4.25

Hard to put words to how this made me feel. I might have been primed to finish it tonight, and I felt truly cored like an apple by the end. The whole time, Melchor's praise is like a corkscrew to the eye, digging and digging into the nerves until I was left as electric with misery as Polo. Incredible work here. 

My only gripe is that I felt the start was a tad slow, but the whole thing is so short that you're through the whole thing in the amount of time it takes to flinch at the sound of a gunshot. My g-d.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gun violence, Misogyny, Body shaming, Fatphobia, Alcohol, Vomit, Sexual assault, Kidnapping, Murder, Rape, and Sexual violence

Moderate: Torture

kia_y_k's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Drug use, Sexism, Toxic relationship, Addiction, Body shaming, Sexual content, Misogyny, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Blood, Classism, Cursing, Racial slurs, Rape, Sexual assault, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Incest, Murder, Sexual violence, Violence, and Toxic friendship

jesshastea's review against another edition

challenging dark tense medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gun violence, Incest, Murder, Rape, Violence, Death, Body shaming, and Alcoholism

veelaughtland's review against another edition

challenging dark sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Addiction, Sexism, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Violence, Toxic friendship, Torture, Stalking, Sexual violence, Misogyny, Kidnapping, Injury/Injury detail, Incest, Gun violence, Gore, Fatphobia, Emotional abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Death, Cursing, Child abuse, Body shaming, Blood, Alcoholism, and Alcohol

Moderate: Pregnancy

kaiulanilee's review against another edition

challenging dark tense medium-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcohol, Animal cruelty, Emotional abuse, Excrement, Violence, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Misogyny, Murder, Sexism, Sexual violence, Gun violence, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, Rape, Sexual assault, Stalking, Alcoholism, Fatphobia, Homophobia, Incest, Kidnapping, Sexual content, Sexual harassment, and Body shaming

Moderate: Colonisation, Drug use, Racism, Torture, Classism, Blood, and Child abuse

jlebon's review against another edition

challenging dark tense medium-paced

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

3.25

Whilst I did still overall enjoy this book, it is undoubtedly a frustrating read from cover-to-cover. Whether it is Melchor's sprawling sentences and aversion to punctuation, paragraphs or chapters, or the fact that nothing really happens for the first 95% of the book and the narrative climax is condensed into a few, brief, confusing final pages, there are a number of criticisms I have with this book.

This is particularly frustrating in that I think the concept of the text is fantastic, being extremely dark in nature, presenting incel culture through the lens of the two main characters Polo and Franco and the destructive effect this mindset has upon both themselves and the people around them. However, Melchor has to be given plaudits in her nuanced presentation of such issues, cultivating characters that are products of their environment and aspects of society. Nevertheless, I do think that this was elongated to an unnecessary extent with a great portion of the middle of the text going over well-trodden ground. However, I understand how this could also be symbolic of the trapped mindset the protagonist Polo finds himself in.

As a final point, given the huge build-up to the climax of the narrative, I found the ending unsatisfactory in its briefness and confusing nature.

Again, I understand that this is representative of Polo's loss of mind but for the build-up I wanted that bit more.

By no means a bad book but I definitely think it could have been improved in a multitude of aspects.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexism, Addiction, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Pregnancy, Rape, Body shaming, Death, Sexual violence, Toxic friendship, Cursing, Gun violence, Kidnapping, Physical abuse, Misogyny, Murder, Sexual assault, Sexual content, and Violence

Moderate: Blood, Mental illness, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

Minor: Emotional abuse

msaari's review against another edition

dark tense fast-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

4.0

Fernanda Melchorin edellinen suomennos, Hurrikaanien aika, oli hirmuista vyörytystä vailla kappalejakoja ja turhia välimerkkejä. Nyt Melchor on selvästi hieman asettunut: ensimmäisessä luvussakin – reilussa 30 sivussa – on jo kuusi kappalejakoa! Raju kirja tämäkin kyllä on, mutta mihinkäpä kartellien Meksikossa meno olisi rauhoittunut. 

 

Kansainvälisen Bookerin pitkälle listalle päässyt Paratiisi sijoittuu paratiisiksi nimetylle aidatulle asuinalueelle, jossa nuori mies Polo raataa puutarhurina ja yleismiehenä riistopalkalla, joka sitä paitsi menee suoraan Polon äidin taskuun. Asiat eivät yksinkertaisesti ole kovin hyvin. Niinpä vaikka Polo halveksuukin Paratiisissa asuvaa Franco Andradea – ja miten se tuleekaan selväksi – hän silti hengailee tämän seurassa, kun Franco haaveilee naapurin rouva Marián Maroñosta. Franco haluaisi vietellä rouva Maroñon ja päästy sänkyyn tämän kanssa; realistisesti ajatellen, suunnitelmalla on melko pienet mahdollisuudet toteutua. 

 

Polo on täynnä vihaa. Se tekee hänen näkökulmastaan kerrotusta tekstistä raskasta luettavaa. Polon puheenparsi raastaa; ”sheimaaminen” on liian loivasti sanottu. Tällaista kielenkäyttöä inhoavien ei kannata tähän kirjaan tarttua. Otetaan malliksi yksi virke heti kirjan alusta: 

 

Näin minä nussin sitä, Franco sössötti, seisahduttuaan kompuroiden laiturin reunalle, panen sitä noin ja sitten käsken sen kontilleen ja nussin sitä näin, läski pyyhki sylkeä kämmensyrjällään ja virne levisi pojan korvien väliin niin että hänen suuret valkoiset ja suorat hampaansa, kuin suoraan hammastahnamainoksesta, näkyivät puristuneen vimmaisesti yhteen läskin vapisuttaessa hyytelömäistä ruumistaan ja esittäessään raisua pantomiimiaan, niin että Polon oli pakko irrottaa katseensa, hän naurahti tahtomattaan ja hyödynsi pullukan huomion herpaantumisen, verotti pullosta huikan, sytytti toisen tupakan ja puhalteli savua kiivaasti ylöspäin ajaakseen mangrovesuolta ilmestyneet röyhkeät hyttyset kauemmas. 

 

Tällaista rivouksien ja vihan täyteistä vyörytystä kirja on alusta loppuun. Polo on todella kiukkuinen nuori mies ja kieltämättä ihan syystä: kaikki on häntä vastaan. Kotona on rähjäävä äiti ja raskaana oleva serkkutyttö laiskottelemassa, töissä on sortava pomo, läheisin ystävä katosi jonnekin kartellien maailmaan. Mahdollisuuksia ei ole: töitä saa hakea vaikka millä, mutta ei heru, koska koulu meni miten meni ja Pololla on vähän turhan tumma iho. Kaiken tämän keskellä ei kai ole ihme, jos raivostuttaa. 

 

Jos Hurrikaanien aika teki vaikutuksen ja haluat samaa vimmaista tekstitulvaa uuden annoksen, Paratiisi on nappivalinta. Kovin pitkä se ei ole, noin 150 väljästi taitettua sivua. Kun tekstin kyytiin heittäytyy, kirjan lukee aika ripeästi, eikä tähän pitkäksi aikaa välttämättä kannatakaan jäädä vellomaan, tulee vain paha olo. Hyppää Melchorin ja hienosti tämän tekstipötkön kesyttäneen suomentaja Emmi Ketosen kyytiin ja anna mennä. Mustelmia voi tulla, mutta kyllä tästä ehjänä läpi pääsee. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body shaming, Violence, Sexual assault, Murder, and Torture

Moderate: Racism

reading_sadie's review against another edition

challenging dark tense slow-paced

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

2.5

A troubling story of the classism, sexism and difficult situations many in Mexico find themselves in. Not for the faint of heart. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexism, Ableism, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Child abuse, Classism, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Incest, Body shaming, Misogyny, Death, Fatphobia, Gun violence, Murder, and Rape

laneport's review against another edition

challenging dark fast-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

4.5

An incredible work of literature and translation. But brutal, and hard to enjoy.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content, Death, Murder, Sexual assault, Fatphobia, Gun violence, Misogyny, Rape, Sexual violence, and Violence

Moderate: Toxic friendship, Alcohol, Body shaming, Child death, Pregnancy, and Child abuse

Minor: Drug use and Cursing