Reviews tagging 'Sexism'

Upright Women Wanted by Sarah Gailey

43 reviews

tangleroot_eli's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
A fun, fast read that needed more of everything to really make it stick. Feels like a book that, when I'm reviewing my 2024 reading list in December, I'll think, Oh yeah, I read that, but I won't be able to tell you much about it.

For anyone else thinking, "This was a good but underdeveloped idea," I highly recommend Charlotte Nicole Davis' Good Luck Girls duology. It treads many similar themes and gives them much more room to breathe. https://app.thestorygraph.com/series/2450
Expand filter menu Content Warnings

shebbyreads's review against another edition

Go to review page

5.0

Expand filter menu Content Warnings

lizziaha's review against another edition

Go to review page

4.0

It’s gay and it’s the wild wild west (is there really any other way to do the wild west?). Light on the worldbuilding and featuring a purposely ignorant (read: brainwashed) baby queer narrator, this book was a fun super easy read. 
Expand filter menu Content Warnings

quinnyquinnquinn's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous emotional funny inspiring fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Expand filter menu Content Warnings

kurumipanda's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous emotional funny hopeful fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.0

Expand filter menu Content Warnings

schnaucl's review against another edition

Go to review page

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

5.0

The time period is a little hard to place.  There's a reference to the Why We Fight shorts which played before films which suggests WWII era, but the towns they visit seem smaller than that.  Cars exist but aren't used because all the fuel is used for the far off war.    It definitely has an old west or even westward expansion feel to it. 

The rest is sadly a prescient view of how some people want America to be.  The State controls all entertainment/media, books, music and film.  Those State approved materials rigidly reinforce cisgender heterosexual norms to the point where anyone who isn't cisgender or anyone who is anything other than straight can't conceive of a world where there are more people like them, or that they might deserve and be able to attain as much happiness as anyone else.    

The librarians (always women, I believe) go from town to town, distributing the Approved Material and collecting worn Approved Material in need of repair.  Of course, sometimes the librarians secretly distribute Unapproved Material and help people escape to the free areas of the country (ironically, in this story that includes Florida).

I would definitely read more about these characters and this world, but I think this is a stand alone.
Expand filter menu Content Warnings

toffishay's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous dark emotional hopeful reflective tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.5

Really interesting short read with a powerful message about community and identity. It could have been longer, I wanted to know more!
Expand filter menu Content Warnings

noroomforghosts's review against another edition

Go to review page

hopeful tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.5

I think the idea behind this novella is great. Queers fighting fascists I'm a post-apocolyptic west is cool, but it really needed to be a novel to make me believe the arcs of the characters.
It's revealed in the first chapter that the lover of our main character Esther is dead. Despite the very clear death consequences, she kinda spills this story to whoever throughout the boom. There's also an insta-love/attraction plot with Cye that just didn't feel believable given how recently Beatriz was killed. It's kinda handwaved away by Esther saying Beatriz wouldn't be jealous, but it just felt too fast.

On the whole, I loved the fast pace of the novel but the character growth also moved way too fast to be believable. I think if it was just longer and I was able to have more time with the characters I really could've gotten into it, but as of now, it's just missing too much.
Expand filter menu Content Warnings

flowergrove's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous inspiring fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

Ughhh so good! My first western, short, sweet, and had a fantastic meaning! This should be taught in classes everywhere. Think Handmaids tell without non inclusive white woman feminism. 
Expand filter menu Content Warnings

eegekay's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous hopeful fast-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? Yes

4.75

Expand filter menu Content Warnings