Reviews tagging 'Misogyny'

All About Love: New Visions by bell hooks

32 reviews

maritareads's review against another edition

reflective medium-paced

3.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Misogyny, Death, and Sexism

Moderate: Domestic abuse, Suicidal thoughts, and Child abuse

nvillanuevadrv's review against another edition

challenging inspiring reflective slow-paced

5.0

I was inspired to read All About Love after bell hooks's passing. Her revelations about feminism, love, colorism, racism, and so much more about society are still relevant today meaning she was both ahead of her time and also, we still have a long way to go to progress past the challenges she astutely names and calls out in this nonfiction treatise. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Sexism, Racism, and Misogyny

biblioglot's review against another edition

emotional hopeful reflective fast-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Misogyny and Death

takarakei's review

informative inspiring reflective medium-paced

4.5

I will be buying this for everyone I know :)

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Misogyny, and Sexism

Moderate: Grief, Child abuse, and Emotional abuse

Minor: Suicidal thoughts, Death, and Addiction

yourbookishbff's review against another edition

challenging hopeful reflective medium-paced

4.0

I'm glad I read this, and love bell hooks' reflective and earnest writing style in these essays. A few essays stand out for me (in particular, Honesty: Be True to Love, is one I'm still thinking about). I would note that this was originally published in the early 00s, and modern readers (like me!) may struggle with how hooks engages with gender essentialism (challenging it but ultimately still writing within its assumptions and constructs, which tracks for the early aughts) and Christianity and spiritualism. There are broad assumptions made about men and women in M/F relationships, in particular (and some odd commentary on and apologism for Bill Clinton that doesn't sit particularly well today), but I suspect that this is a generational difference, as the audience she was writing for had a different set of cultural touchpoints and childhood experiences in the 70s, 80s, and 90s. I think there is a lot of value in these reflections for readers who recognize the different challenges early feminists faced and the constructs they were still largely fighting against. And ultimately, hooks' thoughts are a gift for us as we look back and forward, and I appreciate her thoughts on community care and living by a love ethic, that have so much relevance for us today.

Notes on the audio specifically: I really struggled with the audiobook, honestly. I loved the narration by January LaVoy, but the book itself is incredibly difficult to navigate. None of the chapter titles included in the print book are included in the audiobook's visible chapter titles, and the audiobook numbers the preface, introduction, etc., meaning that the chapter numbering in the audiobook never aligns with the individual essays. I constantly felt confused about where I was, and I feel frustrated that this was sloppily done. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Addiction, Death, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Grief, Sexism, Domestic abuse, and Misogyny

Minor: Infidelity

moo_p's review against another edition

informative reflective slow-paced

4.25

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Content Warnings

Minor: Violence, Sexism, Misogyny, and Toxic relationship

joensign's review

emotional hopeful informative slow-paced

2.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexism, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, and Misogyny

nataliebootlah's review against another edition

emotional informative reflective medium-paced

3.5

First book of 2024! ❤️‍🔥

This quick, six-hour audiobook had me going back and forth between “this feels too woo-woo for me” and “wow, that was really profound”. 

bell hooks is best known for her writings on race, feminism, and class, focusing on the exploration of the intersectionality of race, capitalism, and gender. All About Love, unsurprisingly, focuses on love, our misguided expectations of it, and how flawed our understanding of it can be. 

I’m not a self-help book girl most of the time, so I struggled through parts of this. It’s broken down into thirteen chapters ranging from values, romance, spirituality, community, loss, and commitment among a few others. The community chapter resonated with me the most and I think everyone should read it. Other chapters lost my interest pretty quickly either because they weren’t personally applicable to me or felt too subjective. That being said, I appreciate how open hooks is about love and her thoughts on how it can change the world. We need something to do just that and loving one another more freely, especially those from outside our circles, certainly can help. 

If you’re an introspective person who wants to better understand love and improve your relationships (and don’t mind self-help vibes), you’ll likely enjoy this one.

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Content Warnings

Minor: Domestic abuse, Grief, Emotional abuse, Misogyny, Child abuse, and Sexism

meemzala's review against another edition

challenging emotional hopeful inspiring reflective medium-paced

3.5

I’m sad to say I didn’t connect with this book as much as I had hoped to. I’ll continue to read bell hooks’ works. While it may be an unfair critique, her use of heteronormativity and the binary gender construct took me out of the book. I agree that the patriarchy exists, that all people suffer under it, that both men and women exist, and that there is a majority of cisgender heterosexual people in the world. But I disagree that so much of this book needed to focus on that. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexism, Emotional abuse, Misogyny, and Child abuse

Moderate: Alcoholism, Abandonment, Cancer, and Suicidal thoughts

Minor: Toxic friendship and Grief

amberinpieces's review against another edition

informative reflective medium-paced

3.0

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Content Warnings

Minor: Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Hate crime, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Homophobia, Colonisation, Domestic abuse, Racism, Misogyny, Toxic relationship, Sexism, Classism, Grief, and Suicidal thoughts