Reviews tagging 'Homophobia'

Patsy by Nicole Dennis-Benn

41 reviews

lnidsey's review

5.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Suicide, Lesbophobia, Self harm, Sexual violence, Miscarriage, Infertility, Rape, Suicidal thoughts, Abandonment, Domestic abuse, and Homophobia

bluberrybooks's review

challenging dark emotional reflective sad 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Rape, Religious bigotry, Self harm, Sexual harassment, Suicide, Suicide attempt, and Transphobia

Moderate: Homophobia, Pedophilia, Racism, Xenophobia, Physical abuse, and Child abuse

Minor: Animal death and Miscarriage

juliastern__'s review

challenging emotional hopeful inspiring sad slow-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual violence, Self harm, Hate crime, Lesbophobia, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Mental illness, Homophobia, Grief, and Abandonment

Moderate: Alcohol, Miscarriage, Adult/minor relationship, Dysphoria, Bullying, Transphobia, Suicidal thoughts, Sexual content, Racism, Child abuse, Classism, Violence, and Mental illness

Minor: Abortion

onemorepagecrew's review against another edition

emotional reflective sad slow-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

In Patsy by Nicole Dennis-Benn, we meet the protagonist of the same name and witness two of her journeys; one is her physical journey from a fictional city in Jamaica to New York City, and the second is her emotional journey between mother and individual person in this world.  Initially Patsy immigrates to the U.S. to be with her dear friend and once romantic partner, Cicely, and she leaves behind a young daughter, Tru.  The story splits from here and we follow Patsy’s life in NYC and Tru’s life in Jamaica, living with her father.  Both are struggling to understand their feelings for each other and their own identities, with very little communication between them.  

 

This novel was a very slow read for me, intentionally, so I could sit with the characters and try to understand them and not judge their choices (always my goal with books really, some just need more intention).  The writing is beautiful and evokes feelings – not always positive – for the characters.  It shines a light on a tough fact that many don’t want to hear – that motherhood and womanhood are not always working in partnership.  In this book, you witness them in conflict.  Patsy can’t seem to make them line up and she chooses her needs above all, with rippling effects for those around her.  It’s an emotional and deep read and if you like sinking into a book that’s very character-driven, this is an excellent choice.  

 

Content warnings: Abandonment, Self-harm, Homophobia, Child abuse, Sexual assault, Miscarriage, Alcoholism 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Racism, Self harm, and Homophobia

Moderate: Sexual assault, Miscarriage, Alcoholism, and Child abuse

moll_g's review

challenging dark emotional reflective sad medium-paced

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

4.5

This is a challenging book that tackles a lot of heavy issues and made me feel a lot of things. I really enjoyed it overall but it can be very intense in parts. The characterisation and character development was very well done and I think that it being from two different perspectives worked really well. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Homophobia, Rape, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Racism, Sexual violence, and Transphobia

Moderate: Incest, Mental illness, Pregnancy, Sexual content, Xenophobia, Miscarriage, Racial slurs, and Suicidal thoughts

Minor: Police brutality, Alcoholism, Medical content, Murder, and Vomit

cwgrieves's review against another edition

challenging emotional inspiring reflective slow-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Blood, Suicidal thoughts, and Suicide attempt

Moderate: Homophobia and Lesbophobia

ajdotcom's review against another edition

emotional hopeful sad medium-paced

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

4.5

The emotions in this book really caught me off-guard. Taking place over 10+ years, it's a complicated and nuanced story of motherhood, the immigrant experience and queerness, told from the third-person points of view of Patsy, a Jamaican woman living in New York, and Tru, her daughter who she left in Jamaica. It took me a while to get into- although I think that says more about my being used to being catered to as a white reader from the Global North than it does about Dennis-Benn's writing- but the second half was absolutely breathtaking. From the 50% mark, I finished it in four days. I nearly cried near the end, and I couldn't put it down in my final reading session. I highly recommend- and I especially recommend sticking with it if you're finding it hard to get into at the start.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide attempt and Mental illness

Moderate: Homophobia, Miscarriage, Racism, and Sexual assault

The triggering content ramps up in the second half, with

flashbacks to child sexual abuse and a miscarriage, and a graphic suicide attempt.

The first half contains some descriptions of racism and depression.

lucyf's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad slow-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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide attempt, Self harm, Miscarriage, Rape, Sexual content, Suicide, Grief, Homophobia, Domestic abuse, Xenophobia, Racism, Religious bigotry, Pregnancy, Pedophilia, Misogyny, Classism, Murder, Mental illness, Medical trauma, Infertility, and Child abuse

seekittyread's review

challenging dark emotional reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

I find it hard to write a review for this book because it truly made me think about so many things while reading it. Forced motherhood, abandonment, betrayal, sexual orientation, depression....I feel the list could go on, but I can't find the words. All in all it feels like a handbook for explaining why as a society we should be more understanding. Let people love who they love and marry who they want, don't judge people for the color of their skin or the place they were born, be kinder to people because you never know what their life has been like, and don't force women to carry and birth babies they don't want. I don't know why I didn't give this five stars, but for me there was just something missing I can't put to words. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Homophobia

Moderate: Self harm, Abandonment, and Child abuse

Minor: Rape and Miscarriage

daisydoolie's review against another edition

emotional 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

5.0

This book really moved me - really recommend.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Pedophilia, Gun violence, Sexual assault, Sexual content, and Suicide attempt

Moderate: Homophobia, Self harm, and Racism