Reviews tagging 'Sexism'

The Shadow King by Maaza Mengiste

5 reviews

stindex's review against another edition

dark slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No

2.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Physical abuse, Racism, Rape, Sexism, Adult/minor relationship, Antisemitism, Misogyny, Murder, Sexual content, War, Injury/Injury detail, Sexual violence, Child abuse, Gun violence, Pedophilia, Violence, Death, Genocide, and Medical content

careinthelibrary's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional informative medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Injury/Injury detail, Violence, Sexual violence, Confinement, Murder, Colonisation, Torture, War, Death, Racism, Rape, and Sexual assault

Moderate: Death of parent and Sexism

kittya's review against another edition

Got bored

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexism, Sexual assault, and War

aargot1's review

dark emotional informative reflective tense slow-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Sexual content, Sexism, Toxic relationship, Toxic friendship, Slavery, Gun violence, Forced institutionalization, Xenophobia, War, Death, Confinement, Colonisation, and Rape

curatoriallyyours's review

challenging dark reflective slow-paced

• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

The positives: I learnt a lot from reading this book, even though it is a work of fiction, about Ethiopia and the Italian invasion under Mussolini. I intend to read some non-fiction on this topic as a result of reading this story. 

The negatives: Though I pitied the main character for all she endured, I did not warm to her. The author's style was also quite off-putting and made it hard for me to sink into the narrative until well into the book. If I hadn't been reading this as the final book in a reading challenge (with only a few days to go) I'd probably have abandoned it. The author's refusal to use speech marks to denote speech baffled me and made me resentful for the re-reading I needed to do every time I realised someone had started speaking without the usual indication that this was the case. I don't care to read any more from this author as a result. 

I feel that the story itself was worthwhile but the author's style really bothered me throughout the book and stopped me from ever truly being enveloped in the narrative.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Gun violence, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, and Violence

Moderate: Blood, Confinement, Excrement, Infidelity, Medical trauma, Racism, Self harm, Sexual content, and Sexual violence

Minor: Antisemitism and Drug use