Reviews tagging 'Racism'

Poor Things by Alasdair Gray

7 reviews

torturedreadersdept's review against another edition

challenging dark funny medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• 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: Death, Mental illness, Sexual content, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Chronic illness, Classism, Emotional abuse, Forced institutionalization, Misogyny, Pregnancy, Violence, Confinement, Abandonment, Blood, Body horror, Body shaming, Child death, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Sexism, Child abuse, Suicide, Addiction, Alcohol, Dysphoria, Gun violence, Infidelity, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, and Racism

bdingz's review against another edition

adventurous dark funny medium-paced

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

4.5

I enjoyed this more than I expected. The bait-and-switch near the end really threw me through a loop and I’ll be thinking about it for a long time.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide, Sexism, Racism, Toxic relationship, and Medical content

Moderate: Sexual content and Gun violence

Minor: Child death, War, and Forced institutionalization

emadisonc's review

adventurous dark funny mysterious reflective medium-paced

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

4.0

“Only bad religions depend on mysteries, just as bad governments depend on secret police. Truth, beauty and goodness are not mysterious, they are the commonest, most obvious, most essential facts of life, like sunlight, air and bread. Only folk whose heads are muddled by expensive educations think truth, beauty, goodness are rare private properties. Nature is more liberal. The universe keeps nothing essential from us—it is all present, all gift. God is the universe plus mind. Those who say God, or the universe, or nature is mysterious, are like those who call these things jealous or angry. They are announcing the state of their lonely, muddled minds.”

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide

Moderate: Racism, Animal cruelty, Misogyny, and Miscarriage

secunda's review

adventurous challenging funny informative inspiring mysterious reflective slow-paced

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

5.0

Delightfully postmodern with very funny prose most of the time. The book’s heartfelt yet satirical take on poverty and gender politics is quite enjoyable. The last chapter in particular makes it worth reading even if you’ve already seen the movie. It gives the novel a very different narrative.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Sexism, Terminal illness, Sexual content, Religious bigotry, Racism, Misogyny, Medical content, Pregnancy, Gun violence, Infidelity, and Mental illness

Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Injury/Injury detail, and Forced institutionalization

readdanoread's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny tense 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: Medical trauma, Drug abuse, Domestic abuse, Chronic illness, Body horror, Death, Ableism, Racial slurs, Miscarriage, Antisemitism, Mental illness, Gun violence, Racism, Medical content, Homophobia, Emotional abuse, Drug use, Cursing, Colonisation, Adult/minor relationship, Abandonment, Suicide, Grief, Alcohol, Child abuse, Sexual content, and Alcoholism

couldbestephen's review against another edition

4.0

As soon as I saw the trailer for the film adaptation of Poor Things, I knew I was going to have to get my hands on the book before I watched the movie. All I really knew was that this was a "gender-swapped version of Frankenstein." And while that's not entirely wrong... there's so much more to unpack.

Poor Things follows Godwin Baxter, McCandless, and a cast of strange characters as they interact with Bella Baxter, a woman brought back from the dead with her mind wiped clean. As she relearns what it means to be a person, her past keeps coming back to haunt her.

The language used in the novel, as well as most of the thematic elements, are immediately reminiscent of late Enlightenment/early Gothic authors like Mary Shelley and Edgar Allen Poe. It's an older, denser style of writing that readers who are not fans of more "classic" works of literature may not enjoy or be able to break through. As someone who grew up reading the "English classics," it took me a bit before I was comfortably back in the rhythm of this type of work. Gray masterfully weaves his story with gothic themes of personhood, religion, and politics, along with more modern concerns of female autonomy and societal expectations. 

The ending honestly shocked me. I kinda expected some sort of twist when I saw what one of the final "chapters" was titled, but to turn the entire story on its head right at the end like that, further cementing the themes of female liberation and lack of autonomy? I would 100% recommend this novel.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Miscarriage, Medical trauma, Sexual violence, Racism, Misogyny, and Suicide

chasingpages1's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark funny informative mysterious reflective sad slow-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Death of parent, Grief, Misogyny, Pregnancy, Sexism, Sexual content, Chronic illness, Classism, Colonisation, Abandonment, Body horror, Domestic abuse, Gaslighting, Medical content, Gun violence, Infidelity, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Terminal illness, Toxic friendship, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Child death, Addiction, Injury/Injury detail, Xenophobia, and Death

Minor: Religious bigotry, Slavery, Trafficking, Violence, Animal cruelty, Antisemitism, Cursing, Abortion, Alcohol, Blood, Drug use, Racism, and War