Reviews tagging 'Blood'

Difficult Women by Roxane Gay

12 reviews

milksoup's review

dark

• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

1.0

a collection of stories about women hurt and humiliated by men and women who, more often than not, want to be hurt and humiliated by men. chock-full of violent straight sex - even when the character in focus of the story is in love with another woman, you will read descriptions of her having straight sex. repetitive elements of a twin bond, the cold north, lumberjacks, hunting. the blurb on the back of the polish edition calls it feminist, i dont see anything remotely related to feminism here. reading this felt like reading torture porn - but for women.

if you want to read about women being hurt over and over by men, usually sexually and often willingly, this is a book for you. why anyone would want that thought, i cant imagine

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Sexual violence, Sexual content, Self harm, Pedophilia, Pregnancy, Child abuse, Violence, Sexual harassment, Grief, Emotional abuse, War, Vomit, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Kidnapping, Car accident, Blood, Physical abuse, Death, Rape, Misogyny, Fatphobia, Eating disorder, Domestic abuse, Lesbophobia, Alcohol, Homophobia, Miscarriage, Sexual assault, and Sexism

pseudolain's review

challenging dark emotional hopeful reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Toxic relationship, Pregnancy, Rape, Miscarriage, Sexual assault, Sexual content, and Sexual violence

Moderate: Blood, Misogyny, Fatphobia, Grief, Abandonment, Domestic abuse, Infertility, Medical content, and Vomit

sakisreads's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark slow-paced

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

3.5

This is my first time reading Roxane Gay (late to the game, I know) and gosh, this collection was not an easy read! The stories below felt the most memorable for me:

‘I Will Follow You’ doesn’t need many words to be hard-hitting. Content warnings for this one (and every story after) are included below. Fuck Mr. Peters 😫

‘Florida’ was great fun. A bit fucked up, definitely, but also real. I could picture every one of these characters 🫠

‘How’ was so interesting. How life can feel so trivial, yet people can be going through things you just never know about! 😳

Loved Hanna and Laura’s little love story and how they managed to get away with Anna, Logan and the baby ✨

‘Pilgrim’ was so interesting, because it feels taboo to talk about the heartbreak of losing a child. This felt sharp and succinct 🥲 Wholeheartedly heartbreaking and yet the lack of feeling was clearly so intentional!

‘Glass’ was familial and so messy. Loved that 🙊

All in all, I’m rating this collection 3.5 out of 5 stars. I’m looking forward to exploring more of Gay’s works ✨ 

Content warnings included as usual below.

Thank you!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Blood, Body horror, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Fatphobia, Infidelity, Miscarriage, Pedophilia, Racism, Rape, Death, Infertility, and Sexual violence

angelbabe_cj's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional tense 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? It's complicated

4.0

The book overall and the writing is excellent. It is also very intense. One you might decide to dip in and out of rather than read back to back. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Confinement, Child death, Rape, Infertility, Car accident, Sexual content, and Racism

Moderate: Body horror, Child abuse, Gaslighting, Infidelity, Kidnapping, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Racism, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Fatphobia, Injury/Injury detail, Miscarriage, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual violence, Stalking, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Violence, Eating disorder, Alcohol, Animal death, Body shaming, Grief, Infertility, Medical content, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Car accident, Classism, Gore, Pregnancy, Self harm, Sexual content, Alcoholism, Blood, Confinement, Death, and Gun violence

Not all warnings apply to all stories in the collection. I've done my best below to list what is included in each story. I did make notes as I read but I know I missed some things.

I will follow you: pedophilia, sexual abuse, confinement, panic attacks/disorders Water, All its weight: child abandonment The Mark of Cain: pregnancy, infidelity, child abuse, sexual violence Difficult women: sexism FLORIDA: eating disorders, sexual content, racism, classism La Negra Blanca: sexual content, stalking, explicit rape, violence, racism, racial slurs Baby Arm: sex, violence How: brief violence, alcoholism Requiem for a Glass Heart: sexual content, infidelity, stalking? body horror? In the Event of my Father's Death: sexual content, infidelity Break all the way down: child abandonment, explicit child death, car accident, grief, infidelity, physical violence, sexual violence Bad priest: sexual content, religious trauma Open marriage: sexism, toxic relationship? A pat: classism, Best Features: fatphobia (some internalised), sexual content Bone Density: sexual content, infidelity I am a knife: blood, guns, animal death, miscarriage, birth, medical trauma, pregnancy, alcohol, car accident, gore The Sacrifice of Darkness: suicide, death, bullying, death of parent Noble Things: war, injury, medical content, gaslighting?, sexual content, toxic familial relationship Strange Gods: explicit rape, explicit child loss, sexism, racism, medical trauma, blood, hunting/guns, misogyny, infertility?, gaslighting

megmoore123's review

dark emotional reflective sad 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? It's complicated

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Miscarriage, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Rape, Sexism, Addiction, Animal death, Blood, Bullying, Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Kidnapping, Gaslighting, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, and Sexual violence

davisbb's review

dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense fast-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Domestic abuse, Gaslighting, Grief, Infidelity, Kidnapping, Miscarriage, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Violence, Alcoholism, Blood, Car accident, Child abuse, Death, Drug abuse, Rape, Sexual violence, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Trafficking, and Vomit

themodelreader's review

challenging dark tense medium-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Grief, Sexism, Suicide, Violence, Abandonment, Body shaming, Car accident, Classism, Death, Infidelity, Pregnancy, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Miscarriage, Alcoholism, Animal death, Child abuse, Infertility, Sexual content, War, Physical abuse, and Racism

anniefwrites's review

challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

I’d never read Roxane Gay’s fiction before, but it’s just as searing as her essays. Every story sucked me in in a way I haven’t quite experienced with a short story collection before, and the discomfort I felt around the women featured in the stories was surely intentional. Her language is straightforward without lacking emotion, and she tackles traumatic and painful events with a brave incisiveness. Not for the faint of heart, but worth a read.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Blood, Child abuse, Cultural appropriation, Infertility, Infidelity, Kidnapping, Miscarriage, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, Racism, Rape, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Vomit, and War

breadwitchery's review

dark emotional sad medium-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Blood, Car accident, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Incest, Infertility, Infidelity, Kidnapping, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, and Rape

Moderate: Fatphobia, Self harm, Vomit, Violence, Toxic relationship, and Sexual content

porterpa's review

dark emotional reflective medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Racism, Physical abuse, Miscarriage, and Blood

Moderate: Body shaming, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Kidnapping, Miscarriage, Pedophilia, and Physical abuse