Reviews with content warning for Ableism - Pride, Prejudice, and Other Flavors

Reviews tagging 'Ableism'

Pride, Prejudice, and Other Flavors by Sonali Dev

12 reviews

heather667's review against another edition

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emotional reflective slow-paced

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

4.0

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ashleytalksbooks's review against another edition

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emotional 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

2.75

This was a good book and could easily have been a four or five star read for me, but the problematic elements knocked it down several notches unfortunately. Spoilers ahead as well as a content warning for sexual assault and ableism:

Exploring male victims of sexual assault is a very important story to bring light to and deserves proper treatment. Choosing to have a teenage girl sexually assault and drug a grown man as a plot point is not doing that. The implications and optics of a rich powerful man being taken advantage of by a teenage girl casts doubt on victims and is irresponsible story telling. Especially when there were far better ways to adapt Whickham. They could have had her embezzling his campaign funds and stealing money or even had her be an older adult who took advantage of him as a political mentor when he was just starting at his career. Every time it was mentioned I felt sick at my stomach and the story would have been so much better if anything else was done.

There were also multiple parts that seemed to be an attempt to give disabled rep that felt very ableist. The way they handled their cousin with epilepsy. Them never leaving the attic felt really gross especially with the real world history of locking disabled people away.

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qgg's review against another edition

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Diverse cast of characters? Yes

3.75

I really want to give this book a higher rating. It’s a gender bent retelling of P&P with Indian-American culture. Trish Raje is a brilliant brain surgeon and she knows where her talents lie. She plays an excellent Darcy. DJ, in the Lizzie Bennet role, is a gifted chef giving the whole story a Indian foodie flavor. There is a truly wicked Wickham in the mix. What’s not to love?

Unfortunately, the Raje family dynamics are toxic

blaming Trish for things out of her control

The HIPAA violations between Trish and her family are unforgivable.

The resolution between DJ and Trish at the end seemed rushed and lacking in true chemistry AND it was another medical ethical violation unless Trish turned Emma’s care over to another surgeon.

Other reviews mention the length of the book and the side plots. I really liked the author’s writing and I think they helped develop Trish’s character.

I have two more issues.
1. Trish seemed to be written as autistic-coded. The book already was ableist AF. (Full star deduction for that.) Limited special interests, difficulty making friends, intense loyalty, strong *personal* ethical code (not necessarily aligned with laws like HIPAA), hyperfocus to the point of excluding sleeping and eating…. The only marker not explicitly stated was stimming. So, DJ’s dislike of her is even more ableism in this book.
2.

Maybe this is because I am a physical therapist who has worked in hospitals, but there is no way a surgeon would be researching a program, facility or artist like in this book for a patient. A social worker would call a meeting and SW, OT or PT would probably suggest changing artistic mediums to an artist. Resources would be suggested for the patient and family to look up on their own. Patients get autonomy at all times including the choice to stay sick and die with the dignity of their own choice.

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dorhastings's review against another edition

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First off, bless you Storygraph for having a DNF option for book reviews.

I somewhat recently have been enjoying romcoms. I read nonfiction and scifi earlier in the day, when possible, but at night I want to read a book that's not going to make me think a lot. I want fun and funny and yes, romance. It was pretty clear I wasn't going to get it with this book, and I have no interest in continuing the book.

I can usually tell something is amiss if I have difficulty reading the first chapter. I actually turned back a few pages at times, as if I'd missed some clear transition from past to present and then back to past again. But I gave it a try for another chapter, and the feeling in my stomach only deepened. In the past I've pressed on to continue the book, but you know, life's too short to read books I know I won't "enjoy" or learn from.

I started looking at reviews to see if it would get better. I don't have to love the main character, but I probably shouldn't dislike her as much as I do in the first few chapters. Which is weird, because I also felt as though I didn't really understand her in the first few chapters. What I did understand, when I'd gotten as far as I did, was that she's an elitist jerk. Apparently her sister and brother got the conversational genes, or whatever. But it's another sure sign I don't want to get invested in this person. The male lead, what little I saw of him, was also not super impressive. I can't imagine what I'd think of them together.

To be completely fair, one of the reasons I'm not finishing this book, and why I might not pick up another of this author's books, is the writing style. It's jarring and just not fun to read. I don't really like her character portrayals. The other reason, the main reason I'm stopping now, is the spoilers I've read. And I've read about them in multiple reviews.

Apparently Trisha (main character) had a friend named Julia who drugged and raped Trisha's older brother, recorded the event, and then threatened to tell everyone that he'd raped her (she was also a minor at the time). This is all apparently Trisha's fault, as far as the family is concerned, and so she is pretty removed from her family as a result. And the reason her brother doesn't want to come out with the story now that he's running for governor? Well it'll torpedo his chances of winning, and I believe it. But also apparently it'll destroy the #MeToo movement and all the progress we've made? That sort of anti-feminist trash is not something I want to read. I also, personally, just don't want to read about all this trauma in one of my romcom books. There is also apparently some stuff concerning Trisha going out with a patient's brother and telling him details about his sister, which is a pretty decent example of a HIPAA violation.

So, there we are.

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imds's review

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Diverse cast of characters? Yes

3.75

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jcd1013's review against another edition

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I tried. I really tried. I love a good retelling and I love Pride and Prejudice.

I hated all of the characters. I hated the unnecessary exposition. But I stopped after Trisha started talking about her patient to everybody and was getting mad because she was considering not having surgery. I don’t expect medical accuracy but this was so painful to read that I wasn’t enjoying the book at all.

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alycelarsson's review

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adventurous emotional inspiring lighthearted reflective medium-paced

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

4.75

I ended up reading this after the second book, and I have to say the second book definitely has more romance in it than this one. However, I really liked Trisha's character and how we got to see both her and DJ's passion for their work. Overall, this book is somewhat centered around miscommunication, so be warned if that frustrates you but I loved how the original P&P story is woven throughout without being a carbon copy.

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internationalreads's review

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adventurous informative lighthearted medium-paced

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

3.5

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amandalorianxo's review

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emotional hopeful reflective slow-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

3.0

I didn’t fully realize this was a genderbent Pride and prejudice until about 1/4 of the way into the novel. It didn’t stop me from reading though, a pleasant surprise. I loved learning about some of the intricacies of the Indian culture and the food! Although I do wish this wasn’t marked solely as a romance novel. Wickham does make a genderbent appearance and it involves the MC’s older brother & metoo movement. Some of the other topics are also heavy in theme and take over the romance aspect. I would check trigger warnings. It’s slow to start but enjoyable once you get used to the cast of characters involved.

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violet_reads's review

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I did not like the main character at all and upon further research realized I would not want to read this book because of a certain passage.

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