Reviews tagging 'Racial slurs'

Pride, Prejudice, and Other Flavors by Sonali Dev

15 reviews

heather667's review against another edition

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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Content Warnings

Graphic: Classism, Chronic illness, Sexism, Misogyny, Racism, Cancer, Ableism, Grief, and Medical content

Moderate: Death of parent, Dementia, Rape, Sexual assault, and Miscarriage

Minor: Racial slurs and Police brutality

sakeriver's review against another edition

lighthearted fast-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

I have to admit, I was surprised by how strongly and quickly I turned to liking this book, after spending the first two-thirds or so really disliking both MCs. But in the end the slow burn paid off, with both characters growing in very satisfying ways. And where it really shined, IMO, was in the MCs’ respective family relationships. In both the relationship and family dynamics, the revelations and subsequent reconciliation were fairly quick, but the story was built well enough that it still came across as authentic.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Cancer, Medical content, Racial slurs, Terminal illness, and Toxic friendship

Minor: Death of parent

_bookish_lauren's review

tense slow-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

4.0

Overall: 4/5
Spice level: 1/5
Tropes: enemies to lovers, Pride and Prejudice retelling (gender-swapped)

Representation: FMC is South Asian and MMC is South Asian and African 

This story was really cute and seemed to follow the original Pride and Prejudice, while being a gender-swap. The "Elizabeth" styled character, our leading lady Trisha, was portrayed as the royalty of the 2, while DJ was snubbed by her numerous times in the story as his occupation as a chef (though clasically trained in France) seemed beneath her. It definitely had the enemies to lovers feel to it, although there was pretty much no spice, outside of the delicious-sounding dishes that he makes throughout. 

As someone who mostly needs some type of spice on the page, I feel like even classic stories that originally had no spice can be adapted to fit sexy times in. That's my fault because I almost never read reviews for a book, otherwise I would've probably known about the lack of spice. It's fine though because I enjoyed the story overall. I didn't love it, but I loved the characters. There was immense character development for both Trisha and DJ, as well as their family members. 

I did, however, sometimes feel like there was a lot going on to keep track with. Between the family drama and the budding tension between our main characters, my head spun a few times trying to keep up with things. But in the end, it all made sense and came together well.

I'm intrigued by the author's writing style, though in the future I'll make sure to check if there's any spice before reading. 

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Content Warnings

Minor: Child abuse, Cultural appropriation, Medical content, Racial slurs, Rape, Classism, Death of parent, Miscarriage, Racism, and Bullying

jillaay_h's review

emotional funny hopeful sad tense 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Medical content, Miscarriage, Cancer, Toxic friendship, Racial slurs, Racism, and Sexual assault

bookswithbront's review

challenging emotional hopeful 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

3.5

I thought this book was going to be a lighthearted rom com with some cheesy Pride and Prejudice references, but I couldn’t have been more wrong. Somali Dev’s writing is gorgeous, the characters were fascinating, and I’m already so invested in the Raje family after just one book. At times, however, I did really struggle with this book. It did a great job and addressing certain complex topics like intersectional identities, class, and trauma, but I also felt like it yada yada’d some of the biggest issues its characters dealt with. Throughout the whole story, DJ’s biggest grievance with Trisha is that she said she wouldn’t be interested in a member of “the hired help,” something that is borderline unforgivable and that she never really apologizes for. Trisha and DJ both apologize for certain things, but the book acts as though the hurtful things they said to each other were equal, and I don’t think that’s the case at all. The book also made a bit of a straw man of the very complex issues of disability, the right-to-die movement, etc. While Emma’s case was unique, no one else acknowledged the validity of some of her perspective, treating it like a temper tantrum that needed to be resolved. However, I didn’t feel that Dev was pushing any sort of agenda on either of these complex topics, which would be difficult to address at a deeper level in a book like this. And though I was so frustrated by Trisha’s character, I’m hoping that’s a one-off, and I’m excited to read the rest of the Raje family series! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Classism, Death of parent, and Suicidal thoughts

Moderate: Sexual assault, Dementia, Police brutality, and Racism

Minor: Racial slurs

saukittome's review against another edition

3.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Pregnancy, Sexual assault, Colonisation, Medical content, and Toxic friendship

Minor: Infertility, Stalking, Dementia, Racial slurs, Death of parent, and Miscarriage

thecuriousbean's review against another edition

emotional slow-paced

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

2.0

The author is very talented in writing but I despised the woman main character. I almost stopped reading halfway through but hate-read the rest of it just to see how it ended. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gaslighting, Medical content, Bullying, Emotional abuse, and Chronic illness

Moderate: Injury/Injury detail, Death of parent, Classism, Terminal illness, and Police brutality

Minor: Islamophobia, Chronic illness, Colonisation, Racism, Racial slurs, Abandonment, Confinement, Grief, and Drug use

jmmreads's review

emotional funny hopeful lighthearted reflective 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

3.5

I really really love Pride & Prejudice and usually love adaptations so I really wanted to enjoy this book, however, it just fell flat for me. I did enjoy it overall, but there were several points I had to fight to finish it. I did like how the Darcy and Elizabeth characters were gender swapped and you got to see both of their perspectives at different points in the novel. But I found Trisha, the main character and the Darcy, to be very annoying so it was hard to get through her parts. I thought the author did a good job modernizing the story and a lot of social issues like police brutality and racism to highlight the themes of pride and prejudice in a modern world. It was fun to be able to catch plot points in the show and connect them to the original book but it in no way felt like re-reading pride and prejudice word for word or plot point for plot point. 

In the end this was still a fun read I just had a really hard time connecting with Trisha, even though I did find her sympathetic at certain points. The miscommunication between her and her parents and her siblings, while realistic, was hard to push through. And since it was pride and prejudice there was very little romance right until the end, by which point there was a lot. But there wasn't a lot of time for payoff for all the longing and anticipation. I also found the pacing to be rather slow. 

I know I just listed a bunch of things I didn't like but I did in general like the book and I look forward to reading Sonali Dev's other books to see how those are!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cancer, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Sexual assault, Terminal illness, Sexual harassment, Racism, Medical content, and Miscarriage

Moderate: Cultural appropriation, Police brutality, Racial slurs, Stalking, and Toxic friendship

shybi93's review

emotional hopeful 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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Racial slurs, Rape, and Racism

editoryalizing's review against another edition

• 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

3.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gaslighting, Xenophobia, and Toxic friendship

Moderate: Sexual assault, Drug abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Rape, Miscarriage, Infertility, Grief, Emotional abuse, Cultural appropriation, Classism, Chronic illness, and Abandonment

Minor: Police brutality, Racism, Racial slurs, and Pedophilia