Reviews tagging 'Rape'

The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Díaz

22 reviews

stormeno's review against another edition

funny sad medium-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? It's complicated

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body shaming, Police brutality, Gun violence, Fatphobia, Bullying, and Murder

Moderate: Sexual assault, Suicide, Gaslighting, Pedophilia, Violence, Suicide attempt, Cancer, Domestic abuse, Rape, Alcohol, Emotional abuse, Death of parent, Child abuse, Cursing, and Death

Minor: Abandonment, Drug use, and Adult/minor relationship

lexi_ag's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective tense 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

The content of the book was not always my fave but I loved the style of writing and the blend of Spanish and English. I read this after hearing it acknowledged in the afterward of Nevada, and totally understand how this book would inspire authors to write their stories unapologetically without being afraid to alienate audiences that don’t share the same identity. 

Learned a lot about the DR and Dominican diaspora!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Xenophobia, War, Violence, Domestic abuse, Rape, Drug abuse, and Racial slurs

icox's review

dark emotional informative mysterious sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated

4.0

It was a good book—definitely a bit challenging because of the code switching/translanguaging/Spanglish but it’s my own fault I don’t know Spanish so I obviously didn’t mark the book down for that. I enjoyed learning about Trujillo and the history I didn’t learn in school. The characters are complex.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Medical trauma, Pregnancy, Violence, and Stalking

Moderate: Miscarriage, Suicide, Toxic relationship, and Rape

mirandyli's review

dark funny informative sad medium-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? It's complicated

3.75

Geniusly written. Took me a while to finish but I really enjoyed it.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Fatphobia, Misogyny, Police brutality, Racial slurs, Sexual assault, Stalking, Suicide attempt, Abandonment, Cancer, Colonisation, Infidelity, Body shaming, Classism, Child death, Grief, Sexism, War, Xenophobia, Injury/Injury detail, Miscarriage, Murder, Physical abuse, Racism, Rape, and Violence

vanessan's review

dark sad tense medium-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Sexual violence, Rape, and Sexual assault

reachingforstardust's review

dark funny slow-paced

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

1.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Misogyny, Toxic relationship, Suicide attempt, Infidelity, Stalking, Sexual assault, Cancer, Torture, Rape, and Fatphobia

Moderate: Homophobia, Physical abuse, Racism, Kidnapping, Pregnancy, Racial slurs, Police brutality, and Murder

Minor: Abortion and Forced institutionalization

eveymarie's review

challenging dark emotional sad tense fast-paced

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

2.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Racial slurs, Sexual harassment, Fatphobia, Death, Misogyny, Suicide attempt, Violence, Child abuse, Cursing, Murder, Self harm, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, and Torture

agusbelperso's review

challenging dark sad tense slow-paced

• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Kidnapping, Police brutality, Rape, Violence, Injury/Injury detail, and Murder

amariehoyos's review

challenging dark emotional funny informative reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Domestic abuse, Fatphobia, Violence, Classism, Emotional abuse, Grief, Physical abuse, Gaslighting, Misogyny, Colonisation, Rape, Racism, Sexual assault, and Sexual violence

lennatheunicorncat's review

dark slow-paced

1.0

 And now I can yeet this book out of my life and preferably into the trash where it belongs *yeets*
I guess I should write a comprehensive review as to why I did not like this book, and boy is there a lot! First of all, we're introduced to Oscar, who is so obsessed with love and wanting to get laid as he grows up. We follow him through his childhood, teens, and young adulthood in brief snippets. And every single time the reader is with him, Oscar is whining about how none of the girls want to date him because of xyz and how he will die a virgin. He does not stop complaining at all, even to the point of obsessing about other girls or women to stalker levels. The remarks in regards to domestic violence and the abuse some of these young girls go through sickened me. Oscar's remarks towards 11 year old Maritza and her dating men 2x to 3x her age and getting beaten and abused by them was "I guess she just likes men who do that since those are all the guys she seems to date." I started out annotating my book but stopped around 30 pages in when all my annotations became "WTF?!" Oscar's obsession continues on, but the moments of relief from his obnoxious views on the world were then replaced with different family members and their unrelenting trauma. From his sister's trauma, to his mom's, to his grandfather's, never ending trauma was brought up that made me sick to my stomach, especially a particularly gruesome scene that seriously needed a trigger warning for the beating and gang rape of a pregnant teen who was left for dead in the fields (she survives thankfully, but at a price). This book just made me depressed, apathetic, and sick to my stomach. I get that the author wanted to show the horrors that the people of the Dominican Republic faced with Trujillo as the dictator, but as someone who has already dealt with enough trauma of my own with domestic violence, sexual assault, and all forms of abuse, this was triggering and kept pushing me into a darker mindset. I finally had to skim read when I reached the 50% mark and the book was STILL GOING ON but back in Oscar and Yunior's heads. Their toxic masculinity is what did me in. I finished it, but at the price of my sanity this week. I will be tossing this book out of my collection and I don't think I'll pick up another one of this author's works since some of the other books he's written deal with a few of these same characters I hate. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Toxic relationship, Racial slurs, Pregnancy, Gaslighting, Infidelity, Toxic friendship, Suicide attempt, Violence, Terminal illness, Stalking, Sexual harassment, Sexual assault, Racism, Misogyny, Kidnapping, Cancer, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Physical abuse, Police brutality, Pedophilia, Adult/minor relationship, Bullying, Colonisation, Death of parent, Death, Emotional abuse, Miscarriage, Sexual violence, Sexism, and Torture