Reviews tagging 'Lesbophobia'

Furia by Yamile Saied Méndez

6 reviews

jenisreading's review against another edition

hopeful medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Loveable characters? Yes

4.5

Such a wonderful tale of feminism, resilience, coming of age, and making the hard decision to choose yourself without regret. I really appreciated how the author tackled touchy subjects for younger readers - the oppressive machismo of her surroundings, abusive family dynamics, the danger of simply existing as a woman, but also the relationship with the love interest. I also really liked the cadence of the narrator’s voice, but was annoyed by several mispronunciations

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Infidelity, Misogyny, Domestic abuse, Lesbophobia, and Sexism

amberinpieces's review

adventurous challenging emotional hopeful 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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Physical abuse, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Violence, Emotional abuse, Toxic relationship, Sexism, and Misogyny

Minor: Cursing, Medical content, Homophobia, Rape, Abortion, Blood, Classism, Forced institutionalization, Pregnancy, Vomit, Animal cruelty, Infidelity, Alcohol, Child abuse, Lesbophobia, Murder, Death, Grief, and Racism

beautifulpaxielreads's review

challenging dark 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? It's complicated

4.0

Lies have short legs.

What a big-hearted roar of a novel this is.

In Furia, Yamile Saied Méndez skilfully and explosively explores the intersection between misogyny and football (soccer as we know it in Australia, fútbol in Spanish) that exists in Argentina.

On the pitch playing for her women's team, Camila is the fearless, brilliant "La Furia". Off the pitch, however, life is a bit more complicated. As well as the very real threat she faces just by walking home after dark, she has to deal with her overbearing, bullying father, her kind but cynical mother, and her elder brother Pablo, whose career in the professional men's league feels like a shadow she can't escape from under.

Then there's Diego, her childhood sweetheart - who has returned home for a visit after a dazzling career and international fame at the Juventus club in Italy.  Now that he's back, he wants to pick up where he and Camila left off - but does she feel the same?

I'll confess that at first, I had a hard time getting into this one. There are a lot of Spanish words and phrases sprinkled throughout Furia, and I constantly felt the need to go and look up anything I didn't understand. But after a while, I let this urge go (mostly) and my reading experience was so much better for it.

I learned so much from reading this book. Firstly, I had no idea how multicultural Argentina was - Camila herself is of mixed Palestinian, Spanish, and Eastern European heritage (much like the author herself), and other characters are of Chinese and Indian ethnicity - and there are probably others which I don't remember. And the sense of place you get - as well as the Spanish language intermixing that I already mentioned - is really well done.

I had heard that gender-based violence (and murder) is a huge problem across Latin America (as it is in many other parts of the world), and it is in depicting this issue (and the attitudes enabling it) that Saied Méndez really excels. From casual misogyny to systemic, from domestic violence to

the murder of a young girl

, it's all here - and I appreciate that the author didn't shy away from the topic but confronted it head-on.

Diego was a sweetheart, and the way Saied Méndez writes him, it is easy to see why Camila

falls for him all over again

. He's effortlessly charming, down-to-earth, and caring. I was thinking that maybe he was a little too perfect, but towards the end of the novel, when

he revealed that he had come back to take Camila back with him to Italy

made him a bit more realistic to me.

Furia is a novel that wears its heart on the sleeve of a  fútbol jersey - and that's a good thing.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Misogyny, Sexism, Bullying, Domestic abuse, Kidnapping, Murder, Violence, Physical abuse, Child death, and Emotional abuse

Moderate: Sexual violence, Medical content, and Pregnancy

Minor: Lesbophobia

This book deals with heavy topics such as femicide and violence against women and in some scenes graphically. There is one strong scene of domestic violence where

a teenager is hit with a belt

and another where a young girl

goes missing and is later found dead

.

amandalorianxo's review against another edition

emotional inspiring 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? No

3.5

There are a lot of intense topics that are discussed in this novel that I didn’t fully expect from a YA novel - domestic abuse, abortion / women’s rights in terms of birthing children, missing / unalived women and a few more. So I think this might partially be why I didn’t rate this a little higher. I was expecting an intense book about a girl playing futbol and the inner workings of being on a team as well as what the professional world might be like as a newbie. However, there is less soccer and more of Camilla trying to navigate life in Rosario, Argentina along with a tumultuous relationship with her parents, her brother and a romance with a childhood friend Diego who now plays for an Italian soccer team overseas. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Domestic abuse

Minor: Homophobia, Lesbophobia, and Death

sunshine8473773's review against another edition

challenging emotional

4.25

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Child death, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Body shaming, Grief, Lesbophobia, Physical abuse, Murder, Fatphobia, Animal cruelty, Cursing, Infidelity, Injury/Injury detail, and Pregnancy

arlangrey17's review

emotional 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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Child death, Domestic abuse, Child abuse, Abortion, Adult/minor relationship, Emotional abuse, Hate crime, Gun violence, Infidelity, Islamophobia, Lesbophobia, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, and Sexism