Reviews tagging 'Cancer'

Bodily Harm by Margaret Atwood

5 reviews

crystalsparkles's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense 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

2.5

I picked this old (dare I say “vintage”) book of Atwood’s for a reading challenge prompt.  Constantly had to remind myself of when it was  written & first published in 1981 - be warned there is a lot of blatant racism (among other terrible tropes written of as “jokes”) in the text.  
I didn’t like this story.  It definitely felt like it was two separate books, I could have enjoyed the story if Atwood had chosen to focus maybe on just the political aspect (along with the danger aspect).  But it felt disjointed to me focusing so much on (protagonist) Rennie’s health issues, especially when they didn’t have much bearing on the latter parts of the book.  I also found Rennie to be so annoying and cowardly. I’d say the last 20% of the book made it worth it to finish, but won’t be a recommendation from me.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Misogyny, Rape, Violence, Cancer, Colonisation, Racism, Gun violence, Terminal illness, Sexism, Sexual violence, Excrement, Sexual assault, and Homophobia

Moderate: Abandonment, Medical trauma, Death, Confinement, Vomit, Religious bigotry, Police brutality, Grief, Infidelity, and Gore

Minor: Vomit, Blood, Suicidal thoughts, and Stalking

rzh's review

adventurous dark mysterious slow-paced

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

4.0

Parts of this book I really enjoyed: the postmodern shiftiness of the truth, the eeriness of the bright sun-baked Caribbean setting, the keen observation of female objectification. Other parts not so much: some parts just felt like a bit of a drag. However, upon reflection, i think that's entirely the point. 

Quite a few of the reviews I have read for this book mention frustration with the protagonist, Rennie, and her lack of agency. She never instigates, never does anything: only has things done to her. As much as I see this in the novel, I think that it is representative of Atwood's wider thematic concerns: of women being objects, pawns for men to play about with. This is highlighted by the sexual abuse and voyeurism suffered by the women throughout the text, as well Rennie's sense of alienation from her own body due to her cancer and highlighted by the John Berger epigraph at the beginning. THe ending was fantastic:

Rennie's ability to fly away from all of the violence and corruption she discovers in St Antoine showing her own disconnect with her body and lack of agency, as well speaking to today's sense of disconnect from suffering and violence due to the oversaturated news cycle.

Though i felt it lacked direction at times, I think that is part and parcel of the objective. For the most part, it is a deeply intriguing and evocative investigation into the male gaze; modern sense of disconnect from violence and, well, bodily harm; and how these issues affect women as the objects of desire.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cancer, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Police brutality, Rape, and Violence

Minor: Drug use and Excrement

libt11's review

adventurous challenging dark tense slow-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Violence, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Medical content, Cancer, Police brutality, Medical trauma, and Emotional abuse

sofipitch's review

challenging dark reflective 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? It's complicated

2.75

I didn't like much about this book, the plot was slow to develop, or happen, a lot of focus on what felt like inconsequential things, and the characters are hard to like.
The only thing that kept me going is Atwood's prose. Honestly she could write the backs of shampoo bottles and I'd read them. She's a talented writer, but this book was not for me.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cancer, Misogyny, Police brutality, and Violence

Moderate: Gun violence

Minor: Sexual violence

raesengele's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cancer, Confinement, Death, Medical content, Medical trauma, Murder, Physical abuse, Police brutality, and Violence

Moderate: Sexual content