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ibadella's review against another edition
- 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
4.5
i am really impressed by how the author takes a super simple and not unexplored idea and really sees it through
the pacing of the story was artful, the gradual unraveling of plot and character development made the truly violent moments doubly jarring.
there were a few things i wish had been explored more within the scope of the book but i understand that the book does an excellent job distilling a vast number of issues into a fairly short narrative
particularly i wish there’d been a little more challenging of the biological essentialism (it’s explored a bit through certain characters) but i sort of get it because of the biological anthropology framing. we still get a very deep implicit understanding of the cultural construction of gender and its binary understanding as a defiance of biology and lived reality.
i should say i read this mostly at night before bed and it gave me very icky scary nightmares near the end
Graphic: Torture, Violence, Rape, and Sexual violence
Moderate: War and Trafficking
Minor: Racism and Ableism
karmapen's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
1.25
Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Death of parent, Child abuse, Violence, Torture, Police brutality, Murder, Misogyny, Drug use, Bullying, Rape, Sexual violence, War, Sexual assault, and Trafficking
Moderate: Blood, Ableism, Body shaming, and Abandonment
Minor: Child death
thedisabledreader's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
3.5
Graphic: Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Rape, and Drug use
Moderate: Ableism, Death, Death of parent, Violence, Medical trauma, and Trafficking
greenmind's review against another edition
- 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? It's complicated
3.25
I liked the premise, the structure and the prose style itself. But I'm not necessarily sure that a matriarchy would behave like this so I struggled a bit with the idea - it's a book inside a book though, so maybe it works better in that regard - it's written by a fictional man, so maybe his idea of a matriarchy can only be considered from a patriarchal fantasy? Or maybe it really is that hard to imagine a true matriarchy which could function differently than what we ourselves know after thousands of years... It made me think about the ideas brought up in here a lot though, so I think it's successful speculative fiction, in that sense. Personally, I found it lacking believability at times and it also grossed me out in a way which surprises me because I've read a lot of disgusting writing which hasn't caused that reaction. I'm just convinced women would gang-rape, slave-own and murder men, women and children for fun and with glee in the way that men regularly behave in warzones. I think the power would be wielded differently, and we can see how in the handful of matriarchal cultures around today or documented. Mothers still love and protect their sons, but the boys are socialised very differently and the older men behave differently within that... but I'm still unsure what I make of all of this. The "end notes" chapter from the female writer to the "male writer" character of the fictional book we've just read say much of the sorts of thing which run through my mind... but I'm unconvinced still, even though I feel made fun of by the author for that in a way. I still think the fact men don't get pregnant and give life makes them more likely to want to control women as a resource for reproduction all the more - and you can see that trend with the push towards normalising surrogacy and artificial womb science, in their interfering superstition in female healthcare, the power structures and beliefs of all major religions. The power isn't so literal as a jolt of physical electricity, but more the creator power which woman demonstrate when they grow new humans. Men are very uncomfortable with women controlling their own reproductions, as this would control all reproduction globally. One could argue that the effort to cut women from motherhood through tech and brothel-market capitalism hints at where essential power really lies, but the story has no space for mothers and babies here. It is certainly all very thought-provoking. The Father and The Son makes less sense to me than The Mother and Her Children in terms of creation myths, but... that's patriarchy for you. I’ve never heard of an equivalence of the violence men perpetrate towards women and female children daily being something women do when they are able to. I find those who argue that “woman totally would” are revealing themselves as naive about the reality of sex differences in crime statistics - 98% male for violent crimes.
Graphic: Sexism, Grief, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Police brutality, Child abuse, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Murder, Ableism, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Slavery, War, Forced institutionalization, Pandemic/Epidemic, Panic attacks/disorders, Blood, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Genocide, Medical trauma, Pedophilia, Pregnancy, Torture, Violence, Rape, Sexual assault, and Sexual harassment
shermansays's review against another edition
- 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
3.75
Graphic: Rape, Violence, Sexual assault, War, and Sexual content
Moderate: Blood and Child abuse
Minor: Ableism, Xenophobia, Slavery, Alcohol, Trafficking, and Vomit
irenemarie's review against another edition
- 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
5.0
Graphic: Sexual assault, Rape, Violence, Misogyny, and Cursing
Moderate: Drug use, Sexual violence, Death, Child abuse, War, and Gaslighting
Minor: Ableism and Body shaming
mikki_9'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? It's complicated
4.0
Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Body horror, Child abuse, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Misogyny, Miscarriage, Murder, Physical abuse, Police brutality, Rape, Religious bigotry, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Violence, War, and Death of parent
Moderate: Abandonment, Ableism, Bullying, Confinement, and Mental illness
Minor: Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Chronic illness, Drug use, Fire/Fire injury, Grief, Gun violence, Mass/school shootings, Pregnancy, Racism, and Transphobia
cnidariar3x's review against another edition
- 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? It's complicated
5.0
Graphic: Sexual assault, Rape, Death, War, Death of parent, and Cursing
Moderate: Body horror, Child abuse, Confinement, Drug use, Fire/Fire injury, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Sexism, and Child death
Minor: Ableism and Bullying
madelineahjones's review against another edition
- 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
Graphic: Rape and Body horror
Moderate: Ableism