Reviews tagging 'Fatphobia'

The Grace Year by Kim Liggett

6 reviews

aformeracceleratedreader's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful sad medium-paced

• Loveable characters? It's complicated

4.0

Overall, loved this one. Very lord of the flies-esque and like Wilder Girls. My only criticism is that the message is like don't let men decide the fate and everything of women (women are their own entity and should fight for freedom/equity) but a lot of the defining moments for Tierney, the main girl, is centered around men. I could've dealt without

two men being in love with her and her falling in love with a poacher. And the fact that her love for some dude motivated her for survival. The ending was giving me "Katniss learning to love Peeta" vibes with having kids even though in the beginning the main character didn't want any domestic life. The guard thinking she was his property and being entirely unhinged was a nice surprise moment in the book for me tho

. Well written and kept me enthralled the whole time. Couldn't put it down.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Blood, Bullying, Death, Animal death, Pregnancy, Sexism, Violence, and Confinement

Moderate: Infertility, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Fatphobia, Gaslighting, Vomit, Infidelity, Lesbophobia, and Homophobia

Minor: Pedophilia

kgorobets's review against another edition

challenging dark hopeful tense medium-paced

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

4.0

I think this book had real potential to be a five star read for me, and there are many aspects that I appreciated despite the one flaw that knocked off a star. This one flaw is the pacing. As I read the story, I felt that I was missing time, like we skipped over "boring" parts and jumped from action to action. Seasons flew by very fast, and I wish the book was longer and made me feel the passage of the year, rather than skipping around to action. However, it did add to the overall atmosphere of disorienting madness, so it may be a very intentional choice - it just did not work for me.

Other than the pacing, I really enjoyed the story. I appreciated that it didn't feel cliche - despite very clear inspiration material and parallels to the lord of the flies, hunger games, the crucible - I still could not ever predict what would happen next. I enjoyed the atmosphere of the book the most, I think the author did a very good job setting scenes and painting imagery. Again, if I wasn't disoriented about seasons, it would have been even better.

Overall, a great dark feminist read that has a more nuanced and subtle take on female oppression than many other books I've read. Definitely recommend for the Crucible vibes ✨

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Torture, Death, Animal death, and Bullying

Moderate: Sexual harassment, Sexual content, and Fatphobia

ginalucia's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional tense medium-paced

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

4.0

 The book in 3 sentences:

• Feminism, friendship, and betrayal.
• Gritty, immersive, and frightening.
• Lord of the Flies meets The Power.

My impressions:

I’m not usually one to be outwardly thankful for Amazon’s daily deal but in this case, I truly am. I didn’t know I needed to read The Grace Year until I saw its beautiful cover gracing Amazon’s ‘review generator’ list.

Nothing says ‘go on, give me a go’ like a dystopian book sitting next to an unappealing New Year’s diet book for 99p.

What I wasn’t prepared for was the gritty nature of this book. I had expected an empowering YA dystopian with a little bit of added magic. I was pleasantly surprised. When I say this is Lord of the Flies meets The Power, I’m not joking. The Grace Year makes no apologies, it shows you the best and worst of people, especially those forced to be confined together.

The characters themselves are in constant flux. You either hate or sympathize and then you hate again. This in itself was incredibly refreshing. It’s been a while since I’ve read a book where the women within it make constant mistakes and have genuine internal battles with each other and themselves. 

The reason I gave 4 stars instead of 5 though, was the romance. The author’s attempt at a romantic interest simply didn’t slot into the gritty and horrific story. In fact, it was almost like the book morphed into something else halfway through.

Luckily, this was short-lived, which meant we could get back to the parts that made this book great much quicker. Although it was brief, this part of the story felt unfinished and rushed. A real shame.

The Grace Year was so close to greatness, so close. But it did give me hope that we can mix imperfect characters, horror, an empowering storyline and all be better off for it.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Bullying, Child abuse, Death, Sexual harassment, Body shaming, Child death, Emotional abuse, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Torture, Violence, Domestic abuse, Suicide, Gore, Misogyny, Sexism, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, and Toxic friendship

Moderate: Abandonment, Fatphobia, Excrement, Grief, Confinement, Mental illness, Animal death, Pregnancy, Lesbophobia, Pedophilia, Homophobia, and Vomit

comfylightsfairylights's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful mysterious reflective medium-paced

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

3.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide, Violence, Sexism, Pregnancy, Pedophilia, Misogyny, Mental illness, Lesbophobia, Homophobia, Fatphobia, Emotional abuse, Death, Bullying, and Body shaming

chantellimus's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Confinement, Death, Fatphobia, Gaslighting, Grief, Hate crime, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Violence, Trafficking, Sexism, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Lesbophobia, and Torture

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Bullying, Cannibalism, Death, Domestic abuse, Fatphobia, Infidelity, Religious bigotry, Violence, and Suicide

rcj0sta's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

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

4.0

This is the dystopian novel I wish I had been able to read as a teen. The writing is a little pretentious, and Tierney's "not like other girls" complex is tiring at some points, but the story is woven together with mastery and I could not put it down.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Blood, Death, Violence, Toxic friendship, Sexism, Homophobia, and Gore

Moderate: Excrement, Fatphobia, Grief, Medical content, Pregnancy, Stalking, and Suicide