Reviews tagging 'Eating disorder'

Girl, Woman, Other by Bernardine Evaristo

8 reviews

camoo3032's review against another edition

challenging emotional funny reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? N/A
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

This is a collection of short stories about black women in England. The author covers a lot of topics including feminism, racism, homophobia, transphobia and domestic abuse. The book's format is a clever way of exploring these topics and I really enjoyed how it explored the change in society's acceptance of each of these issues over time. I also enjoyed how the grammatic style of the book allowed for more poetic moments.

There are a lot of characters so the book can feel like a bit of whirlwind, particularly in the first chapter, and some of the topics covered could've been discussed in more depth. Regardless, I still found this book very eye opening

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Rape, and Racism

Moderate: Abandonment, Physical abuse, and Sexual content

Minor: Homophobia, Classism, Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Bullying, Child abuse, Murder, Transphobia, Vomit, Child death, Miscarriage, Pregnancy, Sexism, Suicidal thoughts, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Antisemitism, Cancer, Colonisation, Death, Death of parent, Drug abuse, Drug use, Pedophilia, Police brutality, Slavery, Suicide, Eating disorder, Infidelity, Mental illness, Misogyny, and Xenophobia

mme_carton's review against another edition

challenging emotional hopeful inspiring reflective sad 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug abuse, Drug use, Abandonment, Child abuse, Child death, Deadnaming, Sexism, Sexual content, Grief, Infidelity, Physical abuse, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Pregnancy, Toxic relationship, Transphobia, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Cursing, Death, Death of parent, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Violence, Domestic abuse, Gaslighting, Lesbophobia, Mental illness, Xenophobia, Classism, Homophobia, Racial slurs, Racism, Religious bigotry, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Body shaming, Bullying, Islamophobia, and Terminal illness

Moderate: War, Slavery, Excrement, and Self harm

Minor: Eating disorder, Cancer, and Infertility

corriejn's review against another edition

challenging emotional hopeful inspiring reflective sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault, Sexism, Sexual harassment, Abandonment, Alcohol, Child abuse, Child death, Classism, Confinement, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Dysphoria, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Grief, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Xenophobia, Miscarriage, Pregnancy, Racism, Rape, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, and Violence

Moderate: Body shaming, Hate crime, Alcoholism, Self harm, Pregnancy, and Homophobia

Minor: Deadnaming, Eating disorder, Gun violence, Transphobia, Slavery, Religious bigotry, Racial slurs, Islamophobia, Cultural appropriation, Animal death, Dementia, Drug abuse, Mental illness, and Colonisation

isaaah's review against another edition

emotional informative inspiring reflective sad fast-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Misogyny, Racism, Sexual content, Death of parent, Drug use, Xenophobia, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Infidelity, Rape, Sexual violence, Sexism, and Sexual harassment

Moderate: Classism, Miscarriage, Transphobia, Slavery, Colonisation, Lesbophobia, Physical abuse, Domestic abuse, Alcohol, Hate crime, Homophobia, and Islamophobia

Minor: Cancer, Eating disorder, Pregnancy, Cursing, Cultural appropriation, and Dysphoria

culown's review against another edition

adventurous emotional reflective tense medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Abortion, Addiction, Alcohol, Bullying, Cancer, Child abuse, Child death, Deadnaming, Death, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Dysphoria, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Forced institutionalization, Grief, Hate crime, Homophobia, Medical content, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Pregnancy, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Slavery, Suicide, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, and Violence

Moderate: Transphobia and Xenophobia

kathrinellis's review against another edition

challenging emotional informative reflective 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

Such a fascinating book, beautifully written and covering many important, yet challenging topics. What also stands out is that there are no points or exclamation marks, as well as direct dialogue - luckily I got accustomed to it after 100 pages or so. 
Also massive respect for finding an immaculate way of connecting so many stories and characters ( you’ll get the relationships after a while)!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Addiction, Alcoholism, Body shaming, Colonisation, Cultural appropriation, Domestic abuse, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Grief, Infidelity, Outing, Physical abuse, Racism, Rape, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Slavery, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Deadnaming

renjamin's review against another edition

emotional reflective 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

4.0

I read this book almost entirely in one day and I found the stories to be incredibly captivating. Evaristo has a way of drawing you into a book with so many characters that I was worried it would all feel lost and quite muddled but I couldn't have been more wrong.  My main critique of the book and the thing holding me back from giving this a five-star review is the way that it treats its trans characters. For a book called Girl, Woman, Other, I would've expected a much more nuanced perspective on trans issues. I felt like Morgans character development was rushed and I didn't appreciate the consistent use of the wrong pronouns for them even at points from their own perspective. I also really didn't like that so many of the queer women expressed terf like views that were barely challenged by the people around them even when they disagreed.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Deadnaming, Death, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Grief, Homophobia, Infidelity, Misogyny, Pregnancy, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexism, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Toxic relationship, and Transphobia

Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, and Miscarriage

Minor: Antisemitism, Eating disorder, Islamophobia, Mass/school shootings, and Police brutality

sarah984's review against another edition

challenging emotional slow-paced

• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.0

The way this was written without full stops took a while to get used to, but in the end I liked it. It made the prose feel poetic, and each character still felt unique. It felt like listening to a group of people telling you a story.

There were some perspectives I liked, but some of them felt really mean-spirited (both Yazz and Morgan’s segments read like they were the targets of mockery by the author, which was disappointing) and it's weird that three different people managed to magically rise out of depression on a dime for no reason. The ending felt really predictable and the character it involved annoyed me.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Child death, Child abuse, Deadnaming, Death, Drug use, Fatphobia, Grief, Homophobia, Infidelity, Pedophilia, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, and Transphobia

Moderate: Alcoholism

Minor: Antisemitism, Eating disorder, Islamophobia, and Mass/school shootings