Reviews tagging 'Gaslighting'

Girl, Woman, Other by Bernardine Evaristo

36 reviews

naniaunruh's review against another edition

slow-paced

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

It seems like the author often writes about things she has little experience with or doesn’t know enough about. Some of these are just said in a one off sentence and never mentioned again but they bothered me a lot as this is still harmful.

(Anarchists opposing self-governing, a drug addict being healed after 9 days of cold turkey at home detox, anything to do with being trans, a woman lying about s*xual a*sault to get an apartment…)

and tries too many things in the same book without doing any particular topic real justice. 
I understand that this book can have value for Black British women who can feel seen and represented here but i feel like this could have been achieved and better by getting a diverse group of Black British female and trans authors together to write stories instead of having one person to try and do it all. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault

Moderate: Transphobia, Emotional abuse, Sexism, Suicidal thoughts, Racial slurs, Incest, Classism, Misogyny, Gaslighting, Hate crime, Islamophobia, Drug abuse, Infidelity, Child abuse, Racism, and Homophobia

Minor: Fatphobia and Child death

lynxpardinus's review against another edition

challenging emotional reflective

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Racism, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Hate crime, Mental illness, Pregnancy, Racial slurs, Domestic abuse, Dysphoria, Emotional abuse, Medical content, Violence, Xenophobia, Homophobia, Lesbophobia, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Grief, Infidelity, Child abuse, Death, Death of parent, Rape, Sexism, Toxic relationship, and Transphobia

Moderate: Drug abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Child death, Injury/Injury detail, Pedophilia, Sexual content, Ableism, Alcohol, Sexual violence, Torture, Incest, Alcoholism, Gaslighting, Islamophobia, Addiction, Body shaming, Colonisation, Sexual harassment, Slavery, Suicide, Toxic friendship, Vomit, War, and Xenophobia

Minor: Antisemitism, Miscarriage, Animal death, Pandemic/Epidemic, Cancer, Confinement, Dementia, and Forced institutionalization

Incest warning is just in case, for an affair between in-laws.

zulliekinz's review

challenging emotional mysterious 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

4.5

A beautiful book, a stellar collection of stories and an true exploration into the lives of women, girls and others. It was emotional and touched on so many themes throughout - some were so deep it took a while to get through but each was done with care and consideration and worked to celebrate whilst also understanding and navigating the difficult life of a variety of black, mixed women and a non-binary individual. I bloody loved it!!

Okay, so why not 5 stars? It may have been a weakness on my part but sometimes keeping up with the links took a little more work that I would have liked. But maybe that was something Evaristo was wanting us to do...work for it. 

At the same time, whilst at the start I was HOOKED, somewhere in the middle I began losing links and wondering if there was an unnecessary layer of hype that was stopping me from falling completely in love. <Spoiler>However I find the way the epilogue ties it all together was so powerful, it answered my unanswered questions and had me crying. Getting to the end confirmed it was all love from me to this book..

No one can deny what an excellent read this was. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault, Abandonment, Miscarriage, and Rape

Moderate: Gaslighting, Racism, Emotional abuse, and Abortion

Minor: Xenophobia and Slavery

uncreativeoops's review against another edition

emotional inspiring 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: Racism, Drug use, Misogyny, Pregnancy, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Infidelity, Islamophobia, Abandonment, Lesbophobia, Toxic relationship, Dysphoria, Gaslighting, Emotional abuse, Death, Transphobia, Xenophobia, and Racial slurs

Moderate: Child abuse, Child death, Classism, Rape, Slavery, Sexism, Sexual content, Homophobia, Colonisation, and Deadnaming

Minor: Cancer, Physical abuse, Abortion, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Addiction, Antisemitism, and Alcohol

tatjanasbooks's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-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

3.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Violence, Gaslighting, Grief, Infertility, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, Rape, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Child death, Emotional abuse, Miscarriage, Sexual assault, Pedophilia, and Sexism

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Classism, and Colonisation

Minor: Homophobia, Deadnaming, and Abandonment

poenaestante's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional funny 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? Yes

2.0

Shoutout to the critic that shaded this play Misty by Arinze Kene by asking, "are tales of Black trauma catnip for paying audiences...riddled with white guilt?". I was looking for just the right words to explain why I hated Girl, Woman, Other by Bernadine Evaristo. There are other reasons, but this really captures the main one so beautifully. The book was also too long with too many characters.  I just simply stopped  caring.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gaslighting, Alcohol, Sexual violence, Pregnancy, Physical abuse, Miscarriage, Suicide, Sexual assault, Death of parent, Death, Classism, Rape, Violence, Sexual content, Racism, Homophobia, Confinement, Toxic relationship, Suicide attempt, Self harm, Emotional abuse, Addiction, Sexism, Misogyny, Mental illness, Lesbophobia, Infidelity, Grief, Drug use, and Domestic abuse

grandpabuxton's review against another edition

challenging emotional hopeful inspiring reflective 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? No

4.75

beautiful, poetic, wrenching, relatable, unexpected, prescient. one of my favorite reads in a long while. an incredible breadth of a story, and I felt inside the heads and hearts of each of the characters.

My only disappointment was I felt the epilogue was a little predictable and I wanted more from it, but not sure what. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Addiction, Suicide attempt, Sexual content, Gaslighting, Child abuse, Abandonment, Sexism, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual harassment, Outing, Miscarriage, Mental illness, Pregnancy, Sexual assault, Rape, Misogyny, Grief, Death, Deadnaming, Cultural appropriation, Colonisation, Classism, Transphobia, Sexual violence, Racism, Islamophobia, Incest, Homophobia, Forced institutionalization, Emotional abuse, Drug use, Toxic relationship, Child death, and Infertility

irisolympe's review against another edition

3.0

idk 
some characters were interesting and I really like seeing the way that they feel towards feminism
some of them were really boring/ annoying 
my favorite is Morgan

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gaslighting and Domestic abuse

natgzmun's review against another edition

adventurous emotional inspiring 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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gaslighting and Emotional abuse

hannahbailey's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.5

I loved this! What a cracking book, I can't believe I didn't read this sooner.

Generally I prefer not to read character-vignette novels written in third-person. But this novel just goes to show that when done well, I can really enjoy them! I loved the distinct voice of each character and how they would be name-dropped in one chapter only to be the main character of the next one. It built such an interesting and creative narrative without leaving me feeling I didn't know enough about them–which is usually the case for me with character-vignettes.

Surprised to see some reviews stating the character dialogue and mix of poetry/prose was hard to believe and unrealistic. I completely disagree! The inner dialogue of the female characters was relatable and familiar. I enjoyed the exploration of womanhood and motherhood and how this intersects with race in Britain. It was an interesting and sobering read.

It was almost 5 stars, but there was a part where the character overcomes drug addiction by sheer willpower–they literally stay at home for a week without any form of support and somehow recovers? This didn't feel realistic to me especially given the vulnerability and young age of the character. That said, this was one of the chapters that really stood out to me in its exploration of body/gender dysphoria and trans joy.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Alcoholism, Bullying, Cancer, Child death, Incest, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Child abuse, Classism, Colonisation, Misogyny, Pregnancy, Rape, Sexism, Domestic abuse, Lesbophobia, Racism, Alcohol, Abortion, Addiction, Cursing, Deadnaming, Drug use, Blood, Body shaming, Death, Death of parent, Dysphoria, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Gaslighting, Grief, Homophobia, Infidelity, Miscarriage, Sexual content, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Violence, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Sexual assault, Slavery, Transphobia, and Xenophobia