Reviews tagging 'Child death'

Den brutna kvinnan by Simone de Beauvoir

7 reviews

annablanna's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional reflective sad fast-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

4.0

Smashed through this in a couple of days. The three stories differ in style and content but each make a nuanced comment on marriage, female emotion, and mania. Inherently French and a picture of second-wave feminist writing.
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_fallinglight_'s review against another edition

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challenging dark reflective sad tense slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.0

I couldn't connect with the first story, "The Age of Discretion." It was the soporific ramblings of a boy mom, and the last novella was annoying. The standout for me was definitely "The Monologue." Pure, unadulterated female rage, and maybe it's concerning, but I found myself relating a lot to the MC, Murielle, at least with the misanthropic and nihilistic thoughts, her acidic homophobic and racist diatribes notwithstanding. The writing was chef's kiss, run-on sentences and all. The psychotic stream of consciousness was both chaotic and tragic to follow, but reading Murielle's delusions of grandeur and excessive narcissism wasn't as dreadful as when men do it. I think this manifesto against the world is the one I'll keep coming back to, and maybe I'll even make it a tradition to read it on every new year's day starting next year lol
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rowanelisa's review against another edition

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

5.0

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mayaspasta's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional inspiring reflective sad tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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mayabelang4's review against another edition

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dark emotional reflective sad 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

3.75

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nabila99's review against another edition

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dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

my first experience with de Beauvoir was reading the second sex for gender theory class at university. if only i knew she was so talented a fiction writer as well!

this book is absolutely heart-wrenching, so much so that i had to start reading another book in the middle of it, even though i was really enjoying it, because it is so heavy....i've read novels with much darker and sadder subject material, but the way de Beauvoir writes about pain, loss of identity, desperation, resentment, hope, and despair is so visceral i cried multiple times, especially in the last eponymous short story. she captures women's suffering like no other.

i only took off a half star because the writing style in the second short story, the monologue, is so difficult to follow (even though it's genius and i admire the technique and contrast in narrative voices), and some of the side characters could have been more fleshed out. 

cannot wait to read more of de Beauvoir's work!
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bill369's review against another edition

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

4.5

People on the internet were recommending this book.

I don't really have a favourite character. However, I do believe the characters are incredibly well made and I did feel for them

Three stories about older women. Women who were abandoned, cheated on or betrayed. The work captures so much anger these women feel and puts these struggles, which for women come with age, into the spotlight. Discussing these themes is essential and I'm glad I saw a new point of view.

Page 34, what is youth.
 
„Mládí je to, co Italové nazývají stamina. Míza, oheň, který umožňuje milovat a tvořit. Když tohle ztratíš, ztratila jsi všechno.“
 
Page 43–44, you are so young!
„Jste tak mladá!“ dodala. To slyším často a lichotí mi to. Ale najednou mě to slovo popudilo. Je to dvojsmyslná poklona, která ohlašuje trapné zítřky. Zachovat si vitalitu, veselost, duchapřítomnost, to znamená zůstat mladý. Tak tedy údělem stáří je rutina, zatrpklost, zchátralost. Nejsem mladá — jsem dobře zachovalá; to je velký rozdíl. Zachovalá a možná vyřízená.
Page 97, good quote.
Pila s velice jemnými zoubky se mi zařezává do srdce.

Page 118, the rock bottom.
Pokaždé si myslím, že už jsem na dně. A pak se propadnu do ještě hlubších pochyb a zoufalství.
Page 154, joy.
Veselost: vzduch je průzračný, čas plyne, lehce se dýchá: nic jiného jsem nežádala.
 

I liked the end of every story.

I adore how this book is filled with rage. It's perfect. It strikes where it should and I did like it a lot. 
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