Reviews tagging 'Outing'

Mr Loverman by Bernardine Evaristo

9 reviews

ruthmoog's review against another edition

adventurous funny reflective fast-paced

4.75

Barrington is flawed - the way he talks about his wife and women in his life is nasty - but he is nonetheless likeable, charismatic, funny!

I laughed aloud at this, Barrington speaks as you might to a friend. And it's emotionally intimate as Barrington lets us in on his big secrets.

I enjoyed it a lot, and the narration is great. Looking forward to the TV series.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cursing and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Alcoholism, Misogyny, and Alcohol

Minor: Body shaming, Drug use, Violence, Death of parent, and Outing

Knife violence

b_easelbub's review against another edition

challenging emotional funny lighthearted medium-paced

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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Domestic abuse, Hate crime, Homophobia, Infidelity, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Sexism, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Religious bigotry, Outing, Alcohol, and Colonisation

Moderate: Ableism, Addiction, Eating disorder, Mental illness, Racism, and Transphobia

lynxpardinus's review against another edition

emotional funny reflective sad

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Homophobia, Infidelity, Mental illness, Misogyny, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Grief, Religious bigotry, Death of parent, and Alcohol

Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Child abuse, Child death, Domestic abuse, Hate crime, Physical abuse, Racism, Sexual violence, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Violence, Xenophobia, Suicide attempt, Lesbophobia, Outing, Colonisation, and Classism

Minor: Ableism, Fatphobia, Gun violence, Transphobia, Excrement, Vomit, Dementia, and War

cmcaus's review against another edition

emotional funny reflective sad slow-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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Infidelity

Moderate: Homophobia, Racial slurs, Racism, Toxic relationship, and Outing

maelikesbooks's review against another edition

emotional funny lighthearted 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Hate crime, Homophobia, Infidelity, Misogyny, Racism, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, and Alcohol

Moderate: Body shaming and Outing

Minor: Suicidal thoughts and Classism

spookieboogie's review against another edition

slow-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Homophobia, Infidelity, and Misogyny

Moderate: Toxic relationship and Religious bigotry

Minor: Ableism and Outing

charlouise's review against another edition

challenging emotional reflective sad slow-paced

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

3.5

I struggled through the whole book to determine whether I even liked Barry and settled on the truth that I liked him in the way I like a grandparent with slightly problematic views - I won’t dispute their company though I would not necessarily seek it out, and if we weren’t blood related with a history of memories together it's unlikely I would continue to be their friend. Most antagonising to me is how Barry’s view of himself rarely aligns with his actions. Barry is a hypocrite. Barry has caused a lot of pain onto others in his life, yet Barry has also lived through the same lonely times - due to barriers of both a societal and self imposed nature -  unable to admit to the world, and himself, who he truly is. 

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I honestly found this book quite hard to get into. I found my dyslexia was constantly battling against Bernadine’s writing style -  using a combination of Caribbean vernacular and words way beyond my reading comprehension - and never quite winning. However, whilst this made my reading experience much more tiresome I think it really added to the book and sold Barry’s character. 

Another issue I faced was the lack of a self insert character - I know a very privileged and narcissistic view to take but with no young girl I struggled at first to input myself into the story. Initially I wasn’t a fan of any of the characters, but as their backstories, and motivations were revealed I began to appreciate them all as complex people. Did I like them all? No. Did I agree with their actions and reasoning? No. Do I now understand the complexity of passing moral judgement for their actions when their lives and lack of certain privileges made them feel trapped within these decisions? Yes. 

I struggled through the whole book to determine whether I even liked Barry and settled on the truth that I liked him in the way I like a grandparent with slightly problematic views - I won’t dispute their company though I would not necessarily seek it out, and if we weren’t blood related with a history of memories together it's unlikely I would continue to be their friend. Most antagonising to me is how Barry’s view of himself rarely aligns with his actions. Barry is a hypocrite. He expresses dislike for Daniel as a so-called “Smarty Pants” when Barry himself behaves the same way. And whilst Barry often narrates his opinions and statements as reasonably said they're more than often antagonistic and inappropriate. 

Barry is written to be severely flawed - he’s incredibly self centred and though he thinks he’s going out of his way to be a good father, by going to feminist studies he goes with such a closed mind that he takes nothing from the experience. Wrangling a supposedly selfless act to bring father and daughter together to an act simply for show. 

Carmel on the other hand is obsessed with everyone else. The married couple’s seemingly one uniting quality is that they are both stubbornly set in their ways. Carmel living out her life a homebody stay at home wife, with few friends, no spine to divorce her husband and unable to find someone who can satisfy her needs emotionally and sexually and instead turns to god - suffering in near silence as if this bring her closer to him whereas in actuality it’s an excuse to standby the misogyny ingrained within her, a misogyny she would pass down to her children if she had her way. Whilst her unwillingness to be the change in her own life is incredibly frustrating, Carmel should still be viewed with some sympathy. She had her whole life uprooted at a young age, married to someone who could never love her back and moving abroad without her support system. It's easy to see how she became trapped and bitter at what her life had become. It's understandable why she feels its her duty to stay with Barry yet so frustrating to know she could in reality have left him much earlier and the barriers she faced were of her own minds making. Mr Loverman is largely at its simplest about the built up barriers to the characters achieving happiness - and sadly many of the barriers come from their unwillingness to act. 

One part of Mr Loverman I particularly appreciated was how despite Morris numerously being described as a “red top reader” he has much more progressive views than his counterpart Barry. It makes you question whether Morris & Barry are actually a good fit or just the only other gay men in the majority of each other’s lives. 

Whilst I’m glad the book ended in divorce I felt like Barry got off easy. It’s not that I think he deserves to be punished per-say. Being gay is not a sin. But he did make Carmel’s life miserable and seemingly takes no personal responsibility for that. There was a throw away paragraph or so on the guilt and resentment Barry feels about this but it just feels like it’s there to wrap the book up cleanly rather than because his character has grown. I think this would be a lot more believable if we saw him actually live with some of this guilt, or the spark that causes rather than him reminiscing on it. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Homophobia and Outing

freddie_mewcury's review against another edition

emotional slow-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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Homophobia, Infidelity, and Sexism

Moderate: Outing

peachmoni's review against another edition

challenging medium-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Infidelity, Mental illness, Misogyny, Toxic relationship, Religious bigotry, Outing, and Alcohol

Moderate: Domestic abuse, Physical abuse, Suicide attempt, and Lesbophobia

Minor: Self harm, Transphobia, and Death of parent