Reviews tagging 'Death of parent'

Những Người Đàn Bà, by Etaf Rum

58 reviews

____emily____'s review against another edition

reflective sad 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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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Death, Alcoholism, Suicidal thoughts, Murder, Misogyny, Domestic abuse, Sexual violence, Sexism, Physical abuse, Rape, and Pregnancy

sarahmarie094's review against another edition

challenging emotional 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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Misogyny, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Death of parent

Minor: Abortion, Alcohol, and Child death

briana7's review against another edition

challenging dark reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Minor: Sexual violence, Child death, Sexual assault, Rape, Emotional abuse, Sexism, Mental illness, Abortion, Suicidal thoughts, Murder, Alcoholism, Toxic relationship, Pregnancy, Physical abuse, Death of parent, Suicide, and Violence

achiunicorn's review against another edition

challenging emotional reflective sad medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse and Death of parent

ourxstorybegins's review against another edition

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

4.0

A Woman Is No Man follows three generations of Palestinian-American women -- Fareeda, Isra, and Deya -- and their experiences dealing with expectations of their culture and violence from the men closest to them.

Isra comes to America from Palestine in the early 90's after marrying Adam. The small amount of time we spend with Isra's family shows that her parents consider her a burden since she can't support the family like their sons are able to. She is hopeful that things will change as she moves to Brooklyn with her family, but as she starts giving birth to only girls, she becomes the victim of physical abuse from her husband as well as verbal abuse from her mother-in-law, Fareeda. We meet Deya, Isra's oldest daughter, in 2008. Isra and Adam have died, and Fareeda is now taking care of all four of their daughters. Again, we see the ongoing attitude that a woman's ultimate goal in life is marriage and children (sons, specifically). Deya has some memories of her parents, but as the book progresses we learn more about Isra's abuse, subsequent depression, and what led to the death of her and her husband.

SPOILER-FILLED REVIEW:

Spoiler

There were multiple times where I was waiting for some kind of plot twist, but it never really came. I hoped Isra faked her death -- while the story of her death was a lie, the death did indeed happen. I looked forward to Fareeda's perspective so that I could better understand her behaviors, but she was so deeply engrained in the patriarchal and abusive expectations set up by generations before her (as well as the major guilt she felt for the death of her first children), her chapters ended up making me dislike her even more. I hoped Adam came around and had some positive moments with her toward the end of their lives -- he ended up murdering her (and later killing himself) after she tried to escape from him with their daughters. Most times when something positive happened, it was always overshadowed by something painful or by Isra's fear.

There was one actually good experience: Once Deya learned the truth about her parents, she was able to stand up to her grandparents, get the full truth that Sarah didn't know, and determine what she actually wanted in her life and go for it. By the end of Deya's story in the book, we can see that she was taking the first steps to finally break the cycle that had been going for far too long with this family.

This was a really hard book to read! I had to take a lot of breaks to get through it due to how dark the themes were. As a white woman, there were just some things about this story that I couldn't fully wrap my head around. Nonetheless, this story was important and I do highly recommend it.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Violence, Death of parent, and Misogyny

Moderate: Suicidal thoughts, Emotional abuse, Pregnancy, Child death, Alcoholism, and Murder

bookhoarder2022's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad tense 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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Misogyny, Domestic abuse, Death of parent, and Sexual violence

Moderate: Abortion, Alcoholism, Murder, Suicidal thoughts, Mental illness, and Pregnancy

Minor: Car accident

ljtademy3's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse

Moderate: Addiction, Death of parent, Gaslighting, and Suicide

lydiareadingbooks's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Misogyny, Sexual assault, Child death, Domestic abuse, Sexual violence, and Death of parent

Moderate: Alcoholism

gemin1reader's review against another edition

challenging emotional sad slow-paced

3.5

This felt like an important and powerful read, for me personally it shone a light on a culture that I know very little about. 

I had some issues with the execution of the story - some of the characterisation felt slightly lacking and at times it was quite repetitive. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Pregnancy, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Sexism, and Misogyny

Moderate: Grief, Miscarriage, Injury/injury detail, and War

britmo's review against another edition

dark emotional 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? It's complicated

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Toxic relationship, Physical abuse, Murder, Death, Emotional abuse, Sexual violence, Rape, and Misogyny

Moderate: Child abuse, Grief, and Alcoholism

Minor: Abortion