Reviews tagging 'Transphobia'

The Shining Girls by Lauren Beukes

19 reviews

kerstynleigh's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark funny mysterious sad tense fast-paced

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

5.0

I haven't been this riveted by a book in a long time. I couldn't stop listening, and when I had to, I was still thinking about it. I wish I wasn't a bit disappointed by the ending, but I'd convinced myself that

if Kirby could get into the house and destroy all the totems, the girls would be able to come back, somehow. I hated seeing woman after woman murdered that way knowing that there was no way back for them, so I think I'd made a deal with myself that they would be okay if Kirby could fix everything. But I guess if I'm being honest, that really isn't how life works, and maybe it is important to acknowledge that shining woman lose their lives for no goddamn reason every day,

so I guess I'm not really disappointed at all. This book was a gift and I'm glad I came across it. And I'm glad to hear Khristine Hvam's voice again! It's been ages since I've listened to an audiobook of hers.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Transphobia and Murder

Moderate: Animal cruelty

beccaand's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Death, Gore, Torture, Violence, Blood, Stalking, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Transphobia

Minor: Abortion

knretaleato's review against another edition

dark mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Body horror, Death, Gore, Sexual content, Torture, Violence, Medical content, Stalking, Death of parent, and Murder

Moderate: Addiction, Child death, and Abortion

Minor: Transphobia, Vomit, and Dementia

valjeanval's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense fast-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

4.0

Beukes is a great writer and thorough researcher who created a cast of interesting, powerful, complicated women throughout time. It just sucks that most of them are murder victims. I think I understand conceptually her desire to give voice and depth to the as she calls them “pretty corpses” of crime thrillers, and she does that, but the genre itself is still limiting. The murderer is misogyny person, literally killing women who would otherwise change the world. It’s a solid metaphor, but a frustrating read.

Also, while the time travel element is cool, the paradoxes always hurt my brain a bit. The writing was good enough that my suspension of disbelief was only strained rather than snapping.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Death, Gore, Misogyny, Sexual violence, Torture, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Medical trauma, Stalking, Death of parent, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Addiction, Cursing, Drug use, Gun violence, Homophobia, Suicide, Antisemitism, Outing, and Alcohol

Minor: Gun violence, Racism, Sexism, Transphobia, and Abortion

hellokatya's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

3.5

i had really high hopes for this book, and for the most part: it fulfilled them.
the entirety of the book kept me really engaged and locked in, aside from a few slow parts.
the aspect of time travel did confuse me a bit, but in an intriguing way that made me more encapsulated.
i would definitely recommend this book for someone wanting to venture out into broader genres, without jumping head in.

my only gripe is how abrupt the ending was. we never got any real answers. did kirby figure out and accept that harper was time traveling? did dan survive? did she get the closure she needed from finding her (would be) killer and killing Him? did she and dan pursue a relationship? how did she move on and heal from the trauma? 
i did appreciate the chapter from bartek and thought it was a really nice addition. a really nice way to finish it off.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Body horror, Death, Gore, and Murder

Moderate: Addiction, Drug abuse, Transphobia, Blood, Stalking, and Outing

Minor: Deadnaming and Medical trauma

aemowers's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense fast-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence

Moderate: Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, and Blood

Minor: Homophobia and Transphobia

sunnysiding's review against another edition

dark tense medium-paced

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

4.25

A book centered on the victims of serial killings rather than idolizing the killer. Exciting, heart wrenching, achingly human.

Lost a star for the bizarre subplot of Dan being in love with Kirby. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child death, Cursing, Death, Gore, Suicide, Blood, Stalking, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Drug abuse, Drug use, Mental illness, Misogyny, Sexual content, Medical content, Grief, Abortion, and Alcohol

Minor: Deadnaming, Domestic abuse, Homophobia, Rape, Transphobia, Pregnancy, and Sexual harassment

There is an entire chapter that heavily features animal injury/death:

Kirby's dog is killed, brutally, trying to protect her

. It's pretty expected for a book about serial killing but it is visceral and detailed. There are several other depictions of animal cruelty, injury, and death.

hillbilly_heroine's review against another edition

dark sad tense slow-paced

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

1.5

The proportions of this book are all wrong. It’s 75% graphic descriptions of brutal murder from the POV of a serial killer and 25% everything else: plot and character development, how the mystery is solved, everything. You get more insight into the mind of the serial killer than the other main characters, and in theory that would be interesting but there’s a reason there’s a well-known profile of serial killers: they’re all kind of similar. He’s not an interesting guy, he’s just horrible, and we follow his POV for most of the book. 

Also, the first Malcolm chapter is the whitest white lady author writing that ever existed. It is shoot-me-directly-into-the-sun cringe that reads like the author has never met or spoken to a Black person. I see on the back of the book that she’s an American living in South Africa. I have questions. 

If you like thrillers, you won’t like this because the pace is actually slowed down because of how much time we spend murdering characters we don’t know and haven’t met. If you like time travel, you probably also won’t like this because it’s just a random plot device. If you like detailed descriptions of murdered women from the POV of a serial killer, and you wish books had significantly more of this, I guess this is for you? I honestly don’t know who this is for.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Gore, Blood, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Racism, Transphobia, and Dysphoria

arthur_ant18's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense slow-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Death, Sexual violence, Violence, Stalking, and Murder

Moderate: Drug abuse, Racism, and Transphobia

Minor: Homophobia and Abortion

mlovesbooks's review

dark tense fast-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Racial slurs, Sexual assault, and Murder

Moderate: Miscarriage, Abortion, and Pregnancy

Minor: Transphobia