Reviews tagging 'Fatphobia'

Where the Crawdads Sing, by Delia Owens

3 reviews

madmichele's review

dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense

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

3.25

(spoilers!) I loved the story. the writing was not the best at times - I only thoroughly enjoyed it when owens was describing nature and the wildlife that surrounded kya. being a published wildlife scientist, it makes sense for those parts to be more vibrant than the rest. the pacing for the first half of the book was solid but in part 2, the pacing felt…off. it wasn’t terrible, but it wasn’t good either. the time skips honestly were not well done. I feel like the second half was overly edited with important chapters and several details left out, especially when the first half didn’t deal with unnatural time skips at all. time in the first half felt very organic; part 2 felt sloppy and hastily strung together. I did enjoy the twist, I was thinking that someone else committed the crime for most of the book and was genuinely surprised to find out that I was wrong. [I still love kya my girl did nothing wrong.] unrelated afterthought: why on earth did owens only describe mabel with her size? any time the woman was mentioned - who had many great qualities that had nothing to do with, and were more important than, her outward appearance - her fatness was mentioned unnecessarily. the first time, of course mention it because that’s what she looks like. but repeatedly in *that* tone she had? it felt very weird to me. she was the only (somewhat prominent) black woman in the book and aside from her kindness, that was the only thing she had going for her? no other side character was described in that manner. of course she was kya’s mother figure, but there are ways to describe that role that doesn’t tap into a mammy stereotype. it was annoying and weird coming from a white author. jumpin’s character also felt like a caricature and their descriptions seemed to reveal blatant racial bias from the author. the story takes place in the sixties, but there are ways to showcase the characters’ attitudes and perceptions towards others without being racist yourself. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse

Moderate: Alcoholism, Death, Alcohol, Child abuse, Grief, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, and Toxic relationship

Minor: Fatphobia

beren_wren's review

adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad tense slow-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Forced institutionalization, Gaslighting, Grief, Infertility, Injury/injury detail, Mental illness, Murder, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Racism, Racial slurs, Rape, Self harm, Religious bigotry, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Stalking, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Toxic friendship, and Violence

ellik6612's review against another edition

hopeful inspiring slow-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? No

1.0

Baaadly written. The dialogue is awful, cliche and stilted. The plot is unbelievable and sort of nonsensical. The characters are dull and sentimental, and the whole thing got worse as it went along. I did really enjoy some of the descriptions of nature, and the food descriptions were vivid. You could enjoy this if you treated it as light, pretty escapism, but for me, once I'd picked up on each silly plot point or improbable character action I couldn't ignore them.

The black characters are stereotypical and one dimensional, verging on full on racist tropes. Afterwards I read more about the author and it completely makes sense, she has a questionable history.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Fatphobia, Murder, Racial slurs, and Racism

Moderate: Child abuse