Reviews tagging 'Gun violence'

The Men by Sandra Newman

5 reviews

theellamo's review against another edition

dark mysterious reflective medium-paced

• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

3.75

Newman’s storytelling simultaneously soothes and spooks me. Her exploration of relationships, love, society, disaster mitigation, and how we change one another are as equally haunting as they are humbling. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Hate crime, Infidelity, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Slavery, Suicide, Transphobia, Violence, Police brutality, Trafficking, Grief, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Pregnancy, Lesbophobia, and Sexual harassment

adalheid's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional inspiring mysterious sad tense medium-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? Yes

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Gun violence, Pedophilia, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, Police brutality, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

Moderate: Alcoholism, Domestic abuse, Hate crime, Incest, Lesbophobia, and Sexual harassment

All the content warnings I added are definitely not comprehensive but reflect directly on why many characters experience all men disappearing as a relief! I don't like books that describe these things so graphically but it is for a reason.

loxeletters's review

dark mysterious reflective 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

I got this book for Christmas, and just now got around to reading it. While checking the trigger warnings, I was surprised to find the very low ratings this book has received both here and on Goodreads. Still, I wanted to go in with an open mind.

This must have worked, because I really enjoyed the book. I found the writing style great and I loved the flawed characters and their complicated relationships. Since I had taken a brief look over the reviews before reading, I was steeling myself for some horrible ending, but this never materialised. Maybe also because my expectations were so low, I was pleasantly surprised by the ending. I understand why some people may have issues with it and find it frustrating, but for me this was not the case at all. As with many literary fiction books, the ending isn't all clear-cut, but rather leaves room for the reader to answer the open questions for themselves. For me, that concept works quite well.

Regarding the many accusations of transphobia, I found that while I can see where these people are coming from, I don't really agree with it. The debate whether there are two sexes and whether sex and gender are separate or the same is a complicated one, and I'm not going into it here. But if all people with a Y chromosome were to disappear, this would also include most if not all trans women and amab non-binary people. What is a bit tricky is the idea that

men are responsible for most or all evil in the world, and then lumping trans women in with them.

Still, I found that the book addressed this issue, if not very in-depth, and since it wasn't the main focus of the book to what degree the disappearance was moral, I personally don't expect more than what was done. In fact, I was surprised by how far the author actually addressed the issue.

One criticism I shared was that the side characters introduced early in the book felt quite flat once they were interacting in the end. Also, I would have liked to see a more global perspective of how the world dealt with the disappearance, which was unfortunately only mentioned two or three times.

Overall, however, I really enjoyed this read and would definitely recommend it.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Gun violence, Pedophilia, Racism, and Sexual content

Moderate: Rape

besha's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious tense medium-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

5.0

I appreciate Sandra Newman’s writing and would be thinking about this book for a long time even without the controversy surrounding it. It’s neither a feminist utopia nor a logistical thought exercise about what happens when half the world disappears, though there are elements of both; it’s about a handful of survivors, and their lives before and after the disappearance. 

The controversy has been valuable primarily to surface just how many people think that every word an author writes and idea they run with represents their own opinion.  Is Y-chromosome an arbitrary dividing line that is one of many elements of biological sex? Yes, definitely. Is the author therefore stating that all people with Y chromosomes are men? Jesus Christ, no. 

It is a difficult book—my content warnings may be incomplete but are otherwise accurate, not hateflagging. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Death, Hate crime, Mental illness, Racism, Sexual assault, Transphobia, Police brutality, Grief, Death of parent, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

Moderate: Addiction, Cancer, Child death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicide, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Islamophobia, Cannibalism, Cultural appropriation, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Ableism, Body shaming, Homophobia, Incest, Slavery, Antisemitism, and Lesbophobia

stacey__p's review against another edition

challenging medium-paced

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

0.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Biphobia, Body horror, Body shaming, Bullying, Cancer, Child abuse, Child death, Chronic illness, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Genocide, Gore, Gun violence, Hate crime, Homophobia, Incest, Infertility, Infidelity, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Terminal illness, Torture, Toxic relationship, Transphobia, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Xenophobia, Blood, Excrement, Vomit, Police brutality, Islamophobia, Medical content, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Grief, Mass/school shootings, Religious bigotry, Medical trauma, Stalking, Car accident, Abortion, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Acephobia/Arophobia, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Pregnancy, Lesbophobia, Fire/Fire injury, Outing, Cultural appropriation, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, Dysphoria, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Negative stars, if that were possible. Contained such gems of sentences as, “Then, when I gave way, I felt my cunt as a blazing light.” In reference to a black woman - “A gap between her front teeth made her likably goofy-looking. She was smiling non-stop and checking her listeners.” “She cried luxuriously while she urinated.”