Reviews tagging 'Forced institutionalization'

The Men by Sandra Newman

2 reviews

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.”