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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.
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.
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