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Reviews tagging 'Confinement'
Confident Women: Swindlers, Grifters, and Shapeshifters of the Feminine Persuasion by Tori Telfer
2 reviews
rini's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
informative
fast-paced
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body shaming, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Slavery, Violence, Suicide attempt, Murder, and Pregnancy
Moderate: Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Incest, Miscarriage, Forced institutionalization, Dementia, Mass/school shootings, Car accident, and Death of parent
Minor: Racial slurs
horizonous's review against another edition
adventurous
informative
lighthearted
fast-paced
3.0
I can't say I will remember a lot of details about these women - to be honest, I already had trouble remembering who was who while reading the acknowledgments - but I also can't say I didn't enjoy this book, even though enjoyment might me de wrong word in some cases discussed.
I'm mostly glad I picked it up during a time when I was struggeling with reading, because Confident Women: Swindlers, Grifters, and Shapeshifters of the Feminine Persuasion was so easy to get through. It kind of reads like a series of short(ish) podcast episodes. In the four categories Tori Telfer chose to cover there are stories of at least three con women, sometimes even more when they are bundled together due to their similair schemes, each story averaging at around 16 pages, so it's very easy to read a couple of chapters and then put the book down.
The narrative tone is very casual, at times attempting to be humorous even, which worked better in some cases than others. For example, the nonchalant hints at alleged trauma in these women's lives or in some instances the back and forth between conversational anecdotes and gruesome details felt very inappropriate to me. Overall it's a pretty superficial look at these women without going too deep into societal or gender biases they faced in the historical times they lived. Contrary to some reviews I read that wasn't a problem for me though, because I didn't expect it to go there.. I mean, how would that be possible given the length of this book and the amount of women covered in it?
Like I said in the beginning, I picked this book up at the right time, I also didn't go into it thinking I would get in-depth psychological analysis of these con women and (besides the issues i mentioned above) that's why this was perfectly fine for me.
I'm mostly glad I picked it up during a time when I was struggeling with reading, because Confident Women: Swindlers, Grifters, and Shapeshifters of the Feminine Persuasion was so easy to get through. It kind of reads like a series of short(ish) podcast episodes. In the four categories Tori Telfer chose to cover there are stories of at least three con women, sometimes even more when they are bundled together due to their similair schemes, each story averaging at around 16 pages, so it's very easy to read a couple of chapters and then put the book down.
The narrative tone is very casual, at times attempting to be humorous even, which worked better in some cases than others. For example, the nonchalant hints at alleged trauma in these women's lives or in some instances the back and forth between conversational anecdotes and gruesome details felt very inappropriate to me. Overall it's a pretty superficial look at these women without going too deep into societal or gender biases they faced in the historical times they lived. Contrary to some reviews I read that wasn't a problem for me though, because I didn't expect it to go there.. I mean, how would that be possible given the length of this book and the amount of women covered in it?
Like I said in the beginning, I picked this book up at the right time, I also didn't go into it thinking I would get in-depth psychological analysis of these con women and (besides the issues i mentioned above) that's why this was perfectly fine for me.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Emotional abuse, Toxic relationship, and Murder
Moderate: Child death, Confinement, Gun violence, Physical abuse, Rape, Slavery, Suicide, Violence, Trafficking, and Car accident
Minor: Alcoholism, Animal death, Cancer, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Mental illness, and Torture
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