Reviews tagging 'Suicide'

Bad Girls by Camila Sosa Villada

54 reviews

panicpoet's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional inspiring sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Hate crime, Homophobia, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Transphobia, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Police brutality, Grief, Murder, Toxic friendship, Sexual harassment, and Dysphoria

savvylit's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.0

Bad Girls is perhaps the biggest testament to chosen family that I've ever read. Right from the start, Sosa Villada describes the solidarity and care that the self-described travestis have for one another. When their matriarch, Auntie Encarna, finds and adopts an abandoned baby, the travestis rally around Encarna to help her raise the child. This is the background for the rest of the narrative, which follows Camila as she navigates the danger and violence of sex work as a trans woman.

Overall, Bad Girls was an intensely compelling yet absolutely devastating novel. Sosa Villada writes with a unique blend of humor, magical realism, and blunt honesty. I felt truly immersed in a world that I'd known absolutely nothing about prior and I'm so glad I was. (Even if it often completely broke my heart).

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Rape, Sexual violence, Suicide, Transphobia, Violence, and Classism

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship

wmelissa's review against another edition

emotional reflective sad fast-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug abuse, Drug use, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicide, Transphobia, Violence, Vomit, Police brutality, and Alcohol

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship and Abandonment

chilltash's review

challenging dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Physical abuse, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Transphobia, Violence, Vomit, and Abandonment

the_readingraven's review against another edition

dark emotional sad medium-paced

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

5.0

“Something began in the dark. I’m talking about my dark now, I’m talking about myself. I’m talking about the feeling of being force-fed fistfuls of dirt by God himself.” 

TW: Homophobia, Transphobia, Injury/Injury detail, Toxic relationship, Physical abuse, Misogyny, Dysphoria, Murder, Child death, Fire/Fire injury, Suicide, Sexual violence, and Rape.

This is such a sad impactful book. This is part autobiography and magical realism, honestly, the magical realism kept me in the story when I felt like I couldn't read much more. I read this with my ears so it was so easy to turn off but I wanted to hear Camila's story of her and the travesties (trans women) living in Argentina. 

We follow Camila and other travesties in their lives as sex workers, often facing the brutalities in the world for simply existing and choosing to be their true selves. The violence these women faced is heartbreaking, the only positive is that they have each other.  It was so tough for me to get through this book, I took many breaks, some even days to get back into reading. Overall, I am glad that I read it, I am also so happy to look up Camila Sosa Villada and see how great she is doing! She has gone on to do acting and singing as well as writing other work! If they have English translations, I will be interested in reading more from her. 

I give all memoirs 5 stars out of respect to the author for their vulnerability. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Homophobia, Physical abuse, Toxic relationship, Transphobia, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Misogyny, Sexual violence, and Dysphoria

Minor: Child death, Rape, Suicide, Murder, and Fire/Fire injury

abassard's review against another edition

adventurous mysterious reflective tense fast-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Homophobia, Sexual assault, Sexual content, and Transphobia

Moderate: Suicide and Transphobia

Minor: Rape and Vomit

cocopopsmonkey's review against another edition

emotional reflective sad fast-paced

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

4.0

It's hard to coalesce my thoughts and feelings on this book in a way that does not cheapen the written story because when I'm deeply moved words often fail me. A beautiful semi autobiographical (?) story detailing experiences I will never know personally, but am blessed to have been given an in into. At times I was smiling, moved with love, and at times I was heartbroken. There's little else to say. A beautiful experience.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape and Suicide

eestellar's review

challenging dark reflective tense medium-paced

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

3.5

This book was not a joyful read - it was dark and sad. I like magical realism but I felt like it hindered this story. The timeline was confusing at times but I'm not sure if that was because of translation or just a story. It was a sad but interesting story, I felt for the women in this story and the terrors they faced. There were parts that were genuinely beautiful and I wished I could read Spanish so I could've read them authentically  

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Sexual violence, Suicide, Violence, and Alcohol

Moderate: Drug use

reflectiverambling_nalana's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional inspiring sad tense fast-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? It's complicated

4.25

This story is one of perseverance in continual strife, of finding moments of levity, and finding yourself. While some may find this to be too blunt, too intense, too dreary, the sad truth is that there are some journeys that seem like they are constantly uphill. This narrative is a constant weight, a constant shadow. And yet it is slightly inspiring in that in spite of all of the trauma faced by all of these characters, of all the compartmentalization they're forced to put on their brains just to keep moving-- they find a place to be, mostly, to keep taking that step. It is by no means hopeful. It leaves you feeling heavy and hurt. But it makes you want to yearn for everyone remaining to find a light. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Body shaming, Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Hate crime, Homophobia, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Grief, Alcohol, and Sexual harassment

Moderate: Deadnaming, Drug use, Incest, Pregnancy, and Dysphoria

theboricuabookworm's review against another edition

challenging emotional reflective fast-paced

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

4.25

A deeply personal account of the life and experiences of a group of travesties (trans women) living in Argentina. The book primarily follows Camila as she navigates her life as a sex worker. CSV does not shy away from the brutalities she faces every day purely because she exists and refuses to flinch away from herself and her identity. In a raw and real story with a dash of magical realism you are drawn to Camila and the other travestis as they grow up and into themselves in a world determined to see them gone.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Transphobia

Moderate: Death, Drug abuse, Rape, Sexual content, and Suicide