Reviews tagging 'Racial slurs'

Meine geniale Freundin by Elena Ferrante

10 reviews

miller8d's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense slow-paced

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

4.25

This book is brilliant in a way that makes me say “This is the story of a real life,” not “omg I love this book.” Like, I don’t really feel like I read a fictional story. (I actually have no clue if it’s autobiographical or not but I won’t google it because I don’t want to spoil it). Perhaps for that reason, this book took me an incredible long time to read. Like, months on end of picking it up and loving it, but being unable to pick it up again because it was so difficult to read. I don’t even think it was actually difficult literature for me, but instead so emotionally dense and detail-heavy that I couldn’t pay anything but 100% attention while reading, otherwise I’d have to go back dozens of pages to figure out why I was confused. Also,

this is perhaps the only book or story I’ve ever known which accurately depicts how tumultuous and confusing and painful it can be to survive childhood and grow up. I absolutely loved her depiction of how the child’s mind can equally spin fantasy and horrific terror on the same coin— not simple boogieman stuff, but much scarier, finding awful and disturbing fears in/around the mundane figures of your social world and daily life, even when there’s nothing truly wrong there.

Beautiful book.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Death, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Infidelity, Mental illness, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Rape, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Violence, Grief, Stalking, Death of parent, Murder, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail

katharina90's review against another edition

dark informative reflective slow-paced

• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No

2.5

This book left me with mixed emotions.

I appreciated the glimpses into what life was like in an impoverished Naples neighborhood in the 1950s and beyond. 

I came away with the impression that it was dark and violent, particularly for women, and that the rampant sexism of this time and place deeply affected female friendships, often turning them toxic and jealous rather than supportive and empowering. 

While this may be accurate and valuable from an educational standpoint, I didn't find it very enjoyable to read. It made the characters really unlikeable and so I wasn't invested in their story. I just wanted to get through it.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Sexism, and Toxic friendship

Minor: Ableism, Fatphobia, Homophobia, Racial slurs, and Racism

risemini's review against another edition

emotional reflective medium-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Homophobia, Infidelity, Mental illness, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Grief, Stalking, Death of parent, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Toxic friendship, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, War, and Injury/Injury detail

korttipakka's review against another edition

challenging emotional slow-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship and Sexual harassment

Minor: Ableism, Homophobia, and Racial slurs

rainbowrachel's review against another edition

sad medium-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Sexual assault, and Violence

Minor: Homophobia, Racial slurs, and Racism

linniescorner's review against another edition

emotional reflective sad medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Racial slurs, Sexual assault, and Violence

laurren's review against another edition

adventurous emotional reflective relaxing medium-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault

Moderate: Racial slurs

_shonahenderson's review against another edition

emotional reflective sad slow-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Body shaming, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Misogyny, Sexual content, Stalking, and Toxic friendship

Moderate: Death, Mental illness, Racial slurs, Violence, Murder, and Classism

laurenleigh's review against another edition

emotional reflective slow-paced

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

4.5

This is one of those novels where there’s very little action, but there’s just something about it that engrossed me. A sign of very good writing, and an especially good translation! The way this narrator looks at the world is both unique and relatable. The part where the girls learn about the recent past and its atrocities (WWII, fascism, etc.) is really sticking out in my mind. I didn’t read in print, but there’s a poignant line about suddenly recognizing that every place and custom and institution is rooted in history from before your birth, for better or for worse. I can’t do it justice in a quick recap! I’d argue the 1950’s and 60’s are often mythologized here in America, and I found it fascinating to see a new perspective on that time period, in a more rural Italian setting. That these girls were in adolescence and had never been in a car! Wild. I don’t think I’m desperate to start the sequel right away, if at all, but I thought this novel was very well done.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Sexism, and Sexual assault

Moderate: Pedophilia, Racial slurs, Toxic relationship, and Murder

renjamin's review against another edition

reflective slow-paced

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

3.5

I love books from the perspective of children, so I felt like this was right up my alley. I really like that the kids in this book are horrible because sometimes, in real life, kids are horrible. I think it's so interesting to hear their innocent and ignorant viewpoints whilst copying the violent and cruel behaviour of their parents. I thought that the class commentary was interesting and well thought out. I loved the contrast between Linu and Lilas stories and how we were able to see stories from a variety of different perspectives through Linu. Like everyone else has said, this book is very slow, almost painfully at times but, I think it is worth it in the end. I think listening to the audiobook greatly enhanced my experience of this book, I don't think I would've enjoyed this half as much in physical form. The audiobook is so well narrated and the characters have such distinct voices.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse and Sexual assault

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Bullying, and Child abuse

Minor: Homophobia and Racial slurs