Reviews tagging 'Sexism'

Erotic Stories for Punjabi Widows by Balli Kaur Jaswal

48 reviews

standardchaos's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny hopeful mysterious reflective sad tense fast-paced

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

4.5

I just wish there was a bit more to Mindy's arranged marriage plotline, but besides that this book was great! Humor, romance, murder, mystery, this book has it all. I thoroughly enjoyed it and actually love hearing "old, not dead" type stories.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Sexism and Suicide

Minor: Adult/minor relationship and Rape

sangsmiles's review against another edition

emotional funny inspiring mysterious medium-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Misogyny, Racism, Sexism, and Grief

Moderate: Death, Homophobia, Religious bigotry, Death of parent, Murder, and Fire/Fire injury

metanav's review against another edition

funny hopeful inspiring lighthearted mysterious medium-paced

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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexism and Sexual content

Moderate: Child death, Homophobia, Racism, Grief, and Death of parent

Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Cancer, and Suicide

deven_c's review against another edition

dark funny lighthearted fast-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Misogyny, Sexism, Suicide, and Murder

matmatmatty's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative mysterious tense medium-paced

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

5.0

This story focuses on a Sikh community in Southall, London where a young "modern" woman is hired to teach a literacy class (although she thinks it's a creative writing class) and while giving her students (who are, of course, the titular Punjabi widows) the confidence to express themselves properly, she starts to uncover the truth about some of the community's secrets.

I really liked the dynamic between the m in characters- coming from a religious immigrant community myself, I could completely understand Nikki's thinking and the way she acts, but could also see some of my family in Kulwinder and some of the widows.

This book gave me a lot to think about - from how our safe communities can become toxic, to how it's important to stand up to our ideals even if the world is against us.

I know what happened to Maya does happen - there was a lot of talk of "honour killings" in the UK a few years ago, but it sometimes feel like things are out of our hands with things like this, and this story helped me realise that it doesn't have to be.

Really loved this book and looking forward to reading more from this author!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Death, Sexual content, and Suicide

Moderate: Racism, Violence, and Murder

Minor: Sexism and Xenophobia

dani_reis's review against another edition

slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

3.0

Kind of bored with the pace feeling too slow. Bit too much like an anthology of erotica, which I should have expected.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Domestic abuse, Sexism, Sexual content, Grief, and Fire/Fire injury

Moderate: Infidelity, Suicide, Stalking, and Murder

Minor: Adult/minor relationship and Rape

ricefun's review against another edition

adventurous funny lighthearted mysterious fast-paced

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

4.75

I truly loved this novel, particularly listening in audiobook format. I loved the creativity and the writing in this story. I watch and read a lot of British English materials, and this one offered a glimpse into a completely different British community. Some of the "stories" that are shared are pretty racy, so probably not for young readers, or those of a puritan bent. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content

Moderate: Sexism, Sexual violence, and Violence

Minor: Racism

hoagie's review against another edition

3.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Domestic abuse, Misogyny, Sexism, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Islamophobia, Grief, Stalking, Death of parent, and Murder

paigereitz's review against another edition

emotional funny hopeful informative mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

I really enjoyed this book. It was such an interesting exploration of culture and religion and multi-generational families navigating those challenges. From my vantage point, it tackled culture and varying levels of conservatism within Sikhism remarkably well, allowing the women to be people - not caricatures of their culture. And listening to the audiobook was lovely. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death, Misogyny, Racism, Sexism, and Grief

Minor: Fire/Fire injury

scmiller's review against another edition

dark emotional funny hopeful lighthearted mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Hate crime, Misogyny, Sexism, Murder, and Classism

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Pedophilia, Suicide, Xenophobia, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, and Gaslighting

Minor: Addiction, Biphobia, Homophobia, Rape, Religious bigotry, Lesbophobia, and Alcohol