Reviews tagging 'Misogyny'

Half of a Yellow Sun by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

9 reviews

the_last_bookshelf's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional informative reflective sad tense medium-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? No

4.0


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laedyred's review against another edition

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

4.0

This book requires an analytic, critical lens of a literature student to get the most out of it. The prose can drag at times but this isn't exactly an action-packed story. The horrors of the Nigerian civil war are on full display. Besides the two women protagonists, I hated every character. Men are truly the scum of the earth. 

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betag1013's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional informative mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.25


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ciarammeyer's review against another edition

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

4.5

super super well-written! objectively, this is a 5 star book. however, i felt like at times the plot seemed unresolved—the cliffhanger at the end was beautifully done, but some of the other moments of uncertainty felt less necessary. i think it’s just a personal preference thing, though, i prefer to have my books feel a bit more tidy at times. 

overall, though, i loved this book. adichie shines light on a war id never even heard of before (western education proving insular yet again), and does so in a way that feels uniquely personal. the characters are deeply flawed—with the text exploring adultery, rape, elitism, and the brutality of war—but you never feel like they are irredeemable. 

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nannahnannah's review against another edition

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DNF @ 47%.

Representation:
- almost every character is Nigerian

I got to page 203 when I got an uncomfortable feeling from the description, “[his] voice was unmistakable; it was vibrantly male …” and had to look Adichie up. Sure enough, this is the transphobic author who, among things like bullying a trans author under her mentorship, approved of Rowling’s "TERF Manifesto”. 

I thought I had deleted all her books from my to-read list, but I must have missed this one. Stopping here doesn’t make me upset; I disliked most of the characters in this book and only didn’t mind the rest. 

I’d much rather read someone else’s work.

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perfectphlaws's review against another edition

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

4.0

It was a well written book, but reminded me why I don't usually stray too far from romance. So much rape. War is ugly indeed, maybe I'll just read about it in the news rather than rehashing past horrors. 


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gabrielad's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional informative reflective sad fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

i have cried soooo much and experienced numerous heartbreaks while reading this book 

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kylieqrada's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional informative reflective sad tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

Note: I had the displeasure of finding out about Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie's particular brand of trans-exclusionary feminism shortly after finishing this book. With that in mind, I will not be supporting her work in the future. Trans women are women. 

4.5 ⭐s. I can definitely see why this is Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie's award-winning-est (is that a word?) work. Not only did I enjoy this immensely just from a writing perspective - the characters, plot, world-building, symbolism, narrative devices, all flawless - I also learned so much about an aspect of history that I was relatively clueless about up until this reading. This book is unflinching, and subsequently has trigger warnings for just about every trigger on the books, but it is a very impactful, emotional, and educational read. 

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mazybird's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

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