Reviews tagging 'Racial slurs'

Prendila così by Joan Didion

10 reviews

ashley_turch's review against another edition

challenging dark 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

2.0

I think I may be too stupid for this book. I get that it reflects a depressive state quite well, but it became incredibly hard to move through about halfway through. I struggled to finish it because of how slow it was, and I couldn’t follow what was going on. I normally love books about women losing their mind, but I guess this just wasn’t for me. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abortion, Homophobia, Racial slurs, and Mental illness

samarakroeger's review against another edition

challenging dark reflective sad medium-paced

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

4.25

a book that sucked me in and spat me out. loved the use of perspective in the narration, the short chapters, and the general sense of unease and desolation. it’s purposefully empty. 

didn’t love the racism, homophobia, sexism, ableism, etc…

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gaslighting, Abortion, Homophobia, Infidelity, Mental illness, Suicide, Drug abuse, Ableism, Domestic abuse, Racial slurs, Addiction, and Car accident

morenowagain's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark sad tense fast-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence and Abortion

Moderate: Mental illness, Medical trauma, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, Sexual violence, Racial slurs, Grief, Drug abuse, Addiction, Suicide, Medical content, Alcohol, Physical abuse, Homophobia, and Drug use

Minor: Car accident

murrderdith's review against another edition

reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• 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

4.0

There is an exquisite, stark bleakness to Didion’s writing. Now having her fiction to compare it to, I think I prefer her non-fiction work as her style has a journalistic quality that doesn’t always feel right for a novel. I think she captures the lie undergirding mid-20th-century American prosperity--that the material bounty of post-war America belies an existential crisis. A realization that all of that is empty.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racial slurs, Eating disorder, Infidelity, and Abortion

draig_dyke's review against another edition

challenging dark sad fast-paced

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

3.5

This book confused me with all the characters who didn’t seem worth remembering and still kept showing up. I’m not good with names.

I liked the story, the topics, the “theme” but not necessarily the style. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Racial slurs and Homophobia

Minor: Lesbophobia

mmefish's review against another edition

dark reflective fast-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

She wanted to tell him she was sorry, but saying she was sorry did not seem entirely adequate, and in any case what she was sorry about seemed at once too deep and too evanescent for any words she knew, seemed so vastly more complicated than the immediate fact that it was perhaps better left unraveled.

An addicting story (thanks to the prose) about shallow people and their shallow lives. And mental illness. Reminded me a bit of "The Bell Jar".

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Toxic friendship, Abortion, Blood, Toxic relationship, Mental illness, and Emotional abuse

Moderate: Homophobia, Racial slurs, Sexual assault, Rape, Suicide, Misogyny, and Domestic abuse

Minor: Death of parent

lmshearer's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad fast-paced

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

4.0

In Play It As It Lays, Joan Didion gives us Maria Wyeth, who may be the cool, disaffected heroine of the 20th century. Dark and moody, yet strangely glamorous and chic, the novel keeps the reader at the same distance its protagonist seems to maintain from everyone in the book. Still, the book is worthy of the acclaim it continues to receive.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Abortion, Addiction, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Toxic friendship, Drug use, Domestic abuse, and Racial slurs

angel_kiiss's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad fast-paced

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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abortion, Pregnancy, Racial slurs, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Addiction, Alcohol, Drug use, Infidelity, Medical trauma, Suicidal thoughts, and Toxic friendship

Minor: Suicide, Sexual assault, and Rape

literarytaurean's review against another edition

sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No

3.0

felt very much like a *nothing* book. i flew through it in one sitting so i can't say i didn't like the writing, but i felt no emotional connection or investment in anything that was going on.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Racial slurs, Homophobia, Abortion, and Drug abuse

Minor: Domestic abuse

mirivii's review against another edition

dark tense fast-paced

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

3.5

I really struggled to get into the story at the begging, couldn’t understand where it was going. Glad I stuck with it because it took a turn after the first 30 pages. Didion’s writing style is amazing but felt over dramatic at some point. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racial slurs, Homophobia, Violence, Suicide, Suicidal thoughts, and Sexism

Moderate: Abortion and Adult/minor relationship