Reviews tagging 'Sexism'

Prendila così by Joan Didion

8 reviews

katrinaamartin's review against another edition

dark emotional sad tense slow-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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Suicidal thoughts, Sexism, Pregnancy, Suicide, Mental illness, Infidelity, Abortion, and Drug abuse

madisoncarter's review against another edition

challenging dark sad 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

4.0

i tore through this book. the writing style and format was absolute catnip for me. after getting stuck on a few books that i wasn’t inspired to read, this one had me chucking in my bag everywhere the last week. everyone is terrible and i know i’m in the minority with how much i appreciated maria. she is an extremely battered woman and going through these moments with her was heartwrenching but in the end, worthy of the utmost respect.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abortion, Addiction, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Body horror, Cursing, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Grief, Gore, Misogyny, Self harm, Sexism, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Suicide attempt, and Toxic relationship

margztgz's review against another edition

adventurous dark reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

3.0

I expected to enjoy this novel more than I did but it was an interesting read nonetheless and I finished it very quickly. I felt a lot of empathy towards the main character as a woman essentially lost in so much of her life. Certain scenes were difficult to read but so well written and encapsulating. I thought the language was good at keeping attention yet left me in a bleak mood.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Medical trauma, Blood, Drug use, Grief, Sexism, Sexual assault, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Abandonment, Pregnancy, Sexual violence, Abortion, and Alcohol

annasreads612's review against another edition

dark sad tense fast-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abortion, Addiction, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Blood, Body horror, Chronic illness, Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Forced institutionalization, Grief, Infidelity, Medical content, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Suicide, Death of parent, and Car accident

miriameckl's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad medium-paced

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

2.0

I struggle to give the book a rating because it doesn‘t have an impact on me, I‘m not connected to the characters or to the story at all but I did enjoy reading it. I guess I have to think about it for a while.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Toxic relationship, Suicide, Toxic friendship, Addiction, Mental illness, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Sexism, Abortion, Alcohol, Death, and Misogyny

laurabarrett's review against another edition

dark sad 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

2.75

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Abortion, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Vomit, Violence, Toxic relationship, Pregnancy, Mental illness, Alcohol, Cursing, Death, Drug use, Domestic abuse, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Forced institutionalization, Grief, Homophobia, Infidelity, Lesbophobia, Medical content, and Sexism

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

sketchybooks's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad slow-paced

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

4.0

This is an interesting one, because while it's a well written book that I couldn't put down... overall, the movie was better.

The movie has its issues. It tries to tell the story in a similar way to the book and becomes a bit of a jumbled mess at times because of that, but. The character BZ is combined with another character who was pretty pointless in the book... but when combined with BZ gave that character much more depth and a more interesting relationship with Maria. In the movie, their friendship is what mattered most to me, and made the ending that much more intense. In the book, they barely knew each other, and I had trouble making any connection. Which, I'm aware, may have been the point, but I prefer the point in the movie personally.

It also helps that 1) Anthony Perkins gave an extremely arresting performance as BZ (which says something interesting about collaborative storytelling and even representation, since Perkins' life experiences definitely seem relevant) and 2) the movie only has one character use the f slur (that I remember?) and he's a terrible person, unlike the book where our protagonist says it constantly.

The author did help write the screenplay, so as a writer myself I'm curious if these changes were made more for story purposes or merely for adaptation purposes. Personally, I'm very glad for the changes, even though the book itself also has its strengths over the movie.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Biphobia, Suicide, Homophobia, Sexism, and Misogyny

Moderate: Eating disorder

This follows a woman's experience with an abortion in the 1970's, and includes a lot of potentially triggering moments surrounding that.