Reviews with content warning for Injury/Injury detail - Yo que nunca supe de los hombres

Reviews tagging 'Injury/Injury detail'

Yo que nunca supe de los hombres by Jacqueline Harpman

38 reviews

serena_hien's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional reflective medium-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? No

3.0

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clovetra's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging emotional sad slow-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? No

5.0

this was heartbreaking. to begin with, i wasn’t sold on this book, but the more i read, the more i became invested and felt both melancholy and serenity.

i really can’t explain why this book enthralled me so much. the writing was superb, but although the protagonist lacked characterisation beyond her motivations, i was rooting for her.

usually when i review a book or contemplate my thoughts surrounding it, i like to break down my thoughts based on the writing, the plot, the characters, and how it made me feel emotionally. but this book is the first that is difficult to explain why it evoked such deep emotions in me. maybe because i can relate to the protagonist, who feels as though she is meandering her whole life. maybe it’s because i wanted to see if she would find civilisation, and how the book ends. or maybe this book is enigmatic and truly sits in its own field. i can’t say a single book ive read comes close to this one in terms of its plot & deeper themes. it is in a genre of its own, floating around on bookshelves, just like the protagonist.

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ameliasbooks's review against another edition

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dark mysterious sad 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

3.25

As much as I appreciate and enjoyed the ideas in this book, the execution didn't really click for me. Even without knowing the author's professional background, it would be quite obvious to notice that there was some psychoanalysis stuff going on.

The writing was okay, but nothing to write home about, which I probably expected more of, because of all the praise this book received lately.

There were some interesting questions raised to think about and I am reading a lot of bleak and depressing books, so I had no problem with this story being as plotless as it was.
I can also love an apocalyptic book in which the reason for it all is not explained (looking at you The Road), if this is not really what the book is about.

You could argue that this is also not what this story is about and you could just read everything as a metaphor for misogyny and patriarchy and to raise some big questions about resilience and the surving of the human race (women in particular).

However the way the story is build, it is a weakness of the book that not at least some of the questions are answered, because this would have only made the novel stronger. And I couldn't help but think that the author simply didn't want us to know, but that she didn't know herself, because that wasn't the focus of the story she wanted to tell. But authors should always have all the answers to their stories, even when they are holding them back from the reader, because otherwise it always shows.

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rowanelisa's review against another edition

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dark mysterious reflective medium-paced

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

4.5

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miapisanos's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious relaxing medium-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? It's complicated

5.0

what a special novel. has shifted my brain in a small yet permanent way to approach life with more purposeful gratitude.

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rainbopagn's review against another edition

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dark emotional mysterious medium-paced

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

5.0

I spend through this in about a day. Harpman’s prose totally drowns you in the story, a bit rambling a times and harshly blunt at others. You leave the book thinking about what makes you human. My one complaint is that we never learn our narrators name. I would have liked to see the women help name her given she was their child, whether they liked it or not.

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