Reviews tagging 'Sexism'

The Sign Of The Four: (Sir Arthur Conan Doyle Classics Collection) by Arthur Conan Doyle

17 reviews

meganpbennett's review against another edition

adventurous mysterious medium-paced

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

3.0

I read The Sign of the Four many years ago, and enjoyed it. Read it again as part of the Letters from Watson, where in 2023 we read all the short stories in internal chronological order, and in 2024, the four novels. Very interesting, this one. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Drug use, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexism, Murder, Colonisation, and Classism

theatrenerd_'s review against another edition

dark inspiring mysterious fast-paced

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

4.25

I preferred this to A Study in Scarlet, although it followed a similar structure. Loved this and the appearance of the Mary Morstan plotline! 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death, Racism, and Sexism

Minor: Ableism and Murder

hjb_128's review against another edition

adventurous challenging mysterious fast-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? It's complicated

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug use, Racial slurs, and Murder

Moderate: Sexism, Death of parent, Colonisation, and War

pedanther's review against another edition

adventurous mysterious medium-paced

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

3.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racial slurs, Racism, Xenophobia, and Colonisation

Moderate: Ableism, Addiction, Alcoholism, Body shaming, Death, Drug use, Gun violence, Sexism, Violence, Murder, War, and Classism

Minor: Fatphobia, Physical abuse, Grief, Cannibalism, Death of parent, and Injury/Injury detail

citrus_stars's review against another edition

mysterious medium-paced

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

1.0

so incredibly racist and sexist but what can you expect from an Englishman from the 1800s. 

overall, a pretty bland read; not anything to write home about and not something i'd recommend, really. a bit long-winded in the very last chapter, but that's just a personal opinion. it's saving grace was the humour, some of which still holds up pretty well.

ymmv with this book, but my opinion of it was severely soured by the overt racism. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug use, Racial slurs, Racism, and Colonisation

Moderate: Sexism

Minor: Cannibalism

ale's review against another edition

2.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism

Moderate: Sexism

ggcd1981's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious medium-paced

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

4.5

The Sign of Four é o segundo livro na série de Sherlock Holmes e, na minha opinião, foi melhor do que o primeiro. Nessa obra a atmosfera de Londres Vitoriana estava ainda mais intensa e mesmo quando em partes do livro a narrativa mudou de localização para a Índia enquanto um dos personagens contava partes da história foi muito mais atmosférico e misterioso do que o enorme flashback nos Estados Unidos de A Study in Scarlet. A narrativa, acredito, foi mais bem construída também pois Holmes e Watson figuram na maior parte da história e não foram necessárias extensas porções do livro com personagens secundários e longe dos protagonistas, como foi o caso do primeiro livro. Em The Sign of Four foi introduzido a personagem Mary, interesse romântico de Watson. Ela é honesta, firme, de caráter e coragem, mas não foi particularmente marcante. O mistério foi mais intrigante também em relação ao primeiro livro, apesar do tema vingança ter se repetido, esse foi desenvolvido de forma mais interessante.

O cenário montado nessa segunda obra foi bem mais estimulante, especialmente com cenas marcantes como a cena de um dos personagens no seu leito de morte vendo na janela o rosto terrível do homem que temia.

Mesmo já sabendo um pouco do que se tratava a resolução do mistério (em se tratando de Sherlock Holmes é quase impossível não ter nenhum spoiler) ainda assim desfrutei da leitura. O ponto negativo do livro foi o racismo e o body shaming direcionado ao personagem que pertencia a um dos povos pigmeus. Isso é não justificável, mas esperado de um livro escrito em 1890. Tendo isso em vista minha nota da obra é baseada na atmosfera, personagens e o mistério desenvolvido. Assim dou 4.5 estrelas.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body shaming, Death, Racism, Slavery, Murder, and Colonisation

Moderate: Ableism, Confinement, Sexism, Xenophobia, and Stalking

Minor: Misogyny and Violence

mysimas's review against another edition

mysterious medium-paced

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

2.0

I think I’ll always have some fondness for everything Sherlock, it can’t be helped. But ooooh boy, the racism and the inane love story of this one proved to be almost too much.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism

Moderate: Sexism

orchidlilly's review against another edition

adventurous mysterious sad medium-paced

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

2.5

Ok, wow, mixed bag on this one. On one hand, the mystery its self is very fun; locked room, treasure, a mysterious calling card, its all cool. On the other hand, good God is this one racist. Most of the ACD Sherlock stories I've read keep that good ole' English racism to a minimum, but The Sign of Four seems to have dialed it up to ten to make up for that. I don't think you can go two pages here without reading multiple paragraphs of Watson or some other character just using the rudest, most vile descriptions possible for Indian people. I can't say I didn't expect it, because I know just how horribly the English viewed Indian people at the time, but that doesn't make it any more pleasant to read. I'm not kidding, though, the racism in this one is really really bad, especially because we don't get the usual Holmes thing of having the story at least somewhat go 'um, actually, the people society hates are actually just people and it is in fact the rich bastards who suck'. Just yikes.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racial slurs, Racism, Colonisation, and Classism

Moderate: Addiction, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, and War

Minor: Ableism, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Confinement, Death, Gore, Gun violence, Sexism, Slavery, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Acephobia/Arophobia, Murder, Abandonment, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

londonsetterby's review against another edition

medium-paced

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

2.0

Incredibly racist.
Also tedious and goofy. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Xenophobia, and Classism

Moderate: Racial slurs, Sexism, Slavery, and Religious bigotry