Reviews tagging 'Sexism'

The Bandit Queens by Parini Shroff

125 reviews

moonbloomandgrow's review against another edition

challenging dark funny tense slow-paced

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

3.0

This was my book club’s pick for August and I honestly don’t think I’d have stuck it out and read it all if it wasn’t. Unfortunately I struggled to get into this book and found myself googling vocabulary and cultural references too much to fully feel like I could get stuck in. I did enjoy the camaraderie that eventually grows between the women of the village and admired their strength and quick wit but the dark humour was a little bit hard for me to take given then amount of abuse and trauma the book delves into. It’s definitely one that I wish I’d read the trigger warnings for before reading but it was eye-opening to learn about how things are in remote villages such as the one featured in this book.

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steen19's review

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adventurous mysterious medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? Yes

3.75

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readbykrispy's review against another edition

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dark funny mysterious sad medium-paced

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

3.75

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amanda_reads89's review

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challenging hopeful informative inspiring mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

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arnoles's review against another edition

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dark funny hopeful inspiring medium-paced

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

5.0

I absolutely LOVED this book and could barely put it down for about the last 2/3 of the story. I really liked the liberal use of dialogue, which felt so authentic and really fleshed out each character's unique personality and perspective. I cared about all the women so much by the end. it's a huge testament to the author's excellent writing that she was able to create so many vibrant, well developed characters and craft an action packed plot in just over 300 pages without anything feeling rushed or unearned. The subject matter of the book is very dark, but Schroff's writing is filled with humor and humanism. I genuinely laughed out loud throughout the book. I will be excitedly looking forward to this author's next publication!

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calicos's review against another edition

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dark slow-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

Fun enough story but it dragged on in parts and the dialogue felt clunky a lot of the time. Sometimes the humor and situations veered more into slapstick / parody and it just didn’t work for me. The lessons at the end felt a bit heavy handed.

That being said, I enjoyed reading about the village life and Indian culture mentioned throughout the book.

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archiebb's review

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adventurous dark emotional funny hopeful mysterious tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

This was such a good book. I worried at first that it was gonna be all “see women are so catty” but that was really flipped on its head and instead the complexities of friendship between women was really well done. It was funny and the plot was always unexpected and gripping. The voice acting of the narrator was an added benefit.

My main criticism come from some harmful tropes/bigotry: fatphobia is throughout and ableism

the husband faking blindness is like a very common and harmful trope about disabled ppl faking it.

Spoilers ahead

The love story that the MC got to experience was nice too and subtle, it wasn’t the main focus of the story at all.
I loved seeing the friendship between Geeta and Saloni reunited and made more of a main focus. That and the ever surprising Farah.

Interesting comments about how the micro loans don’t mean that the women are not still beholden to patriarchy.

When Saloni comes back to warn Geeta and she finds that Geeta is back under her ex’s spell. Oof did i feel that as a guttural punch. It is SO HARD to watch someone you care about be drawn in by their abuser.

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flimsy_whimsy's review against another edition

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adventurous dark funny hopeful tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.0

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burnedstory's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional funny hopeful inspiring mysterious medium-paced

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

5.0

I loved it. Shroff has acquired the feat of telling such a heavy story, portraying such heavy issues in such a humours but impactful way. A real page turner. Often when talked about India casteism is not talked about, it's like an unspoken devil in the nation but the way it was written in the story, I applaud it (Here I understand my privelige of being an upper caste person and not knowing even the tip of discrimination). The humour in the story in my opinion is commendable, shows the strength and courage of these women. Shroff says, she wanted to honour the Bandit Queen, Phoolan Mallah and I think she acheived that in a wonderful way. One of the major takeaways for me from the book was the power of female friendship, how these women stood behind each other warmed my heart. As we talk about feminism in the modern world, somewhere we forget about women like Geeta, Saloni, Farah and co. So I am very grateful to get to read their story. One where they are not put on pedestals, one where they are human and make wrong decisions and face the consequences of it. It's beautiful to read.
If "I support women's rights and women's wrongs" could be a book this very well might be it.

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lattelibrarian's review against another edition

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dark funny medium-paced

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

4.75

This. BOOK.

I chose this after waiting for SO LONG to read it for my book club and it was a total hit with myself and with others. Shroff uses humor--both light and dark--to discuss rather serious subjects such as caste, marital abuse, motherhood, friendships, and more.

Geeta is such a fantastic character. She's wonderfully flawed and all too serious, thinking herself a martyr which causes her to be alone and cast as a sort of town witch. But when Fatima comes to her for help murdering her husband, thinking Geeta's offed her own, Geeta relents and unfurls a plot like no other: Fatima is not as helpless as she seems and begins blackmailing Geeta, who also ends up helping more women in her loan group kill their husbands. Along the way, she rekindles a friendship with someone she fell out with upon getting married to her no-good husband.

It's laugh out loud funny, tense, and filled with twists and turns, dogs, and unforeseen romance and friendships. If you need a summer book, or winter book, or any-season book, this is the one.

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