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alanajane's review against another edition
emotional
informative
reflective
sad
medium-paced
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death, Death, Rape, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Death of parent, War, and Injury/Injury detail
srm's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
informative
reflective
tense
medium-paced
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death, Death, Misogyny, Violence, Blood, and War
Minor: Sexual violence and Suicide
edulaia's review against another edition
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
medium-paced
5.0
Here is someone who deserved that Nobel prize. Not by writing her own thoughts but because she gave voice to others.
This book shows all the horrors of war, but it does more than that. It reflects on what it means to be female, what it means to be feminine, what gender is and how it affects people in this extreme situation. It could be read alongside Simone de Beauvoirs Le deuxième sexe and Judith Butlers Gender Trouble. The only thing it misses is any reference to queerness. I get that that is because of the context. Alexievich had trouble getting this past the censors as it is. And maybe it was something that was not even part of the conversations. In any case, this book is well worth reading.
This book shows all the horrors of war, but it does more than that. It reflects on what it means to be female, what it means to be feminine, what gender is and how it affects people in this extreme situation. It could be read alongside Simone de Beauvoirs Le deuxième sexe and Judith Butlers Gender Trouble. The only thing it misses is any reference to queerness. I get that that is because of the context. Alexievich had trouble getting this past the censors as it is. And maybe it was something that was not even part of the conversations. In any case, this book is well worth reading.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence and War
Minor: Rape
michipez's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
informative
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Violence, Blood, and War
Moderate: Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Medical content, and Sexual harassment
georgiarybanks's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
informative
sad
medium-paced
5.0
Content Warnings
Minor: Animal death, Child death, Confinement, Death, Rape, Suicide, Torture, Blood, Antisemitism, and War
feyha's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
5.0
Could I give this book more than 5 stars? Where do I even start?
This book has touched me like no other. It touched my soul. It has stories of survival, perseverance, even happiness, where there is nothing but utter despair. It demonstrates the perseverance of a human being, of a woman.
It's not an easy read at all. But the collection of transcripts makes it easy to get through. As morbid as it may seem, I really really enjoyed reading this book.
There's just so much about human emotion that we may think we know, but I'm absolutely sure we don't.
How terrible war is, how people still survive and sometimes manage to thrive, this book talks about it. It's so much more than the glorification of war. It's the real deal. The day to day.
It talks about what it meant to be a woman, where everything about war, every resource to fight the war, was made having men in mind.
It talks about how men could be so protective of the women in their divisions, so helpful to them, while at the same time go and rape the enemies' women in unspeakable ways.
It talks about how women were slut-shamed for participating, how their stories were ignored, how the same men who'd give their lives protecting these women during the war, were the ones who humiliated them so after.
This is a tear-jerker. I wish more would read this book. I wish to read the rest of this author's books sometime in the future- not now, because there's only so much emotional turmoil one can go through. But it was absolutely worth it, every second of it.
This book has touched me like no other. It touched my soul. It has stories of survival, perseverance, even happiness, where there is nothing but utter despair. It demonstrates the perseverance of a human being, of a woman.
It's not an easy read at all. But the collection of transcripts makes it easy to get through. As morbid as it may seem, I really really enjoyed reading this book.
There's just so much about human emotion that we may think we know, but I'm absolutely sure we don't.
How terrible war is, how people still survive and sometimes manage to thrive, this book talks about it. It's so much more than the glorification of war. It's the real deal. The day to day.
It talks about what it meant to be a woman, where everything about war, every resource to fight the war, was made having men in mind.
It talks about how men could be so protective of the women in their divisions, so helpful to them, while at the same time go and rape the enemies' women in unspeakable ways.
It talks about how women were slut-shamed for participating, how their stories were ignored, how the same men who'd give their lives protecting these women during the war, were the ones who humiliated them so after.
This is a tear-jerker. I wish more would read this book. I wish to read the rest of this author's books sometime in the future- not now, because there's only so much emotional turmoil one can go through. But it was absolutely worth it, every second of it.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Rape, Murder, and War
aliteracja's review against another edition
dark
informative
sad
medium-paced
Content Warnings
Moderate: Violence and War
serendipitysbooks's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
informative
reflective
medium-paced
4.75
The Unwomanly Face of War is an example of oral history at its finest. The author spent a decade travelling around the Soviet Union interviewing hundreds of women who contributed to the Soviet war effort, whether that be as partisans, sappers, snipers, nurses, laundresses, pilots, tank drivers, machine gunners and more. You name it and a Soviet woman probably did it. The result is a brilliant collection of their own words - some lengthy, others smaller snippets, grouped around a theme - relating the reality of their war experiences, experiences that were recognised with medals at the time but were neglected, silenced or disparaged in later years. It’s a story of women desperate to do their bit, many eager to serve on the front lines, having to make do with male uniforms and deal with scepticism from male leaders - at least at first. It’s a story full of blood, fear, horror and exhaustion, of memories that still haunted them forty years later. It’s a story that not only includes the war but also the realities of the lives of the women - of missing children left behind, of having to deal with periods without any necessary supplies, of dealing with grief when a loved one died, of missing feeling like a woman. What it isn’t is dry, boring or impersonal, charges levelled, often justly, at many official histories. It also expertly manages to capture both the commonalities of the women’s experiences as a whole and the unique nature of each individual woman’s war.
The other thing I appreciated about the volume is that the author included some of her experience creating the book - her inspiration, the reactions of women when she contacted them, her own thoughts and feelings as her work progressed, and some of the material Soviet censors rejected when the books was first published.
So glad that I finally picked this book up.
The other thing I appreciated about the volume is that the author included some of her experience creating the book - her inspiration, the reactions of women when she contacted them, her own thoughts and feelings as her work progressed, and some of the material Soviet censors rejected when the books was first published.
So glad that I finally picked this book up.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence and War
Moderate: Misogyny
brittmariasbooks's review against another edition
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
informative
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
4.5
Prachtig boek over hoe Sovjetvrouwen voor onze vrijheid hebben gevochten. Het boek bestaat uit fragmenten van de ervaringen van die vrouwen tijdens de Tweede Wereldoorlog. Hun ervaringen variëren omdat hun posities variëren. Elk schijnt licht op deze kant van de oorlog die heel lang onbesproken is. De verhalen van deze vrouwen zijn gruwelijk, mooi, verdrietig en hoopvol.
Content warning voor bloed, verkrachting, dood, verwondingen, oorlog.
Content warning voor bloed, verkrachting, dood, verwondingen, oorlog.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Death, Rape, Blood, and War
valentia's review against another edition
emotional
informative
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: War
Moderate: Death, Gun violence, Misogyny, and Sexual violence