Reviews tagging 'Misogyny'

Half of a Yellow Sun by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

12 reviews

reikista's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative 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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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Gore, Infidelity, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Torture, Violence, Xenophobia, Excrement, Medical content, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Cultural appropriation, Colonisation, War, and Injury/Injury detail

demeryg's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative reflective sad tense slow-paced

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

4.5

I thought this book was fantastic. Though I would say at  points it was slow.  It took me a moment to fall into the rhythm but once I did it was game over! 
I found the topics in this book really educational and relevant to other genocides happening at the hands of USA and Britain. It was informative and also a beautiful story between the mix of characters and their interpersonal relationships.  

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Child death, Death, Genocide, Gore, Gun violence, Infertility, Infidelity, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Slavery, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Grief, Mass/school shootings, Medical trauma, Pregnancy, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, Colonisation, War, and Injury/Injury detail

fionafsw's review against another edition

challenging funny informative reflective sad fast-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? Yes

5.0

Fact and fiction blend, past and present blend, as I read about the Nigerian civil war next to BBC headlines and couldn't stop thinking about the indiscriminate misery and human suffering Israel has unleashed in its current war in Gaza. It is impossible in March 2024 to read about starvation and not be reminded that 1 in 6 children <2 years are acutely malnourished in Gaza, with dozens dying of dehydration and malnutrition. The sheer desperation of a population brought to its knees and then beaten while on the ground translates seamlessly from the late 1960s to this week.

There's not much more I can say about this powerful novel except that Adichie manages to weave humour throughout to help the reader get through the horrors of war and to present something so alien to readers like me who have had the dumb luck of knowing nothing but peacetime through an individual, human lens rather than statistics or political or military manoeuvres. And for readers like me who had no idea about Nigeria, her fantastic writing brought to life every smell, taste, and sensory input. 

But where the book really excels, I think, is in describing tension between individuals in the most subtle way that still makes it obvious. Tension (sexual and otherwise) that you could cut with a knife, as if you were there, in the room, as the protagonist. As Richard might say, it's really quite fantastic.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Genocide, Gore, Infidelity, Misogyny, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Violence, Blood, Police brutality, Islamophobia, Murder, Colonisation, and War

Moderate: Grief and Classism

Minor: Pregnancy

the_last_bookshelf's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative reflective sad tense medium-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? No

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Genocide, Misogyny, Racism, Rape, Sexism, Sexual violence, Violence, Alcohol, Colonisation, War, and Classism

Moderate: Infidelity and Racial slurs

laedyred's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad slow-paced

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

4.0

This book requires an analytic, critical lens of a literature student to get the most out of it. The prose can drag at times but this isn't exactly an action-packed story. The horrors of the Nigerian civil war are on full display. Besides the two women protagonists, I hated every character. Men are truly the scum of the earth. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gun violence, Infidelity, Misogyny, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Torture, Violence, Sexual harassment, and War

betag1013's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional informative mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Animal death, Body horror, Child death, Chronic illness, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Genocide, Gore, Gun violence, Hate crime, Infertility, Infidelity, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Racism, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Mass/school shootings, Medical trauma, Abortion, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, Colonisation, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

ciarammeyer's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective slow-paced

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

4.5

super super well-written! objectively, this is a 5 star book. however, i felt like at times the plot seemed unresolved—the cliffhanger at the end was beautifully done, but some of the other moments of uncertainty felt less necessary. i think it’s just a personal preference thing, though, i prefer to have my books feel a bit more tidy at times. 

overall, though, i loved this book. adichie shines light on a war id never even heard of before (western education proving insular yet again), and does so in a way that feels uniquely personal. the characters are deeply flawed—with the text exploring adultery, rape, elitism, and the brutality of war—but you never feel like they are irredeemable. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Sexual violence, Violence, and War

Moderate: Gore, Misogyny, and Blood

nannahnannah's review against another edition

DNF @ 47%.

Representation:
- almost every character is Nigerian

I got to page 203 when I got an uncomfortable feeling from the description, “[his] voice was unmistakable; it was vibrantly male …” and had to look Adichie up. Sure enough, this is the transphobic author who, among things like bullying a trans author under her mentorship, approved of Rowling’s "TERF Manifesto”. 

I thought I had deleted all her books from my to-read list, but I must have missed this one. Stopping here doesn’t make me upset; I disliked most of the characters in this book and only didn’t mind the rest. 

I’d much rather read someone else’s work.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Misogyny and Sexual assault

Minor: Fatphobia and Incest

perfectphlaws's review against another edition

dark sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

It was a well written book, but reminded me why I don't usually stray too far from romance. So much rape. War is ugly indeed, maybe I'll just read about it in the news rather than rehashing past horrors. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Chronic illness, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gun violence, Infertility, Infidelity, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Racism, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Torture, Violence, Blood, Excrement, Vomit, Police brutality, Kidnapping, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Cultural appropriation, Sexual harassment, Colonisation, War, and Injury/Injury detail

gabrielad's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative reflective sad fast-paced

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

5.0

i have cried soooo much and experienced numerous heartbreaks while reading this book 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Violence, and War

Moderate: Chronic illness, Domestic abuse, Hate crime, and Blood

Minor: Incest, Misogyny, Racism, Sexual assault, and Sexual harassment