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lauralintunen's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
Graphic: Cancer, Death, Drug abuse, Eating disorder, Mental illness, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Grief, Death of parent, Toxic friendship, and Alcohol
Moderate: Fatphobia, Sexism, Sexual content, and Vomit
Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Confinement, Racism, Suicide, Xenophobia, Antisemitism, Islamophobia, Abortion, Pregnancy, and Classism
lillihms's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.25
Moderate: Cancer, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Eating disorder, Mental illness, Self harm, Sexism, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Vomit, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, and Sexual harassment
Minor: Abortion
beatrizdizon_'s review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
There’s so much to say about MYORAR. The social commentary it touches but it’s not in your face, so it doesn’t sound pretentious. The way our narrator adhered to the very things she criticized. How telling her toxic relationships are, especially with men, about her experiences.
So, I took my time considering if I liked that we readers can predict what will happen to Reva, and I settled on the notion that I do. Maybe it became predictable the moment she had that change, but what matters more is how the narrator reacted in the last chapter which arguably is not predictable. Reva is a star though. Something about her demise juxtaposed with MC’s plan b is poetic in a way.
Moshfegh makes me want to go all “you just don’t get it” type of insufferable. Now my friends and I can be miserable and insufferable together. As if we’re not already doing that.
Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Misogyny, Toxic relationship, Medical content, and Alcohol
Moderate: Eating disorder, Fatphobia, Infidelity, Sexism, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Vomit, Grief, Death of parent, and Toxic friendship
Minor: Body shaming, Cancer, Confinement, Death, Racism, Self harm, Blood, Abortion, Pregnancy, and Classism
abitdicier's review against another edition
- 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? Yes
5.0
Graphic: Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Body shaming, Chronic illness, Confinement, Drug abuse, Drug use, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Mental illness, Sexism, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Excrement, Vomit, Abortion, Death of parent, Gaslighting, and Toxic friendship
Moderate: Cancer
prairieraven's review against another edition
Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Body shaming, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Sexism, Toxic relationship, Death of parent, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, and Classism
spooderman's review against another edition
- 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? Yes
3.75
Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body shaming, Cancer, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Eating disorder, Fatphobia, Infidelity, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Violence, Vomit, Grief, Death of parent, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, and Alcohol
Moderate: Ableism, Adult/minor relationship, Chronic illness, Homophobia, Misogyny, Racial slurs, Sexism, Sexual content, Terminal illness, Xenophobia, Antisemitism, Lesbophobia, Fire/Fire injury, Cultural appropriation, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Confinement, Cursing, Miscarriage, Racism, Islamophobia, Medical content, Medical trauma, Abortion, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , War, and Classism
lvwieland's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Graphic: Addiction, Confinement, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Racism, Rape, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Death of parent, Gaslighting, and Toxic friendship
Moderate: Cancer, Mental illness, Misogyny, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Xenophobia, Vomit, Cultural appropriation, and Alcohol
Minor: Abortion and Pregnancy
kazli's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
Graphic: Addiction, Body shaming, Confinement, Drug abuse, Drug use, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Mental illness, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Vomit, Grief, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Toxic friendship, and Dysphoria
Moderate: Adult/minor relationship and Sexual content
Minor: Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Pregnancy, and Sexual harassment
cjmrand's review against another edition
2.0
I just want to put a little disclaimer here for the supporters of Let Women be Toxic in Books:
1. I agree that women should not be portrayed in the two dimensional, lack-luster ways they tend to be portrayed in literature under the patriarchal gaze, whether that's a submissive, meek, housewife or a sex object for men's enjoyment, ESPECIALLY when mentally ill (cough cough, The Queen's Gambit on Netflix - women don't tend to be sexy and put together in a way that is palatable for men when depressed). My review is not a criticism of the idea of letting women - especially those with mental illness - be a hot fucking mess. Ok, next.
2. I understand WHY every single one of these techniques, or motifs, etc were used in this text, I don't dislike this because I feel the author failed to connect these techniques to the character well enough - I dislike this because I don't like the techniques. They are not for me, they might be for you. Done.
Here is where I insert my notes, which sums everything up quite well:
"I'm thinking of giving this 2 stars right now. Not because it's bad, but because I'm not enjoying it - and I get that I'm supposed to not be enjoying it. I get that, I really do, but the main character is awful and I hate it. I know she is supposed to be awful and hated and that's why so many people give it 5 stars because it's wonderfully written but I just. Don't. Like it.
I don't like to explicit sexual descriptions, I don't like the 00s diet culture and slurs and misogyny.
I don't like the lack of empathy held by the main character, I don't like her selfishness, I don't like how she treats Reva.
I know that all of this is intentionally done, but I personally read to enjoy and to learn - this book just leaves me feeling a bit crap. So no, I'm not having fun."
There were points where I would doubt my judgement and think 'well maybe this is actually a good book, a book I can rate highly - look at this beautiful peace of writing, look at the emotions elicited in me when Moshfegh does x, look at this genius plotline - but that feeling always came crashing down quickly when it all became overwhelmingly unpleasant again.
I liked the end reasonably well, but the ending itself I would only rate at a 3 stars, the rest of the book drags it down to 2 though.
I was also worried that giving my copy to charity could lead to someone young picking it up, I can see this being really damaging for a secondary school aged kid, but I know that someone like me probably would've picked it up in secondary school. So, yeah. Look after your mental health. You don't need to read this book. If you did like it, I'm glad, but I hope you don't recommend it to anyone who can't cope well with the topics in these books. So yeah.
Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Body shaming, Drug abuse, Drug use, Eating disorder, Mental illness, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Death of parent, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, and Classism
Moderate: Death, Misogyny, Sexism, Suicidal thoughts, Grief, and Sexual harassment
whimsofwands's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Graphic: Drug abuse, Drug use, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Misogyny, Sexism, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Grief, Pregnancy, and Toxic friendship