Reviews tagging 'Misogyny'

The Marriage Portrait by Maggie O'Farrell

57 reviews

thegoldfish's review against another edition

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dark mysterious tense medium-paced
I! should have! read! the! content! warnings! on! this one! buddy!!!!

Nevertheless, I'm glad to have read it. Some of the most stomach-churning accuracy I've ever seen in evoking the dread and desperate inner rationalization of being stuck in a relationship with someone who wants to hurt you.

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amrreading's review against another edition

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adventurous dark sad tense slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25


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veposve's review against another edition

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dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced
  • 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


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sarah_bettina's review against another edition

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dark emotional sad tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? N/A
  • Diverse cast of characters? N/A

3.75


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phrasecollector13___'s review against another edition

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

2.75

Renaissance's re-telling are simply not my type of reading.  Maybe I can work around Renaissance story if they are short or is an article simple and straight to the point.

Taking that in consideration, I didn't like this book, but I did enjoyed the reading.  It's a slowed pace book that I would pick up for when I would need a break from really rushing books and I want to slow down in the genre or a book I will pick to keep myself busy while in an appointment or when I'm bored.  I didn't found anything special about it.  It was simple and dull.  Also, it was predictable for me.  I really loved Lucrezia's rebel inner self, but she was too passive and... she was just a child in adult's matters.  It was heartbreaking that she could not understand what was going on around her and how she was left alone with herself and her maid (who was another child) and they had to "navigate" the adult world.  Since they were child who would not know how to handle/navigate the adult world, it challenging to read through the book.  I honestly consider this book more historical with a tiny little touch of fiction.  And I believe that's what manage me to read it to the end.

Which was one of the best part in the book.  I really like the twist fiction allowed the writer to gave us another conclusion to Lucrezia's story.  Since Lucrezia was showing feelings for Jacopo I just... loved their platonic relationship.  And for her by the end to decide to run away from Alfonso was a huge plot twist.  I thought that she was dying in that fortezza that night, but she escaped!  I would have loved to see a short story/novel about Lucrezia's and Jacopo's friendship (and possibly relationship) develop.  Now, that was a story I would have definitely enjoyed.  It was the innocence and their tenderness that moved me and I wish that Lucrezia could live the "love" story that her parents had, but Jacopo and her were born at the wrong period of time and in the wrong positions.


I believe the main reason this reading wasn't entertaining to me was because of the period the book was settle and that made it predictable and dull for me.

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rhall19's review against another edition

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dark emotional sad tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0


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dizzymisslizzy's review against another edition

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dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced
  • 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? No

4.5


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vitsa's review against another edition

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dark emotional sad tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0


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jhbandcats's review against another edition

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dark informative mysterious sad 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

4.0

An intriguing look at the court of one of the royal fiefdoms of Italy in the Renaissance, this novel of a teenage girl’s ill-fated marriage just didn’t grab me. The writing was beautiful and the details richly described, but the story felt flat and bloodless. 

Despite the book being told from Lucrezia’s perspective, I never felt I got to know her. We learn of her lonely childhood with emotionally distant parents and siblings, her compulsion to paint the natural world around her, her increasing isolation and desperation, but she remained unknowable. The husband and his consiglieri are stock villains, the latter especially so. The loving and helpful maid was another stock character. 

That said, the scholarship is so exemplary that I found the novel more than worthwhile. I enjoyed learning about Renaissance Italy - Lucrezia was born two years before the death of England’s Henry VIII but the world of Florence and Ferrara seemed quite different from London. I confess I prefer Hilary Mantel’s Thomas Cromwell trilogy to this. 

Everyone says Hamnet is fabulous so I’ll have to try it, just not right now. 

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leannanecdote's review against another edition

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dark informative mysterious reflective tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • 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


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