Reviews with content warning for Pregnancy - Galatea

Reviews tagging 'Pregnancy'

Galatea by Madeline Miller

94 reviews

occasionalyarnie's review against another edition

dark sad fast-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

2.0

While I usually enjoy Madeline Miller's work, this was just a miss for me. I think it boils down to two things: I don't really care for short stories and I'm unfamiliar with the myth this one is based on. Ultimately, the story was too short to flesh out the context of the story as intricately as I would have liked, which meant I wasn't really invested in the characters or what happened to them. It looks like this was written for an anthology, so the length makes sense; it would have been really interesting to see what she could have done with it with more page space (I think it would have worked much better as a novella).

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reads2cope's review against another edition

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5.0

A horror story. That is usually not my genre, but like Miller’s other work, this story completely gripped me.
Though I know she wrote it before getting Long COVID, I couldn’t help but connect the rage and despair of Galatea begging the doctor to believe her with the millions having the same fight today.

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thenoboshow's review against another edition

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dark emotional reflective sad fast-paced

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

4.75

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tashtasher's review against another edition

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dark emotional sad tense fast-paced

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

3.0

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kaylynn28's review against another edition

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dark mysterious sad fast-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? No

5.0

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quarkie's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional sad fast-paced

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

4.25

I picked up this book based on a recommendation from the New York Times "Read Like the Wind" newsletter. It was one of two physically small books described that week, and it is small! 6" by 4", and about 50 pages long.

Honestly, I'm sort of glad it wasn't any longer. It didn't have to be, to get its main point across. The world that Galatea lives in is horrifying, and was very uncomfortable to read about. It is even worse to think how near this fiction is to reality: women being seen by men, their partners, their families, or society as a whole as nothing but property, and used as such. That it would be much better if they were silent and simply did as they were told. And how everyone - professionals, other women, strangers - all help uphold this role.

That said, it was beautifully written. Galatea's voice is clear, strong, and very matter-of-fact. To hear this story solely through her eyes is powerful. her reclamation of her own is ending is powerful.

Overall, it made me look forward to reading more by this author.

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