Reviews tagging 'Domestic abuse'

The Lady's Guide to Celestial Mechanics by Olivia Waite

40 reviews

istiel's review

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adventurous emotional funny hopeful lighthearted relaxing 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? It's complicated

4.5

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tangleroot_eli's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful inspiring lighthearted reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes

Waite handles society, science, and sex with an equally deft touch, never getting too frivolous or too preachy. And, yes, I deeply disliked the part where

Our Lovers part ways because they will not use their words like actual grown-ups. But that lasts less than a day

, and then I could get back to enjoying myself.

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givemaribooks's review against another edition

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emotional funny inspiring 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? It's complicated

4.0

This book was lovely, and I enjoyed getting to know these two women so much and seeing them overcome their past relationships/professional issues. I loved reading a historical romance where a woman gets to have a profession and find her place in the world. I loved how comfortable Lucy was in who she is and her sexuality. I also enjoyed seeing Catherine figure who she is and who she wants to be. They had great chemistry, but I do wish we had gotten more romance. The book dragged a bit towards the end, so that's the only reason I am not giving it 5 stars.

I quite enjoyed the audiobook narrator.

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meggiemine's review against another edition

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tense slow-paced

1.0

This started out promising. If you would have asked me a third of the way in what my rating would be, I’d have said 3-stars. As I got further into the book, the negatives kept piling up and by the end, outweighed the positives by a large margin. Waite completely undermines the book’s central theme—the unfair treatment of female scientists and the lack of recognition for their work—in a couple of major ways.

First, Waite erases the existence of Caroline Herschel, an acclaimed female astronomer who was working at the time the book is set. As K. J. Charles states in her review, this is, in effect, “erasing a woman scientist in order to make a point about the erasure of women scientists.” Not only is Caroline Herschel a non-entity in this book, but Lucy is under the impression that she’s the first and only female astronomer—at least up until 87%, when she peruses some books and papers and discovers the existence of “so very, very many of them.” Having experienced the science society’s sexist gatekeeping herself, and her father getting the credit for work she completed, Lucy should know better than anyone that the contributions of female scientists are often undervalued if not concealed. (But not so hidden that they can’t be found without a bit of digging, if one is so determined, which Lucy is apparently not.) I guess it never occurred to Lucy that the sexism she’s experienced is not unique to her. That Lucy assumes she’s a pioneer reflects very poorly on her character. She comes across as both willfully ignorant and arrogant.

Second, and by far my most serious criticism, is that Lucy translates, edits, publishes, and profits from the work of a French astronomer, Oléron, without ever asking for permission or offering compensation. Before the 'translation' is published, a fellow astronomer named Mr. Frampton tells Lucy to contact Oléron sooner rather than later. Lucy does not heed his warning and it doesn’t come up again until months later, again in a conversation with Mr. Frampton, when the book is a success. Mr. Frampton (correctly) points out to Lucy that her work is not entirely hers and adds: “The more popular it got, the more uneasy I became with the notion that the original author had no idea your translation existed.” Lucy never expresses any similar unease or guilt nor does she attempt to contact Oléron or make amends. Worst of all, she never offers Oléron a share in the royalties. Based on some cursory online reading about the 1710 Statute of Anne, it does not appear that Lucy violated any copyright laws of the time. However, that doesn’t make her actions any less unethical or exploitative.

It seems to me that the only reason Lucy never contacts Oléron is

so Waite could pull off the last minute reveal: Oléron is a woman. Which just makes it all the more frustrating! It's like Waite wants the reader to find this situation morally okay and on the up-and-up because they're both female scientists and they should support each other. But, no one should have their work co-opted by someone else, even if they're of the same sex or gender. Oléron has every right to be upset and take legal action against Lucy for what she did. And the fact that this isn't even brought up as a possible ramification within the narrative is frankly baffling to me. And there are other aspects of this that don't make sense. Like, why did Oléron never contact Lucy herself once she was informed by Mr. Frampton of the translation's existence? Why, if Waite intended for the message of the book to be about female solidarity, would she keep Oléron a hidden figure for the entire book? And Oléron herself seems to be fluent in English, so why didn't she translate her own work?

As for the romance—I don’t typically like romance novels that focus so much on work or business because then the HEA becomes more about whether or not the character(s) achieve professional success and less about the romantic relationship. In terms of Work-Romance balance, The Lady’s Guide unfortunately leans heavily towards the former. Lucy’s astronomy work is the main focus of the plot and intertwines so much with the romance that the romance feels underdeveloped and overshadowed. Lucy and Catherine’s relationship is built on mutual respect for each other’s intellect and work accomplishments, and not much else. And on top of all the astronomy stuff, there’s a subplot involving Lucy’s ex that leads to jealousy and misunderstandings. The resulting rift is quickly and inexplicably resolved, just in time for Lucy’s astronomy work to take center stage again in the final act.

Overall, I cannot recommend this. The audiobook narrator, Morag Sims, was good, though. She had perfect pacing, used distinct voices for all the characters, and there wasn’t anything about her narration that annoyed me or was distracting. Sims is the only reason I’d consider reading the next book in the series.

Series: Feminine Pursuits #1

Genre: Historical Romance

Setting: 1816 (Regency era), in London, England and also briefly Lyme

Heroine: Lucy Muchelney, astronomer (I didn’t catch their ages, but Catherine is about 10 years older than Lucy. I’m guessing Lucy’s in her 20’s and Catherine in her 30’s.)

Heroine: Catherine St. Day, Countess of Moth, widow

Point-of-View: 3rd person, past tense, alternating between Lucy and Catherine

Tropes/Themes: age gap, widowed heroine, scientist heroine, feminism

Format/Edition: audiobook (borrowed from MCLS via Hoopla)

Narrator: Morag Sims

Length: 8h 27m, 309 pages, 84k words

Read Date: July 18, 2022

Heat Index: 3🌡️🌡️🌡️

Quotes

It was printed and put up for sale. [...] the title was embossed in silver on rich blue leather: The Lady’s Guide to Celestial Mechanics, with the author listed as L. Muchelney. Lucy had agonized over this initial, before ultimately deciding that she would use her full name when she published her own unique work, and initials when she wanted the focus to be on the work she was translating.

Note: Um, she’s listed as the “author” and not the “translator” or "editor"? How does that keep the focus on the work she’s translating? The extent of Lucy’s edits and additions is not clear, but an “author” credit seems disingenuous to me. Oléron is the author, Lucy is not. It would be more appropriate to say “translated, edited, and annotated by L. Muchelney." Also, Lucy agonizes over whether to use her initial or full name, but doesn't agonize over the fact that she still hasn't contacted the original author about their work getting translated, published, and sold for profit???

Fury was an anchor in the swirling storm: she turned it on him in spite of her better instincts. “I shouldn’t have to perform like a dancing bear. My work should be proof enough on its own.”
“Your work,” he said, “is not entirely yours.”
Lucy stopped short.
Mr. Frampton continued, inexorable. “It would be one thing if you’d translated the Méchanique céleste for the benefit of your fellow scholars. The more we share, the faster we all advance. But it was a commercial success, far beyond any expectation.” His mouth was a flat line by now, his displeasure plain. “The more popular it got, the more uneasy I became with the notion that the original author had no idea your translation existed.”
“So you sent it to him,” Lucy whispered.
“I did.”

Note: Mr. Frampton is the ONLY character in this stupid book who seems to be "displeased" with Lucy about this. But still, even he brushes it off later in this conversation. I don't get why this is not a bigger conflict!

“I believed I was the first woman to really try and advance the progress of astronomy—I fancied myself a brave pioneer, an explorer like you once were. A shining beacon to girls and women of the future. It was a great comfort, whenever people like Mr. Hawley and Mr. Wilby offered insults and dismissals. All I had to do to claim victory was to prove them wrong—and don’t men of science value proof more than anything? Once people saw what I did, really saw it and acknowledged it, they’d believe other women were capable of thinking, of learning, of discovering the world in the same way that men are. But tonight I learned that there were other women before me. So very, very many of them. They were here all along: spotting comets, naming stars, pointing telescopes at the sky alongside their fathers and brothers and sons. And still the men they worked with scorned them. Scoffed at them. Gave the credit and the glory to the men who stole their work—or borrowed it or expanded it. Rarely cited it directly. And then those men did their best to forget where the work came from. Women’s ideas are treated as though they sprung from nowhere, to be claimed by the first man who comes along. Every generation had women stand up and ask to be counted—and every generation of brilliant, insightful, educated men has raised a hand and wiped those women’s names from the greater historical record.”

Note: (Bolding emphasis is my own.) Isn't Lucy getting all the credit and glory for work she stole/borrowed and expanded? Does she really not see that her actions are akin to what she's condemning here, and therefore antithetical to her own professed ideals? The hypocrisy is infuriating!

Oléron was a woman! A dark-skinned woman! As soon as the first shock had passed, she was flooded with chagrin at one simple, telling fact: the possibility of Oléron being anything other than a white-skinned man had quite simply not occurred to her.
What a mortifying realization for someone who prided herself on being keenly observant. Well, astronomers did spend most of their time being wrong. What mattered was what they did when they realized the truth.

Note: I don't even know what to say about this contrived, predictable plot twist or Lucy's reaction to it. I'm not surprised that Lucy didn't see this as a possibility.

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nat_montego's review

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hopeful inspiring lighthearted relaxing fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A

5.0

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qraveline's review against another edition

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3.75

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talonsontypewriters's review

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emotional hopeful 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

3.5

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erikawynn's review

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adventurous hopeful lighthearted slow-paced

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

3.0

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rknitss's review

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adventurous emotional lighthearted

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes

5.0

Solid 5 stars. First historical lesbian romance but if they're all like this sign me up.

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loxeletters's review

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inspiring fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

I have a quite complicated relationship with this book. There are parts that I loved – or at least, found extremely satisfying to read – which include mostly the instances of Lucy winning over misogynist men. I enjoyed the prose, which was rich in imagery and overall pleasant to read. Where there were sex scenes, they felt mostly natural and weren't shrouded in awkward wording or overly explicit descriptions.

There is a lot of talk about both astronomy and embroidery/fashion (though it never gets too technical in either topic). If that doesn't interest you, this book might bore you at some point.

The characters were more or less well-developed, though most of the supporting characters fell a little flat. Catherine and Lucy both had their own hopes and dreams as well as their fear and weaknesses, Catherine even more so than Lucy in this regard.

There are two main points I took issue with:

a) the romance. It wasn't unhealthy or forced or anything but, boy oh boy, was it rushed. Insta-love at its finest. Lucy arrives at the mansion and is basically immediately in love with Catherine, even though she was just heartbroken by her prior lover's sudden marriage. Similarly for Catherine. The attraction seemed to rely entirely on physical attractiveness, as well. This, of course, ceased to be a relevant issue after the first few chapters – other than my second issue, which was constant throughout the book:

b) the handling of sexuality and past abuse. It's not that it was handled badly: in fact, the opposite. But at some point, suspense of disbelief just couldn't cover the insanely modern conceptions of sexuality and abuse that many of the main characters held. This is set in the 19th century, yet the characters, especially Lucy, felt like they'd been plucked from a modern-time feminist demonstration and transported into Victorian England. What's more, there simply was an astounding amount of homosexual people in this novel, reminiscent of some fanfictions where the author simply turns the entire cast into some LGBTQ variations.

I can appreciate what the author was trying to do here – show the diversity that of course existed even in those times – but in a book that revolves around only two characters the vast majority of the time, making seven characters LGB (just off of the top of my head) is an insane stretch.

Regarding (past) abuse: the author probably wanted to handle this topic carefully and discuss it in the way it deserves to be discussed. However, in my opinion, this again was difficult to reconcile with the time period the book takes place in. Also, I felt that the consequences of Catherine's trauma and her road to recovery could have been explored way more.

This is not to say that I didn't enjoy the book, however. What I found especially interesting were the discussions about art and science: the difference between them, what counts as art/science, and what part misogyny plays in such a definition. Another very insightful discussion was about legal marriage in contrast to "informal" relationships: the benefits and disadvantages of either, and the way the two solved this issue for themselves in the end.

Finally, I do need to mention that I saw the twist at the end coming from quite a bit earlier. This did not detract from my enjoyment of seeing entitled men suffer, though. :)

Overall, I wouldn't consider this book a literary masterpiece. However, it touches on very important subjects in an interesting and delightfully fresh way. The plot and characterisations are solid. The way the author incorporated LGB representation and the handling of abuse, though I disagree with it, are understandable. This is a quick, entertaining, and quite satisfying read.

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