Reviews

Women Talking by Miriam Toews

Only show reviews with written explanations

moonfeather's review

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emotional informative reflective slow-paced

3.5

reinedumonde's review against another edition

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emotional inspiring reflective sad slow-paced

4.0

This was such a captivating read. Yes the subject matter was difficult but the writing, the care taken with the different characters and the just the tone was amazing. Finished this in less than a week

bewonus's review against another edition

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dark hopeful reflective slow-paced

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

3.75

poopfart7734's review

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4.0

Really liked this! I loved the little anecdotes woven into the women's conversations and their dynamics with each other. I understand why the story is told through August's perspective and I get the contrast between him and the women(that goes deeper than just man and women). I liked the choice of having no quotation marks as it is the minute recordings but it did require some getting used to.

morganwc's review

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4.0

This was definitely a tough read in parts (just by virtue of the subject matter), but well-written and captivating for sure. I read it for my history class (this week was oral history), and the book is a great example how important oral history has been for women, who have historically been kept largely illiterate in patriarchal societies. Because of this, the whole book was narrated by a man, who was taking the minutes and translating them to English since the women meeting were all illiterate, but I think the story would have been more powerful if narrated by a women or just not narrated by a man. So overall it isn't really enjoyable to read, but it has some good nuggets of wisdom, interesting/endearing characters, and a good look into the role/treatment of women in Mennonite colonies, and how some women have dealt with and overcome it.

jaz_aiken's review

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dark emotional hopeful reflective sad slow-paced

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

4.5

Content Warnings

thepetitepunk's review

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2.0

the story itself was captivating, but the execution fell short. the fact that it was told as a series of transcriptions written by a man felt distancing and compromised some of the emotional aspects of an otherwise horrific situation. i read some reviews explaining why the author might have chosen to use POV and narration style, but this doesn't change the fact that it majorly slowed down the pacing of the text and ultimately made it boring. this isn't the first time i've been a bit disappointed in the narration style in one of mariam towes' novels.