Reviews

Women Talking by Miriam Toews

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eliz89062's review

dark emotional hopeful sad tense fast-paced

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

4.75

Told in a format that immerses the reader into meetings of Mennonite women talking, Women Talking is quite plain, perhaps intentionally. I hoped for a more startling and suspenseful reading experience to shed light on what is likely a regular occurrence within Amish and Mennonite communities. This is a historical fiction story that needs to be told, but telling it in a way that makes people want to listen is a lingering opportunity, in my opinion. Women Talking reminds me of an AP Lit book - critically acclaimed with strong themes and symbolism, but painfully boring in a way that leaves you wondering if your own stupidity caused you to miss whatever it is the critics rave about.

iamraphdude's review against another edition

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dark emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective 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? No

4.0

rmcquade's review

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challenging emotional 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

1.5

crayzikat's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful sad medium-paced

3.75

andalucia's review

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challenging dark emotional hopeful sad tense slow-paced

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

4.75

elenibrooks's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional funny hopeful inspiring reflective sad medium-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

5.0

ohheyandi's review against another edition

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2.5

I began this as a physical book, but the writing style was not one I enjoyed. The lack of quotation marks around spoken dialogue made it difficult for me to read the physical text, so about 1/4 of the way through I switched over to the audiobook. The narrator did an excellent job distinguishing voices, adding a lot of life to the characters that I personally thought was lost when just reading it. I would recommend the audiobook if you also struggled to read the text itself. I understand why people enjoyed this book. Stylistically, I think that the craftsmanship is great. I felt that Toews descriptions were vivid and bright. On occasion, I thought that the narrative device made certain areas of the book clunky.
I would recommend this if you are interested in literary fiction, and I would recommend the audiobook even more for the narrator's performance; however, this was not a book for me and that is okay.