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franklola's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Graphic: Colonisation, Stalking, Death, Animal death, and Pregnancy
Moderate: Gun violence, Grief, Infidelity, Medical content, and Misogyny
saphirabloom's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
Graphic: Stalking, Mental illness, Pregnancy, Miscarriage, Suicide, Death of parent, and War
Moderate: Misogyny, Gore, and Injury/Injury detail
koreanlinda's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
What drew me to this book was the hot pink and golden yellow cover with an illustration of two women walking side by side. This matched the experience I got to witness in the book: bright and intense; a journey of two women; and their companionship. One difference is that Margery (Miss Benson) and Enid rarely walked together; they ran, drove, rode, crawl, and scramble. Their adventure was physically demanding and emotionally taxing. What got them through it all was each other, the essence of the story.
I have little interest in beetles. I know they are fascinating, but I don't spend time learning about them. I am actually an entomophobia, who whimpers at the sight of bugs anywhere in arm's reach. However, this story made it easy for me to understand how Margery became so invested in finding the beetle of her dream. Rachel Joyce's such mastery of writing extends to all major and supporting characters: superstitious serial-thief runaway, destructive POW, jealous wife of British consul, etc. Even the characters from Margery's pasts are complex and sympathized: stoic mother and disinterested aunts. Joyce's goal in developing characters is not making them likable; she is rather focused on showing how a person becomes who they are in a "real" life.
The readers would not get satisfaction by finding likable characters but by traveling with Margery and Enid through a series of challenges. You inevitable end up rooting for them in each turn of events, holding your breath, and reassuring yourself with the chunk of remaining pages.
The journey achieves not just one goal but a bunch of more meaningful ones: discovery of authentic self, self love, love for others, true friendship, act of kindness, and healing from trauma. Joyce excels in showing how different traumas manifest in different people. Here are a few quotes on that topic:
“You might travel to the other side of the world, but in the end it made no difference: whatever devastating unhappiness was inside you would come too.”
“But war was not over just because someone signed a truce. It was inside him. And when a thing like war was inside you, it never left.”
“He put everything back in his haversack, but he didn't know what to do with the things from the past. He had no idea where you were supposed to put things that existed only inside your head.”
At the end, some characters succeed in overcoming their hardship and some do not. Overall, the story is filled with female characters who are passionate, determined, loving, adaptive, and audacious. This is why I would recommend this book to girls and young women, despite most characters being adults. As Enid says, “We are not the things that happened to us. We can be what we like.”
Trigger warnings (without much graphic details): suicide, stalking, assault, violence in wars and prisons
Review by Linda (she/they)
Twitter @KoreanLinda
Letter writer at DefinitelyNotOkay.com
Moderate: Confinement, Gun violence, Mental illness, Misogyny, Stalking, Suicide, Violence, and War
sarahsponda's review against another edition
Miss Benson is like an inanimate object who just lets things happen. I get that she had a traumatic childhood but I don't want to wait around and wait for this prissy stick-in-the-mud to learn what friendship is. The overall SO QUIRKY! tone didn't help, especially when horrible things are happening to the characters, like being stalked by a misogynistic former POW with untreated PTSD; the book has all these feel-good blurbs, guh.
Regardless: Juliet Stevenson is an excellent narrator.
Moderate: Bullying, Miscarriage, and Misogyny
alayamorning's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Graphic: Blood, Body horror, Confinement, Death, Death of parent, Excrement, Gun violence, Infertility, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Panic attacks/disorders, Pregnancy, Self harm, Stalking, Suicide attempt, Torture, Violence, Vomit, and Murder
Moderate: Misogyny and Grief
bookstolivewith's review against another edition
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
I was not initially loving this one and it took me a while to get into. However, I ended up really enjoying the overall story because of how it addresses (Western) womanhood — its assumptions and expectations vs its realities and desires, for the most part. This book is populated with different “types” of women and you really feel for most of them, even when they do something horrible. Even the men in this book are affected by this expected role of (British or Western) womanhood, and the story shows how men are done a disservice by expected gender roles, especially in the wake of a traumatic world war.
It’s not the best book I’ve ever read but it is totally different from what I expected and different from other things I’ve been reading lately. It’s a love story between self and others, as well as a story about women learning to love other women, forgiving their transgressions and the strength women have to move forward (maybe juxtaposed against men who are stuck in the past? I don’t know, that may be too analytical).
If you’re looking for something different that’s also a bit of a woman empowerment book, this might be for you! I think this is probably also a great book for book clubs, as there’s lots to discuss. Miss Benson’s Beetle out November 3rd (but it’ll still be there post-election)!
Graphic: Suicide, Miscarriage, Death, and Animal death
Moderate: Blood, Excrement, Gore, Grief, Gun violence, Infertility, Infidelity, Medical trauma, Violence, and Vomit
Minor: Sexism and Misogyny