Reviews tagging 'Animal death'

Matrix by Lauren Groff

55 reviews

achilliad's review against another edition

challenging reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

Matrix blends ephemeral interiority of the characters with moments of tense action. It's a character-driven book, but periods of deep reflection are broken by difficult moments in monastic life that help keep up the pace of the book and prevent the tedium of endless introspection. 

Matrix's management of religion and the deific was especially interesting to me. Deific importance and a very real intrusion of the deific into normal life simultaneously exist and do not. It seems to capture the ineffable quality of religions that are both constantly changing and also claim to be stable and immutable. The presentation of the Christian god here reminds me of Greek gods more than anything; technically present but not the ultimate director of all action and, when their is deific influence, changing the world in complex ways with complex motivations (rather than the unilaterally good and kind god or the unilaterally vengeful god the Christian god has been read as at various points in history). 

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: Animal death

leneliest's review

adventurous mysterious reflective slow-paced

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

4.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death and Death

Moderate: Animal death and Death of parent

adymae11's review against another edition

emotional reflective 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? Yes

4.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Miscarriage, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Death of parent, Misogyny, Child death, and Physical abuse

Minor: Mental illness, Grief, Dementia, Violence, Sexual content, Sexual assault, Religious bigotry, Cancer, and Animal death

bookish_hollyx's review against another edition

challenging dark sad slow-paced

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

2.5

I really wanted to like this book as the premise sounded so interesting! Unfortunately I just found it really boring and a bit of a slog to get through ☹️

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: Gore

Minor: Animal death, Death, and Child death

careinthelibrary's review against another edition

emotional informative mysterious tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated

4.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Dementia, Religious bigotry, Sexism, Homophobia, Lesbophobia, Miscarriage, Animal death, Pregnancy, Child death, Death, Sexual content, and Sexual violence

Moderate: Cancer, Body shaming, Mental illness, Misogyny, Injury/Injury detail, War, Islamophobia, and Terminal illness

edamamebean's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring reflective slow-paced

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

5.0

Probably the best book I’ll read all year. It’s small in scale—never leaving the abbey—but it’s proportions are mythic. The writing is so beautiful that I had to stop and underline often. Lauren Groff is not only a good writer, she’s also a wise one. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Excrement, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, Religious bigotry, Abandonment, Child death, Animal death, Death of parent, Grief, Homophobia, Miscarriage, Rape, Violence, Dementia, Blood, Emotional abuse, Gore, Infidelity, Murder, Vomit, Bullying, Chronic illness, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, and War

angryglitterwitch's review against another edition

reflective medium-paced

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

5.0

Incredibly beautiful and vivid and rich prose, woven with what was clearly a huge amount of detailed research.

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: Animal death

Minor: Sexual violence

Spoiler regarding "animal death" tag, for anyone who would rather know the context in advance (not a big plot spoiler if you do need to know in advance)

The animal death is the MC's pet bird. It happens early on and is quite quick but also graphic and upsetting. Will add a specific page when I get the book back (already lent it out bc it was so good!)

deebee223's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring reflective 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

3.75

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Animal death, and Violence

Moderate: Death, Death of parent, Torture, Child death, Chronic illness, Pregnancy, and War

Minor: Rape, Dementia, Mental illness, and Sexual assault

bronzeageholly's review against another edition

challenging emotional funny inspiring mysterious reflective sad medium-paced

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

4.5

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Animal death, Grief, Violence, Religious bigotry, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, and Terminal illness

Moderate: Fire/Fire injury, Sexism, Rape, Sexual content, and Pregnancy

Minor: Bullying, Transphobia, Homophobia, and Cancer

thecriticalreader's review against another edition

mysterious reflective slow-paced

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

4.25

Review:

Admittedly, it took me nearly 200 pages to really start to get used to Matrix by Lauren Groff and its poetic, fluid, somewhat stream-of-consciousness writing style as well as its unique storyline that often produces more questions than answers. Even then, it was not until the end of the story that I fully appreciated the book for what it is. At the heart of the story is the character of Marie, an admirable but flawed nun whose ambition leads her to transform a starving, poor abbey into a magnificent, self-sustaining wealthy fortress. Marie’s character arc is wonderfully executed, and I appreciated the large cast of supporting characters as well.

 

My favorite part of Matrix, however, is its thematic exploration of religion, feminism, ambition, power, sapphic love, and humanity’s relationship with the natural world. This is the sort of book that I could read many times over and glean new meaning each time; it is the type of book that begs to be analyzed in a literature class. Groff trusts in the intelligence of her readers and never oversimplifies or hits the reader over the head in order to make her point.

 

 

 

The Run-Down: 

You will probably like Matrix if:

·      You go into the book with an open mind

·      You are someone who is interested in themes of religion and queerness

·      You enjoy poetic writing styles

 

You might not like Matrix if:

·      You dislike flowery writing and fluid plot structure

·      You prefer exciting plots and clear explanations for events

 

A Similar Book: 

This is How You Lose the Time War by Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladsone. Similarities between these books include:

·      Beautiful, lyrical, intelligent prose

·      Friend/enemy relationship between two strong women from different worlds

·      Themes of feminism, queerness and humanity’s relation to the natural world

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Cancer, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Miscarriage, and Sexism

Moderate: Dementia, Forced institutionalization, Grief, Physical abuse, Blood, Ableism, Body horror, Child abuse, Pregnancy, Body shaming, Bullying, Child death, and Classism

Minor: Excrement, Rape, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Sexual content, Animal cruelty, Fire/Fire injury, Homophobia, Infidelity, Death of parent, Violence, War, Torture, and Toxic friendship