134 reviews for:

The Unwilding

Marina Kemp

3.96 AVERAGE

swedishfish22's review

4.75

adventurous dark emotional 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

shaunimagnifique's review

4.5

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I swung from absolutely hating to loving this. Such a masterful exploration of characters deeply affected by many layers of pain, trauma and complex family dynamics. 

bookgal1510's review

4.0

challenging dark mysterious reflective medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Complicated

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

bryonymaeee's review against another edition

4.0

dark emotional mysterious reflective sad 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

whatwordsdidnttouch's review against another edition

3.0

emotional medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: No

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

orch_la's review against another edition

4.25

mysterious reflective sad medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

emilym09's review against another edition

4.5

emotional hopeful mysterious reflective medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

cdog859's review against another edition

3.0

mysterious reflective medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

irisfromthevillage's review

4.5

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Partially read this on Sicily. So that added to the vibe. 

Wonderfully written and just captivating to me. 

booksillremember's review

3.75

reflective slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

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An unevenly paced exploration of themes that have been explored countless times: Authorship, larger-than-life narcissistic father figures who like to groom young women, motherhood as never-ending self-sacrifice, the double standards of parenthood, rich families summering in Italy. There's a lot going on, maybe too much. I enjoyed Zoe's quietly scandalous (inner) monologue. This is a competently written novel - and somewhat like Zoe's early work - good but not great, yet. I will keep an eye out for future novels.