Reviews tagging 'Child death'

Matrix by Lauren Groff

41 reviews

patriciadm's review against another edition

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

4.0


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bookishmillennial's review against another edition

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dark emotional sad slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
 While this is a much slower paced and lyrical/poetic book than what I typically gravitate towards, I deeply appreciated the character development of the main character, Marie!

If you are interested in Lauren Groff's exploration of religion and queerness in a story about a French nun who empowers a poor nunnery in 1158, then this would be a good one to pick up but keep an open mind! 

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_moomin's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful reflective fast-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

3.75

Matrix imagines the life of Marie de France, a noblewoman, abbess and woman of letters who lived and wrote from the 1100s to 1200s in Brittany and England. She's best known as the author of a collection of short chivalric romances, adapted from Breton folktales. Though her works survive, very little is known about her life.
I read her Lais for a class last spring and was excited to read a fictionalized story of her life, because her vibrant personality and sharp wit come through in her writing, and she was clearly a super interesting person! I enjoyed reading Matrix--the book is rich in historical detail and the prose is magical. The book explores radical protofeminist utopianism that is perfectly suited to the era (see Christine de Pizan's The Book of the City of Ladies, or Marie's own defenses of women in her Lais). The characters flesh out the world, though Marie and a distant but everpresent Eleanor of Aquitaine are the most fully fleshed out.
The book did feel disconnected from the Marie of the Lais. This writing project of Marie's plays only a passing part in the story, which is focused her role as abbess at a struggling English convent. While the character of Marie in the book is strong and interesting, I think the book might have been stronger if it used the historical Marie as inspiration but didn't make her the main character. 
There were also moments when the theology or understanding of medieval religious life didn't sit quite right to me. I'm not an expert on medieval Catholicism, but I read in another review that the author was raised evangelical, which made some of that disconnect or anachronism make more sense.
Overall, Matrix is a good read and a thoughtful, vibrant, and deeply human portrait of Marie de France.

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incorvusveritas's review against another edition

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emotional funny inspiring mysterious relaxing medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0


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thewritebooks's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful informative reflective 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
This read like a quiet masterpiece.

Immediately after finishing this, having cried through the last 15 pages, all I could think about was the beautiful way that all of the themes came together at the end to tell a story of life and loss. We travelled through the role of medieval women in the church, female solidarity and sisterhood, sapphic love and desire, the cycles of the seasons and the catholic calendar, power and greed and the sin of creation, followed by the moral weighting of these sins against these women's souls.

The prose was never dramatic, and by avoiding direct speech throughout, the author adds to the feeling of being another witness to the years marching onwards at the Abbey. The messages in this book were very close to my heart and I would be interested in going back with tabs to track and analyse those themes a bit more, having the hindsight now to see how well they were laid out.

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yikeslou's review against another edition

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emotional inspiring reflective slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

French mystic lesbian crusader warrior nun is a main character made SO specifically for me, a lesbian who studied the lais of Marie de France, female mysticism, Eleanor of Aquitaine, and Anglo-French religious history in uni. My god this book slapped. I finished it in two marathon readings because I couldn't put it down.

also I wanted Nest and Marie to end up together so bad once Marie had settled her pride later in life but ahhh it's fine

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water_and_shade's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional reflective fast-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

4.0

A beautiful study on ambitious women, female friendship and love. The prose was stunning - several passages I went back and re-read because they were so lovely, lyrical and evocative without being abstract. Some of the religious content went over my head but it was nicely balanced and contextual, I enjoyed learning about this period of history as I know very little about it. The inhabitants of the Abbey were sensitively portrayed and I loved learning their quirks. Marie was a great protagonist - strong, ambitious, loving and flawed. Overall I enjoyed this a lot more than Fates and Furies, and would be keen to read more of Groff's work.

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eliya's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark informative mysterious reflective sad slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

This book was a challenge for me. 
It took me 15h 21m technically, with the Libby app open whether or not I was actually reading. 

I’ve never read a historical fiction book for me, and the beginning was a little slow. Once it picked up, the pace ebbed and flowed, and, I began to appreciate how beautifully it is written. So many passages that I want to keep and remember forever, the word choice and the poetic cadence of Lauren’s Groff’s writing is best described by a friend of mine as “delicious.” absolutely. 

I love women and I’m so glad I read this book even though this book is way smarter than I will ever be. Gonna go finish weeping now. 

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leneliest's review against another edition

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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


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adymae11's review against another edition

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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


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