Reviews tagging 'Death'

Matrix by Lauren Groff

66 reviews

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

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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

alixgb's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful mysterious 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

I could not put this but book down. Groff doesn't use quotation marks in her writing and something about the style makes it feel like everything is coming in a rush. Something just shy of stream of consciousness. I love her writing and I loves this book, despite almost avoiding reading it because of my own disinterest in the setting.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death

Moderate: Rape

Due to the time period it's set in, there are frequent deaths and injuries in the book.

honeyvoiced's review against another edition

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death

Moderate: Pregnancy, Rape, and Sexual content

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 ☹️

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Gore

Minor: Animal death, Death, and Child death

heydebigale's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny medium-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? Yes

4.75

I wasn’t expecting to enjoy a novel about 12 century nuns, but this was really interesting.

CW: fairly graphic childbirth scene & death & child death

I especially loved the exploration of friendship between women, the comfort of the idea of creating a space without men, and the discussion of morality of sapphic relationships in the 12th century.

This idea that sapphic pleasure was below the notice of the church that there was nothing explicitly written about it? So of course Marie concluded that she does nothing “sinful” or “wrong” by receiving cunnilingus. 

Also this idea that nuns are similar to witches… I really loved that. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, and Pregnancy

Graphic childbirth scene that results in the death of both the child and mother

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

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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. 

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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

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

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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

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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

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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