Reviews tagging 'Infidelity'

Conjure Women by Afia Atakora

14 reviews

sbookreader's review against another edition

dark emotional sad slow-paced

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

4.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Slavery, Colonisation, Emotional abuse, Grief, Racism, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Child abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Sexual assault, War, Infidelity, Medical trauma, Physical abuse, Bullying, Hate crime, Child death, Chronic illness, Death, Death of parent, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Murder, Terminal illness, Mental illness, Pregnancy, Racial slurs, Rape, Religious bigotry, Sexual violence, Sexism, Sexual content, Sexual harassment, and Toxic friendship

britlovestoread's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful sad tense slow-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? N/A

4.0

Took me awhile to get through this one because it's very heavy and the plot moves pretty slowly. 

But in the end things started moving more quickly and everything tied together. A difficult read but a good read.
The author's note at the end adds even more depth and made the story stand out even more for me.

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: Violence, Sexism, Rape, War, Slavery, Racism, Pregnancy, Physical abuse, Murder, Misogyny, Miscarriage, Medical trauma, Infidelity, Grief, Confinement, Child death, and Blood

book_cave_ghost_girl's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional medium-paced

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

5.0

Unforgettable deep dive into the immense cruelty and dehumanization of chattel slavery and the complex relationships of the characters with each other when it comes to love and power-- will make you feel your feelings!

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Torture, Slavery, Sexism, Murder, Death of parent, Child abuse, Miscarriage, Grief, Emotional abuse, Child death, Racism, Religious bigotry, Hate crime, Gore, Blood, Violence, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, Racial slurs, Medical content, Injury/Injury detail, Domestic abuse, and Death

Moderate: Sexual content, Miscarriage, Sexual violence, Sexism, Misogyny, Rape, and Sexual assault

Minor: Alcoholism, Murder, War, Infidelity, Pedophilia, and Child death

madeleinebay's review against another edition

emotional sad tense

• Plot- or character-driven? Character

4.25

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Torture, Rape, Slavery, Violence, Child death, Death, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Miscarriage, Hate crime, Murder, Infidelity, Pregnancy, Racial slurs, and Sexual assault

michaelion's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense 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

3.25

Something's missing. I found myself confused through most the book, and not in the normal way that I like to be confused whenever I'm reading magical realism. Something's just not there. I'm not sure what it is, or if this even makes sense, but I realized it about a quarter of the way through, and that feeling just lingered the rest of the time. I would say maybe I need to reread it in the future, but who knows if I will. The subject matter of slavery is already so triggering for me, but with the rest of the triggering content I know I won't pick it up again for, mm, maybe three years minimum. Not to say that the content is explicit or overt, that's just how triggers are, in general.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Gaslighting, Racism, Torture, Infidelity, Confinement, Miscarriage, Cultural appropriation, Toxic friendship, Hate crime, Alcoholism, Pregnancy, Death of parent, Rape, Racial slurs, Sexual assault, Slavery, Child death, Grief, Violence, and Sexual violence

Moderate: Dementia, War, Misogyny, Animal death, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Infertility, Murder, Abortion, Death, Emotional abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Toxic relationship, Fire/Fire injury, Xenophobia, and Domestic abuse

Minor: Medical content, Terminal illness, and Stalking

ka_cam's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful mysterious reflective sad fast-paced

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

4.0

One for the fans of women-centered us civil war era historical fiction. I thought it took some fairly common themes (violence of slavery esp related to the family, the South during the civil war, relations between enslaved Black women/children and white women/children in enslaver families, women healers as   suspect for witchcraft, womens agency and lack thereof in reproductive health and pregnancy, etc) and wove them together in compelling ways. I found Rue an interesting and believable narrator and thought the author did a wonderful job building out her perspective. Some of the romance was a bit random, and I felt the last 10-20% of the book became more scattered and rushed due to the increase in twists and narrator voices late in the book.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Slavery, Violence, Injury/Injury detail, Abortion, Miscarriage, Pregnancy, Racial slurs, Rape, and Sexual violence

Moderate: Infidelity, Torture, Toxic friendship, Misogyny, Death, Child death, and Confinement

Minor: Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Infertility, Suicidal thoughts, Grief, Incest, and War

Addition content warnings: Lynching, KKK-style violence; also much of the above content warnings apply to/involve enslaved people and/or children

jojo_'s review against another edition

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? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Racism, Rape, Slavery, Torture, Medical content, Miscarriage, Child abuse, Medical trauma, Physical abuse, Violence, Abortion, Racial slurs, Blood, Child death, and Death

Moderate: Alcohol, Animal death, Gaslighting, Pregnancy, Sexual content, Addiction, Confinement, War, Misogyny, Death of parent, and Infidelity

Minor: Incest, Fire/Fire injury, and Suicide

michelejenn's review against another edition

challenging tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.5

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Pregnancy, Child death, Confinement, Grief, Hate crime, Infidelity, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Miscarriage, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexual assault, and Slavery

Moderate: Child death, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Rape, and Abortion

nialiversuch's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad slow-paced

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

4.5

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Religious bigotry, Death of parent, Grief, Physical abuse, Racism, Sexual violence, Slavery, Emotional abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Medical trauma, Blood, Torture, Violence, War, Colonisation, Cursing, Murder, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Animal death, Kidnapping, Medical content, Child death, Death, Body horror, Infidelity, Pregnancy, Racial slurs, Sexual assault, and Trafficking

Moderate: Cancer, Terminal illness, Abortion, Vomit, Miscarriage, and Suicidal thoughts

sofipitch's review against another edition

challenging emotional slow-paced

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

4.5

This book was really good but it can be slow to start. Especially since each chapter alters between past and present it can be frustrating when a chapter ends on a cliffhanger only to know you won't get it resolved immediately. It also takes a while for all the pieces to come together but when they do it's really satisfying and makes a lot of sense. The medical content is also really well done, I looked up if the author has a medical background and it doesn't seem like it, so she did her research and did an awesome job, bc as a healing women Rue wouldn't know the modern names of diseases but the way she describes them you always know what she's talking about.

I would really recommend this book but do check the trigger warnings, if some topics are an issue for you.


(Just my soapbox but I think this book is very firmly magical realism, not fantasy, and honestly that a book can't be both in the fantasy and magical realism genres, they both have magic but the fundamentals contradict one another.)

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Hate crime, Injury/Injury detail, Pregnancy, Death of parent, Grief, Medical content, Medical trauma, and Racism

Moderate: Alcoholism, Animal death, Religious bigotry, Rape, Abortion, Confinement, Drug use, Infidelity, Slavery, War, and Racial slurs

Minor: Cancer, Addiction, Blood, and Dementia