Reviews tagging 'Sexual content'

The Dance Tree by Kiran Millwood Hargrave

12 reviews

waybeyondblue's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional sad medium-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Lesbophobia, Death, Fire/Fire injury, Death of parent, and Homophobia

Moderate: Miscarriage, Mental illness, Child death, Sexual content, Animal death, Murder, Infertility, Religious bigotry, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Torture and Sexual violence

voldycat's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective slow-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Pregnancy, Miscarriage, Homophobia, and Xenophobia

Moderate: Toxic relationship, Sexual content, Suicide, and Death of parent

Minor: Animal death

sauvageloup's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful informative inspiring mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

I picked this up because it was on sale in Blackwell's and just liked the sound of it. Damn, I'm glad I did!

pros: 
- writing is poignant, powerful and weaves a compelling narrative, while never being especially verbose or wandering too far. The dialogue felt real enough for the period, but still intense and readable.
- the characters were all brilliant, they come to life gradually and several change over the period of the story, 

sophey from cruel to an ally, Nethe from cold to loving, henne from a decent man (in comparison to Plater) to cold and unlocking

although many of these are more the revealing of the true character that had been buried by trauma (apart from the latter of course).
- Lisbet showed great growth

both through her own bravery and strength, and through Eren, Nethe, Ida, Friedrich and Sophey's support of her. She is able to let go of her lifelong guilt, her grief for her mother, she is able to believe that she deserves better than Henne, she accepts and loves both a 'Turk' and a 'sodomite', because of who they are as people, and these are all huge things for her and yet the growth felt right and natural

 
- the setting, the history and the depiction of the dancing mania was all extremely evocative and intense, I could picture it all so well and you feel as if you're down there in the pulsing, dangerous crowds, or drowning in the smell of melting beeswax.
- lisbet's alliance with the bees and later the dog, Ulf, added another beautiful layer to her character and her skills as a beekeeper helped her realise her own worth, beyond being a wife and a mother.
- I loved the women's friendships, Lisbet's true love for Ida despite her mixture of jealousy and awe towards her friend, and Nethe's developing care and love for Lisbet, despite her initial fear of closeness.
- the significant tragedies of the book are balanced with successes, which stopped me from feeling betrayed at the end, which I sometimes am with tragic books. bitter sweet, I can do!
- Plater's grim awfulness is written in a way that is familiar but still ghastly, and the dread of his arrival is tangible every time he arrives.

cons:
-

it did plague me a few times that despite Lisbet's obvious love of Ida's children, she does leave them alone several times, when going to the forest or with Eren. I suppose we assume they are safe with the eldest daughter and ida's father, but I thought it odd that Lisbet didnt spare a thought

- also wish that the role of the eldest daughter as a replacement mother might have been examined a little.
-

I wish it hadnt ended like that with Eren, though of course I am glad Plater died. but it felt so unfair that Eren was blamed like that (though historically plausible I know) and there was no hint that those two might reunite, I thought. I know we see Lisbet's dissatisfaction with Henne and her love for Nethe, but I wish there had been a hint of the future. how could the two women leave now theyve got not just Lisbet's baby but all of Ida's children too? that's not ideal for running after Eren. so that was a bit of a shame. 
- it was of course upsetting, though somewhat expected from how saintly she is set up as, that Ida died. as Lisbet and Eren survived, couldnt Nethe and Ida have? it fitted with the story ofc, but it's a shame that it continues the 'bury your gays'

overall, I truly loved this haunting, sad, and powerful historical novel about the power of female friendship and love against loss, hardships and intolerance.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Physical abuse, Pregnancy, Racial slurs, Sexual content, Hate crime, Infertility, Lesbophobia, Sexism, Drug use, Fire/Fire injury, Gore, Violence, Death of parent, Homophobia, Misogyny, Pandemic/Epidemic, Chronic illness, Death, Toxic relationship, Body horror, Outing, Child death, Suicide, Injury/Injury detail, Child abuse, Xenophobia, Emotional abuse, Grief, Murder, Racism, Terminal illness, War, and Bullying

Moderate: Animal death, Animal cruelty, Alcoholism, Miscarriage, Addiction, Police brutality, Alcohol, Mental illness, and Medical content

one of the gay characters ends up dead by accidental overdose, and there is the threat of hanging

lorriss's review

emotional tense

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Islamophobia, Medical content, Suicidal thoughts, Drug use, Death of parent, Dementia, Police brutality, Racism, Sexual content, Racial slurs, Grief, Lesbophobia, Murder, Suicide, Death, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Hate crime, Homophobia, Infidelity, Miscarriage, Drug abuse, Infertility, Injury/Injury detail, Physical abuse, Mental illness, Misogyny, Pandemic/Epidemic, Pregnancy, Sexism, Suicide attempt, Religious bigotry, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Violence, and Xenophobia

Moderate: Blood, Alcohol, Animal death, Child death, Classism, War, Child abuse, Cannibalism, and Domestic abuse

Minor: Addiction, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Excrement, Colonisation, and Slavery

thedukeofpuke_'s review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Lesbophobia, Miscarriage, Homophobia, Infertility, Grief, Sexism, Racism, and Pregnancy

Moderate: Animal death, Death, Death of parent, Sexual content, Domestic abuse, and Fire/Fire injury

Minor: Blood and Excrement

quillyreads's review against another edition

sad slow-paced

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

3.0

Beautiful writing, but not the best plot. It’s very slow paced and muted for about 3/4 of the book, then packs everything in the last few chapters. 

And it crams a LOT in. Too much, perhaps. As the books tries to ambitiously comment on grief, miscarriage, religious mania, tyrannical religious zealots, homophobia, xenophobia… It can’t investigate these themes in the depth they deserve or with the time or character development they require to become a theme, rather than just an embellishment. 

Also, I just couldn’t connect with the characters. There’s little character development. And despite the huge amount of happenings in the final sprint of the book, the ending feels like it’s back to the start. The only difference is

there’s now a baby in the house.

I just couldn’t vibe with this book.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Pregnancy, Religious bigotry, Sexual content, and Infidelity

Moderate: Xenophobia and Fire/Fire injury

Minor: Islamophobia

hue's review against another edition

challenging informative sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.5

Bitter, tragic, loving. Not a light topic to touch upon at all, but Kiran Millwood Hargrave does it so well. It's an immense joy to read what she's written, especially historical fiction like this and her former glory The Mercies. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Miscarriage, Child death, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, Animal death, Homophobia, Religious bigotry, Sexism, Sexual content, Violence, Death, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Murder, and Pandemic/Epidemic

jesselynn's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful mysterious reflective sad tense 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

3.5

A very emotive and dramatic story set in and around Strasbourg in 1518, at the time of the infamous Dancing Plague.

We follow Lisbet, a heavily pregnant young woman who keeps bees alongside her husband and mother-in-law. Lisbet is desperate for her unborn child's survival, due to multiple previous miscarriages, which wounds her and familial relationships deeply. When her husband's sister Agnethe returns from seven years in the mountains atoning for a mysterious sin, the path of her life is forever changed.

The content is very emotionally stimulating, with really moving and detailed language and a narrative that is very centred around Lisbet's feelings and emotional state. The cast of characters are interesting, with Lisbet's sister-in-law Nethe being a favourite of mine. The story explores a very harrowing sapphic relationship, as well as themes of religious fervour, immigration and xenophobia. The story is not an account of the Dancing Plague as such, but the events of the summer and strange event are an atmospheric setting, the rhythm of the dance weaved throughout Lisbet's story in interludes. The novel is much more character focused than a simple retelling, which I liked. I would recommend this to anyone who enjoys historical fiction, especially women's historical fiction. Tread carefully if pregnancy, infertility and miscarriage is a trigger point for you. 

Thanks to Picador for the reading copy in exchange for an honest review. I'll definitely be recommending this one to my customers and am looking forward to future works from Kiran Millwood Hargrave!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Hate crime, Infidelity, Injury/Injury detail, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Pandemic/Epidemic, Xenophobia, Animal cruelty, Cursing, Lesbophobia, Medical content, Misogyny, Animal death, Murder, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, Religious bigotry, Sexism, Sexual content, Confinement, Death of parent, Infertility, Blood, Child death, Death, Emotional abuse, Grief, Homophobia, Racism, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Self harm, Classism, and Miscarriage

bkschwartz's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring reflective sad medium-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? Yes

4.25

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Miscarriage, Religious bigotry, Infertility, and Fire/Fire injury

Minor: Sexual content, Homophobia, Infidelity, Injury/Injury detail, and Lesbophobia

jcinf's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad medium-paced

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

4.25

It took me a while to get through this book, mostly because my life has been so busy. It did feel a little slow at first, but that could be a result of me just not being able to sit down and let it build momentum. 

That said, once I set aside the time to read, I really enjoyed it. Historical fiction is a beloved genre of mine, and this book did not disappoint. 

A plague — especially such an obscure one, a romantic subplot, a window into medieval times, a reflection on women’s rank in society… so good. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Miscarriage, Death, Infertility, Pandemic/Epidemic, and Pregnancy

Moderate: Xenophobia and Sexual content

Minor: Alcoholism, Domestic abuse, Fire/Fire injury, and Grief