Reviews tagging 'War'

Enter the Body by Joy McCullough

4 reviews

amberinpieces's review against another edition

challenging dark tense 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

3.25

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Body horror, Child death, Death, Gore, Misogyny, Sexism, Blood, Death of parent, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Infertility, Infidelity, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Sexual content, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Violence, Grief, Murder, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, and War

victoria_elaine's review against another edition

emotional hopeful inspiring reflective 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? N/A

4.75

The idea and execution of this verse novel are immaculate. Changing the narrative of Shakespeare’s most famous tragedies is genius. Only reason I can’t give 5 stars is because I lost focus at points (not uncommon lol).

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexism and Blood

Moderate: Death

Minor: Child death, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Torture, Violence, and War

noeandnovels's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional inspiring 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? It's complicated

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Misogyny

Moderate: Miscarriage, Sexual assault, Violence, Murder, and War

spinesinaline's review against another edition

challenging inspiring medium-paced

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

4.5

Thanks to Penguin Canada for an ARC to review! I highly recommend picking this one up, especially for Shakespeare fans.

I’m familiar with a lot of Shakespeare’s plays but haven’t read or seen a couple that are referenced here (namely King Lear and Titus Andronicus). I think you’d be able to enjoy McCullough’s take without knowledge of the plays but personally I preferred looking up some quick plot points to understand how the author has reimagined these girls’ stories. The main plays referenced are Romeo and Juliet, Hamlet, King Lear, and Titus Andronicus so if you’ve got those already, you’re good to go. This book exposes the brutality of these plays, as the blurb mentions that all of these girls die. We don’t see much of these deaths on the page but they are referenced so the reading does feel gory at times. 

In McCullough’s telling, these girls are somewhere between character and actor, meeting each night below the stage after their character has been dispatched and prepared to face their death once more when the curtain rises on a new day. But when we meet them offstage, they start to question if this is the only end that could exist for them, if these girls might not deserve something more.

The book is presented almost as a play, or several plays, itself and I would love if it was actually adapted for the stage. It’s poetic and beautiful and devastating, and will certainly give you a new way of considering Shakespeares’ tragedies.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Sexism, Blood, Death of parent, and Murder

Moderate: Miscarriage, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Suicide, and War