Reviews tagging 'Murder'

Enter the Body by Joy McCullough

6 reviews

xread_write_repeatx's review against another edition

dark emotional inspiring reflective 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? No

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness, Toxic relationship, and Murder

Moderate: Misogyny and Suicide

Minor: Violence and Murder

ginabelle's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring reflective fast-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

This book may irritate some people or come off as preachy, but I loved it! It’s perfect for International Women’s Day and is very much in the same vein as the musical “Six.” Four of Shakespeare’s tragic heroines grapple with their portrayals and deaths and ultimately seize the chance to retell their stories in a way that grants them agency and happiness, even in nontraditional ways. So creative and powerful!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Emotional abuse, Miscarriage, Physical abuse, Rape, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

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

leahkarge's review against another edition

dark tense medium-paced

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

1.0

This wasn’t as subversive as it wanted to be. 

Juliet keeps her love, which is a perfectly valid option, but is completely judgmental of anyone else’s “choices” in the story and only lends support when called out by Cordelia or Ophelia. Ophelia somehow managed to make her story even more about a man who uses and undervalues her and still dies in the end. Cordelia redeems her father but her sisters, who arguably deserve redemption more, are still vicious, heartless harpies. Lavinia gets nothing, doesn’t even get to contribute, really, and the story wouldn’t change if she wasn’t there. 

There’s so much catty fighting between Juliet, Ophelia, and Cordelia that it never reaches that “women supporting women” vibe the author is apparently going for.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Child abuse, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Infidelity, Mental illness, Misogyny, Rape, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Gaslighting, and Injury/Injury detail

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