Reviews tagging 'Classism'

The Lost Apothecary by Sarah Penner

23 reviews

stormeno's review

emotional mysterious medium-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Grief, Suicidal thoughts, Death of parent, Infidelity, Sexual harassment, Classism, and Death

freetobme's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful informative mysterious reflective medium-paced

• Loveable characters? Yes

3.5

Enjoyable, quick read. I had no issue following the stories from the 3 characters. I didn’t appreciate that magic potions were glorified, nor the making and disguising of poisons. 

However, in the end the apothecary has a change of heart and stops making and dispensing poisons.

I did find several sentences and paragraphs to record and reflect on. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder

Moderate: Suicide attempt, Child abuse, Alcohol, Death, Child death, Death of parent, Classism, Medical content, Sexual assault, Grief, Miscarriage, and Abandonment

Minor: Blood

sarahbryant717's review

adventurous dark mysterious medium-paced

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

4.5

Three women who on the surface don’t appear to have much in common, but when you look closely, you see that they have more in common that what you think. 

This book takes place in London in two separate timelines—late 18th century and current time. 

In the late 1700’s, Nella has a hidden apothecary shop where she tends to the needs of women—from cures for menstrual cramps to poisons to get rid of a chewing husband. Nella fiercely protects her clients’ secrets while keeping her work a secret. One day Nella meets an unlikely ally—12 year old Eliza, a servant who arrives at Nella’s shop to pick up a poison for her mistress. Eliza is intrigued by Nella and the “magic” she creates and wants to learn as much as she can from Nella. 

In the present day, Caroline arrives in London on a solo trip that was originally meant to be an anniversary trip with her husband. Caroline is on a search to find herself and to figure out what she wants out of her crumbling marriage. Caroline finds an old bottle with a mysterious etching and her self searching evolves to a search for the origins of this hidden treasure.

I enjoyed the dual storylines and since the timeline and characters were so different, it was easy to keep track of what was going on in the story. The characters were well written and were all strong women that you wanted to root for. I would definitely recommend this book and give it 4.5 stars. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Suicide attempt, Murder, Misogyny, Infidelity, Sexual harassment, and Death

Minor: Suicidal thoughts, Abortion, Classism, and Infertility

hrewannabe's review

dark emotional informative mysterious medium-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

4.75

I ended up reading this in one sitting on a car ride and was utterly entranced. As a historian who has done a rather alarming amount of research for the time period that half the book is set in it was a wonderful read! The work that the main character goes through is exhilarating and I love her growth. The mystery aspect was very engaging and you really feel like your rediscovering your own passion with the her. You can really tell that the author took her time with researching and trying to make the story feel like it could have slotted neatly into our own world as something real. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Infertility, Infidelity, Miscarriage, Blood, Murder, Abortion, Death, and Child abuse

Moderate: Classism and Pedophilia

The secondary characters (aka the "historical" cast) deal with a variety of issues of which the solution is a lot of death. It is a very frank look at what women through out history have faced and the way they've taken matters into their own hands when faced with issues like infidelity, pedophilia, child abuse and the like.

mattiedancer's review against another edition

adventurous hopeful mysterious medium-paced

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

3.0

Writing: 3⭐️/5 

The writing was fine, adequate, presentable. A few times Penner had some really stunning lines, but mostly the writing did what needed to be done without too much flare or finesse. A lot of sections for backstory were lengthy, giving us a bit of information by flashback and then overexplaining the emotions of the situation. But overall the writing did enough to not get in the way.

Characters: 3.5⭐️/5

I think the characters in the historical sections were much more fascinating than our modern-day protagonist. While I appreciated that Caroline had a lot going on, I also felt like her half-telling of the story made me lose a bit of interest in what was going on. I loved her research-heavy mind, but it felt stunningly unbelievable the way in which she pursued her research so easily after so long. And, while the characters were interesting, they felt a bit surface at times, almost as though we never got a true glimpse of their whole beings.

Plot: 3⭐️/5 

Okay, so the concept? Super cool. The execution? Maybe that’s where I got lost. I loved everything about the apothecary. I even loved the slow unravelling of clues from Caroline’s side, but I also felt like that was the only thing that felt super fleshed out. All the details in the novel felt muddled, as though they were unclear and unformed. I also think that the end kind of undid some of the feminist points made throughout the novel, leaving kind of a sour taste in my mouth at the end.

Who Should Read This Book? 

• Fans of historical books that have a split POV with modern perspective
• Someone looking for a cool concept over everything else
• Fans of witchy history who are looking for an easy read

Content Warnings? 

• Pregnancy, adultery, murder, sexism, misogyny, rape, sexual assault, sexual harassment, violence, abuse, child abuse, child death, death, death of parent, self-harm, suicide, suicide attempt, suicidal thoughts, terminal illness, poison, gun violence, medical trauma, classism, injury, injury detail, fire, pedophilia, incest, infertility 

Post-Reading Rating:  2.75⭐️/5

I just… wanted more? I liked the concept so much but I think everything else fell pretty flat.

Final Rating: 3⭐️/5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug abuse, Drug use, Alcohol, Fire/Fire injury, Incest, Infertility, Violence, Vomit, Pregnancy, Sexual harassment, Suicidal thoughts, Terminal illness, Adult/minor relationship, Bullying, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Classism, Death of parent, Grief, Murder, Physical abuse, Sexism, Sexual assault, Death, Domestic abuse, Rape, Self harm, Child death, Gaslighting, Emotional abuse, Blood, Sexual violence, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Infidelity, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Medical trauma, Misogyny, and Pedophilia

taliatalksbooks's review

dark emotional tense medium-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? It's complicated

3.75

The Lost Apothecary by Sarah Penner was just as good, if not better, than I expected it to be. I tried not to let all the praise surrounding the book skew my reading experience, but I can now say it was definitely well earned (not to mention how much I LOVE the cover). Historical fiction is not a favorite genre of mine, but I loved the way this story was discovered through researching the past and filling in the pieces. I think this was a really clever framework and it made the women of this story feel as though they were interacting, even if they never could have possibly met. I love a story with a good vigilante character, and this book certainly delivered. If you haven’t had a chance to read this historical fiction gem, definitely add it to your TBR. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness, Infidelity, Incest, Suicide, Sexual harassment, Misogyny, Sexual assault, Pregnancy, Murder, Miscarriage, Infertility, Gore, Death, Suicide attempt, Suicidal thoughts, Sexism, Classism, Abortion, and Grief

fkshg8465's review against another edition

emotional mysterious tense medium-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

3.5

Entertaining enough but the modern day protagonist lacks adequate substance.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Infidelity, Murder, Classism, and Suicide attempt

nelldiaz's review

adventurous emotional mysterious reflective fast-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? It's complicated

3.75

Enjoyable mystery/ historical fiction

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide attempt, Grief, Infidelity, and Murder

Moderate: Death, Child death, Medical content, Miscarriage, and Pregnancy

Minor: Classism

mariamj's review

adventurous challenging inspiring mysterious reflective sad fast-paced

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

4.0

The beginning was a bit slow but when it picks up, it  picks up! This book was such a pleasure to read. I love the historical accuracy of the events that occurred in this book and I love that the story behind the apothecary. Looks truly can be deceiving and the truth was bittersweet. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Death of parent, Child death, Miscarriage, and Murder

Moderate: Infertility, Blood, Vomit, Terminal illness, Classism, and Suicide attempt

Minor: Alcoholism and Alcohol

kelisabeth's review against another edition

adventurous emotional fast-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abortion, Alcohol, Classism, Death, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Miscarriage, Murder, Sexism, Sexual assault, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Vomit, Adult/minor relationship, Animal death, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Death of parent, Grief, Infertility, Infidelity, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual harassment, Suicidal thoughts, and Suicide attempt