Reviews tagging 'Sexual assault'

Wake, Siren: Ovid Resung by Nina MacLaughlin

35 reviews

laserdiscreader's review

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challenging emotional hopeful reflective sad fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

Incredible retelling of myths I knew well, recognized, and didn't know prior to reading. I loved the structuring of each narrator's story within the larger book which, per the author's note, was intentional and therefore I appreciated it even more. Because of who the narrators are, the majority are very tough to read, especially if the topics at hand are personally triggering. I'm rarely bothered by any questionable content and even I started squirming during a few of these retellings. But then a hard tale is followed up by a beautiful one and it just all flows so well. This was read during a time I'm only reading from the library, and I plan to add this to my personal collection soon.
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eleniphant's review

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dark reflective sad tense medium-paced

3.0

- I see what the author was doing here and mad respect for how she doesn’t hold back on how fucked up a lot of these myths are and how they all sort of cycle around the violence and punishment of women. But at points I had a hard time finding the line of too gratuitous
- I wasn’t the biggest fan of the writing style, sometimes voice felt indiscernible between stories. The first person points of view didn’t help.
- some of the modernized takes and dialogues felt tonally awkward to read
- I think some could’ve used more depth, it was getting repetitive
- there were a few strong ones I really enjoyed though like the Iphis one and Eurydice  
- and I like how the women are characterized and the tone is allowed to be raw and angry
- I was left uncomfortable by many but that also is the point so decently executed but my enjoyment really fluctuated with the stories 
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pattington's review

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I really was excited for this book at tried to enjoy it. Unfortunately every story is woefully similar and though they’re twisting existing myths, the tales twist all of them in the same way, which just gets so boring. The writing was beyond underwhelming and still trying too hard.  A different review called it “pseudo-deep in the way bad poetry is” and I think that perfectly captures it. Also, the writing relies on existing myths and the visceral assault of the female body over and over again in order to provide anything compelling, which is just lazy. This is trauma porn masquerading as feminist literature. There is an attempt to differentiate between the women being described in each story, but the writing skills necessary to accomplish multiple of such visions were missing, and each vignette came across bland and undeveloped with virtually the same conclusion for each character of ‘I grit my teeth and endure suffering’. 

 For some it may be cathartic, but for me it was exhausting. Maybe it would’ve gotten better if I read all the way through, but the first several stories were just so disappointing. 
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georgiatancred's review

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challenging dark emotional informative reflective sad tense medium-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? It's complicated

4.75

This collection of short stories focuses on the many women who were involved in ancient Roman mythology. Most were mistreated and poorly depicted, so expect to be enraged and depressed as you read a proper interpretation of their stories. This is disgustingly honest, and I love it because I hated how it made me feel about society.
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mmccombs's review

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challenging dark emotional reflective medium-paced

2.0

I’m really disappointed in this one, it had all of the makings of a book I’d love. Some stories were great, but mostly it was repetitive and overwrought. All of the voices were basically the same, so it never felt like we were hearing from a cast of characters. I saw a reviewer describe this as “100 rape vignettes” and I think that’s accurate. And it was just so graphic, which I think makes it look “deep” or “meaningful” or “important” but just renders it traumatic for no real reason at all. I don’t think this was feminist and it is a cis, white perspective on gendered violence through and through. There’s a kernel of something here but I mostly just think it should have been at least half as long and much more selective in what stories to tell.
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courtneyfalling's review

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

3.0

Dark feminist retellings of the myths in Ovid's Metamorphoses? Conceptually I'm so here. But this collection was... heavy and very viscerally in the characters' voices and experiences. I have to wonder who the intended audience is because people who pick up feminist Ovid retellings probably already agree that these stories are about gendered violence and likely have experienced gendered violence themselves, but this collection feels very sharp and potentially retraumatizing to that exact set of people. Not all the time, and not in an intentionally dangerous way, but still... this was pretty hard to get through at points and I had to wonder to what end. 

Edit a few weeks later: the more I think about it, the more that the equation of sexual violence and vulnerability to cis womanhood in this book feels gender essentialist and slipping into TERFdom...
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reallyemily's review

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dark emotional reflective sad medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated

5.0

Wow the writing in this book is absolutely incredible. Even when I didn’t love the story being told, I loved the way that each story had a different voice and each woman had different motivations and wants and desires that could be seen through the writing. Loved. 
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theinvulnerabletide's review

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challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective tense 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? It's complicated

3.5

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ellajoy12's review

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adventurous challenging dark emotional funny mysterious reflective sad medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? N/A
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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littlegretty's review

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challenging dark emotional fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? Yes

4.25

AS a lover of Greek myth, this book felt very important to me. Maclaughlin has crafted stories and a complete narrative that changes the focus of Ovid's Metamorphoses from Ovid himself to the women whose stories he tells. Some are sweet and soft, others are dark and challenging. 
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