Reviews tagging 'Domestic abuse'

Galatea by Madeline Miller

257 reviews

thenoboshow's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad fast-paced

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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Pregnancy, Medical content, Murder, Abortion, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Forced institutionalization, Mental illness, Misogyny, Abandonment, Adult/minor relationship, Sexism, Toxic relationship, Body shaming, Chronic illness, Confinement, Death, Incest, Medical trauma, Pedophilia, Rape, Sexual assault, and Sexual content

el_wheel's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense fast-paced

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

4.5

This was beautifully written but also so short and sad and I wanted more, especially of the characters and the mother/daughter relationship 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexism, Domestic abuse, and Misogyny

Moderate: Body shaming, Suicide, and Murder

books_and_fairy_lights's review against another edition

reflective fast-paced

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

4.0

I quite liked it. Very different from The Song of Achilles but still quite good. This novella is a worthy successor of previous great feminist literature. You can definitely feel the influence of authors such as Charlotte Perkins Gilman, Angela Carter, or Katherine Mansfield. It is similarly heavy and mysterious (in a gothic kind of way) and has very similar themes though with a more modern twist were the woman actually takes her fate back into her own hands. It's an interesting exposition of how men attempt to control women's bodies and it's especially well done here as we only get Galatea's perspective - how she experiences that oppression, how smart and cunning she is, how she reaches freedom and takes revenge.

Would have loved to include this in some essay at uni, which makes me say it's well-written and interesting inany ways.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement

Moderate: Sexism, Forced institutionalization, Misogyny, Physical abuse, and Abortion

Minor: Domestic abuse and Suicide

aeonvexed's review

dark sad medium-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Rape and Domestic abuse

spkme_44292's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

The Author's note at the end provided important information about the source of the story and the meaning of it. Don't miss it!!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse and Sexual violence

Moderate: Emotional abuse and Misogyny

jesblack's review

dark reflective fast-paced

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

3.0

Things I liked: the formatting & flow of the story. The story. The exquisite word choice.
Things I didn’t like: worrying about pedophilia. The way the husband spoke. The way the hospital staff behaved.
Do I think all of the things I didn’t like actually were purposeful for the story? Yes. Do I respect the writer’s choice of writing it as she did even though it made me uncomfortable? Yes. But only 3 stars because I did not like the way the story made me feel while & after reading. I would not re-read but I would seek out other writing by this author as I think the writing was stylistically very smart and enjoyable. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Domestic abuse and Sexual assault

tashtasher's review against another edition

dark emotional sad tense fast-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Forced institutionalization, Confinement, Toxic relationship, Domestic abuse, Misogyny, Rape, and Sexual assault

Moderate: Cursing, Death, Gaslighting, Murder, Pregnancy, and Abortion

ursa_arlo's review against another edition

challenging reflective sad medium-paced

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

3.0

Positives. As far as short stories go, this one is very strong. It is a story of a beautiful woman coming into her own as someone who is more than her beauty; she is curious, daring, intelligent and a loving mother. All of which is spoiled by her abusive husband who would rather see her as an obedient object of lust without thoughts or personality. The ending is devastating: while her last act gives her back her agency and stops her from being an object of lust, it also deprives her of the future she deserves. 

Negatives. This story would have worked better as an addition to a collection or anthology. Ovid's stories are well known for connecting back to a larger theme. If you want to thoroughly critique Ovid's work, creating an anthology with an overarching theme would be the way to go. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Misogyny, Confinement, Domestic abuse, Forced institutionalization, and Physical abuse

Moderate: Body shaming

Minor: Adult/minor relationship

kaylynn28's review against another edition

dark mysterious sad fast-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse

Moderate: Pedophilia and Pregnancy

hexedmaiden's review against another edition

emotional sad fast-paced

5.0

This was such a haunting and brutal take on the story of Galatea & Pygmalion that I feel is going to stick with me for a while. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Domestic abuse, and Misogyny

Moderate: Abortion and Sexual assault