Reviews tagging 'Forced institutionalization'

Circe by Madeline Miller

11 reviews

thursdd4y's review against another edition

adventurous informative medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No

1.75

Ughhhhhhhhh - I really wanted to love this but I just couldn’t, the writing style totally disregarded the ‘show don’t tell’ mantra and the protagonist was unbearable. I don’t understand the hype. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Torture, Gore, Forced institutionalization, Death, Confinement, Sexual violence, Murder, War, Injury/Injury detail, Sexual content, Violence, Misogyny, Toxic relationship, Toxic friendship, Infidelity, Animal death, and Alcohol

Moderate: Sexism and Rape

starryeyedlover's review against another edition

adventurous emotional hopeful reflective sad 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Animal death, Infidelity, Pregnancy, Child abuse, Death, Fire/Fire injury, Abandonment, Physical abuse, Sexism, Sexual assault, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, and Rape

Moderate: Forced institutionalization, Medical content, Classism, and Cursing

Minor: Incest

moond4ncer's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional slow-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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Animal death, Classism, Grief, Pregnancy, Violence, War, Blood, Gaslighting, Medical content, Medical trauma, Sexual assault, Abandonment, Alcohol, Animal cruelty, and Forced institutionalization

gabriella_'s review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.5

I read most of this book on a round trip train ride and someone’s front lawn. My god this book was gripping. I preferred The Song of Achilles for the romantic overtures but I think Madeline Miller really comes into her own as an author writing prose in this piece. The depth of the way she characterizes has compounded exponentially in this book. It’s such a refreshing spin on Greek mythos that I couldn’t put the book down.

This book made me laugh and cry within mere lines. I love the way Madeline Miller writes structures of misogyny without relegating women to damsels, and while writing all her characters as multidimensional with their own agendas. She captures the essence of Greek mythos without letting it choke out her own artistic vision.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Cursing, Domestic abuse, Rape, Child death, Emotional abuse, Body horror, Cannibalism, Murder, Forced institutionalization, Mental illness, Sexism, Death, Grief, Pregnancy, Violence, Blood, Body shaming, Confinement, Medical trauma, Medical content, Misogyny, Incest, Sexual harassment, War, Child abuse, Classism, Physical abuse, Animal cruelty, Sexual assault, Sexual content, and Sexual violence

lizziaha's review against another edition

relaxing

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated

4.25

Madeline Miller’s writing is beautiful as ever, but I do think this book suffered in lacking major conflict. Without much conflict, there wasn’t much plot to be had. Of course, that is the nature of trying to capture immortality. I do think that the way Miller writes gods is distinct and right on the nose. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Pregnancy, Infidelity, Injury/Injury detail, Sexual assault, Violence, Sexual violence, Rape, Medical content, Murder, Misogyny, Confinement, Death, and Fire/Fire injury

Minor: Death of parent, Animal death, Forced institutionalization, War, and Bullying

sadiaa's review against another edition

adventurous

4.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Grief, Pregnancy, Sexual assault, Death, Forced institutionalization, Genocide, Confinement, Emotional abuse, Suicidal thoughts, War, Blood, Violence, and Murder

lajoy's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful sad medium-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? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content, Sexual assault, Rape, Pregnancy, Forced institutionalization, Emotional abuse, and Confinement

Moderate: Child abuse, Medical content, Animal death, Blood, Body horror, Torture, Toxic relationship, Classism, Injury/Injury detail, Medical trauma, and Sexism

Minor: War

miglena's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny hopeful inspiring reflective sad medium-paced

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

5.0

Madeline Miller weaves words together so beautifully. Her writing is so poignant and is able to touch depths that people rarely go to. I ached and wept for Circe throughout the whole book and literally cried through 40% of it. 
I finished this book in two sittings, but I would have finished it in one if I didn't have work. I have no doubt I will be coming back to this book again. There are so many quotes that I just want to press into my skin and carry with me. 

This book deals with the concepts of free will, captivity, isolation, feminism, how deeply rooted mysogeny is and how it plays out in our interactions, who is considered good vs evil, and many more. Madeline Miller shapes mythology, action, and romance together to craft this book. It asks us to look within ourselves and reflect. 
I feel lucky to have read this book, it was enthralling and a truly magical experience. 

Here are some quotes I love and keep thinking about:

 
"A golden cage is still a cage"

"I had been old and stern for so long, carved with regrets and years like a monolith. But that was only a shape I had been poured into. I did not have to keep it." 

"Humbling women seems to me a chief pastime of poets. As if there can be no story unless we crawl and weep." 

"Circe, he says, it will be all right... He does not mean that it does not hurt. He does not mean we are not frightened. Only that: we are here. This is what it means to swim in the tide, to walk the earth and feel it touch your feet. This is what it means to be alive." 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Forced institutionalization, Gore, Grief, Misogyny, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, and Violence

Moderate: Slavery and War

Minor: Self harm

susiepops's review against another edition

adventurous emotional mysterious fast-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

4.0

CIRCE BY MADELINE MILLER 

RATINGS : 4 / 5
 
T/W: Rape, Violence, Blood and Gore
may contain spoilers


After a 2 month long reading slump, Circe got me back on track. I was worried of being disappointed after reading "The Song of Achilles", but Miller, did to let me down, and she just might be my new favourite author. 

"How do you bear it?" "We bear it as best we can." 

Circe is a child and she remains one for a long time, constantly battling with her intrusive thoughts, jealousy, and insecurity along her troupe of lovers, but her character arc is immersive, impressive and un-glorified. She is subtle, patient and hardworking, and everything leads up to a satisfying ending. It is uncanny how often the course of the story is hinted throughout the book, and yet the ending feels so comforting, warm and somehow left me utterly dazed, all at the same time. 

 "Of all the mortals in the world, there are only a few the Gods will ever hear of. Consider the practicalities. By the time we learn their names, they are dead. They must be meteors indeed to catch our attention. The merely good : you are dust to us."

Our Protagonist / narrator, Circe - "The weak outcast", is an exiled sorceress. While we follow her around, we find ourselves jumping from one greek hero to another, a legend to another, and the part she plays, either as a participant or a spectator. Unlike other narrative styles, Miller here tried to portray the perspective of gods with time and how insignificant mortal lives truly are, through her fast pace narrative. This also gives her an advantage of introducing a unique ensemble of iconic legends like, Jason and Medea along with the enigmatic Argonauts, or Daedalus and Icarus, or Ariadne and Theseus and the unholy Minotaur, among others. And I must have have gone back to read every legend referred in this book out of curiosity, and just like that I got more out of this one single book than I expected. 

" But in solitary life, there are rare moments when another soul dips near yours, as stars once a year brush the earth. Such a constellation was he to me"

And lastly, I would like to thank Madeline Miller,

For Circe is exiled, and I am at home, isolated, but the comfort and solace I was able to find in her and Miller's words - honouring, the forgotten characters, has me dumbstruck, while I eagerly wait for her next book. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Blood, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Gore, and Pregnancy

Moderate: Incest, Infidelity, and Murder

Minor: Death and Emotional abuse

ellen_is_okay's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective 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? Yes

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Violence, Sexual violence, Sexual assault, Pregnancy, Murder, Misogyny, Infidelity, Forced institutionalization, Fire/Fire injury, Death, Confinement, and Animal death