Reviews tagging 'Violence'

When Women Were Dragons by Kelly Barnhill

13 reviews

jeleigh16's review against another edition

slow-paced

3.25

The concept for this book is phenomenal. It would have made for a spectacular short story! Unfortunately for me, as a novel, I think it made a promise that it didn't quite keep. It said, "I'm going to tell you about the time thousands of women became dragons (for whatever their individual reasons might be), but then I'm just going to talk around that event for a few hundred pages and never really dig into the thick of it, okay?" I wanted to be alongside a woman who "dragoned". I wanted to see a POV other than the one we are given of a teenage girl whose aunt "dragons" in the 1955 event. The teen's perspective was interesting, yes, but I felt like it would have been even more intriguing if we saw a couple of other perspectives in this novel, mainly one of the women who turns into a dragon. There are so many missed opportunities here. So many. This is billed as a feminist rage novel by many, but I thought it was way too quiet for most of the book. Where was the rage?? It's there, sure, but I really had to search for it. I wanted more. 

I did appreciate the protagonist's story as a girl who is left behind and the narrative of her dealing with essentially raising her cousin after everything falls apart. I also appreciated the choice to include the reports of the events in between the chapters from the protagonist's POV - which helped give background - but I wished I could have seen those events as scenes instead. That's the stuff I wanted to dive into!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment and Misogyny

Moderate: Fire/Fire injury, Terminal illness, Cancer, Death of parent, Grief, and Lesbophobia

Minor: Violence and Blood

savshanae's review against another edition

challenging emotional hopeful inspiring reflective sad tense slow-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

4.0

If “Labour” by Paris Paloma was a book, this would be it. To be frank, I was enraged for most of it. I don’t even know if I would really recommend this book to someone, unless they were looking to be so full of feminine outrage they wanted to burst into flames. But if that is what you want, this book is it. 
The writing was emotional and painted vivid pictures (it was also wordy). Sometimes repetitive, but I think it adds to the story by the end. 
The self-expression and ideas that it inspired are challenging and thought provoking, and I really enjoyed that it is written to feel like you are being TOLD a story, someone’s thoughts and life experiences. 
This book made me very angry, made me cry (lots), made me want to stop reading it. But it’s definitely worth the read and the rage. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body shaming, Gaslighting, Homophobia, Chronic illness, Classism, Emotional abuse, Grief, Death of parent, Misogyny, Toxic relationship, Cancer, Child abuse, Death, Bullying, Sexism, and Terminal illness

Moderate: Blood, Addiction, Alcoholism, and Alcohol

Minor: Violence, Fire/Fire injury, Drug abuse, Animal death, and Domestic abuse

fiddleysticks's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional funny hopeful mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Misogyny, Death of parent, Terminal illness, Sexism, Violence, and Cancer

hannahpings's review against another edition

emotional hopeful inspiring reflective 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

didn't really grip me until the third act, which was wonderful––and retrospectively enhanced the first and second, closing a loop and tying off a careful and intricate knot that barnhill began on dragons' first page. some strong craftmanship and a remarkably well-earned emotional payoff that i'm not ashamed to say made me weep.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Terminal illness, Misogyny, Cancer, Grief, Abandonment, Homophobia, Lesbophobia, Death of parent, Gaslighting, and Sexism

Moderate: Fire/Fire injury, Infidelity, Alcoholism, Child abuse, and Alcohol

Minor: War and Violence

mamaewalk's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional inspiring medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.5

Creative, unique, and utterly badass story. Reads like a memoir. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Gaslighting, Abandonment, Death of parent, and Misogyny

Minor: Cancer, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Physical abuse, Violence, Domestic abuse, Sexual assault, Child abuse, Grief, Pregnancy, Sexual harassment, War, Fire/Fire injury, and Panic attacks/disorders

revonue's review against another edition

emotional hopeful reflective medium-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Violence and Abandonment

jennmichelle_otsr's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional inspiring mysterious reflective fast-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? No

4.75

I really did love this read, but something is keeping me from giving it five stars. Some of the imagery in the second half made me want to grab my sketchbook because Ms. Barnhill painted some vivid pictures with her words. I think ultimately the reason I am giving it a 4.75 is because at points the main messages got a little more heavy-handed than was needed. It is a beautiful story. It made me laugh, cry, and made me get angry at points (I’m looking at you, Mr. Green.). Good stories do that. They also make you look back at things when they pop up later. Strong threads go throughout this entire tale. Blending in history with the fantasy was a stroke of genius.  It will probably be among my top reads of 2024 when all is said and done because I really did enjoy it. I want to read some of the author’s YA books now.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Cursing, Cancer, Infidelity, Sexism, Terminal illness, and Violence

The prom sequence gets a little graphic when it is finally spelled out what happens during a dragoning.

rachel101's review against another edition

dark emotional inspiring mysterious reflective sad tense medium-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

4.5

This book was slow to start but definitely worth staying with, I was completely lost in it and couldn’t put it down…

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Content Warnings

Minor: Violence, Sexism, Toxic relationship, Cancer, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Adult/minor relationship, Alcohol, Bullying, Death of parent, Grief, Infidelity, Misogyny, and Panic attacks/disorders

micaelacccc's review against another edition

adventurous emotional hopeful 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? It's complicated

5.0

This book means so much to me, it speaks to what our world could be if we only cared for one another and took care of each other, if we only let ourselves experience the freedom we want so badly. Beautiful beautiful writing, I loved it.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Misogyny, Chronic illness, Death of parent, Gaslighting, Sexism, Abandonment, Grief, and Violence

Minor: Panic attacks/disorders and Cancer

arthur_pendrgn's review against another edition

challenging emotional tense slow-paced

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

5.0

 A novel rich in allegory and capable of being interpreted through various social lenses. Barnhill isn't shy about her agenda, but then neither were Orwell, Atwood, Heller, Vonnegut, or Huxley. And of those, only Atwood gave her characters depth. Barnhill's characters are as flat as Orwell and Vonnegut's. This book burns, but the reader can select the burning issue. 

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Content Warnings

Minor: Death, Sexual harassment, Death of parent, and Violence