Reviews

When Women Were Dragons by Kelly Barnhill

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sarah_weav's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging emotional hopeful mysterious reflective sad medium-paced

4.0

conny_b's review against another edition

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3.0

2.5 stars

I love the concept of this book, and the first fifty pages I thought I had a 4 or even 5 star read in my hands. But after the early pages my attention dropped with the pacing of the story and the mundaneness of the prose. I love social commentary in books when it’s well presented, but here it’s hammered into the story with repetitive phrases. The literal repetition of phrases and themes made it clear that this book isn’t really meant for adults. I would say, it’s a middle grade+ level book. The literal repetition of phrases and themes made for a grating reading experience. I will struggle along, because I'm still invested from the beginning of the book, but I'll probably put the book down soon. If anything changes and I do get to the end, I will let you know.

michelle_deeter's review against another edition

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emotional inspiring slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.5

I enjoyed the story overall, it was just a little slow in parts. I think it's diverse in terms of LGBTQ orientation but at the end of the day, the story is a little America-centric. Then again, it has a strong sense of place and it felt authentic to the world that it was portraying. Definitely worth reading overall.

catpingu's review against another edition

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emotional inspiring 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? No

4.0

It's not what I was expecting, and in a good way. I thought it would be a boring first-person accounting of this alternate universe where innocent women were forced to turn into dragons. Instead, it's a book about dealing with rage and abandonment in a heavily patriotic and patriarchal time period. If you want a book to incite you with righteous fury against misogyny, this is a book for you.

Young Alex Green learns a lot about rules and things that good girls do from her mother. Keeping a smiling poker face, tamping down emotion, not speaking unless spoken to, etc. Alex faithfully obeys these restrictions, as if they could keep her family life from falling apart as her parents grow estranged, or keep her from dragoning like the women. But just as she's not able to inquire into her father's exact activities on his "business trips", society as a whole prefers to ignore the Mass Dragoning of 1955. Ignore how lives changed, husbands devoured, houses destroyed, and mothers disappeared. There's only so much a girl can take, after all.

We all remember the 1950's American ads about what it takes to be most mundane mass-produced snapshot of a happy American family in the suburbs of the Midwest. If there's one thing Alex's father is meticulous about, it's keeping up appearances.

Sister-in-law who disliked you dragoned and ran off her drunk husband, lumping you with her toddler? Easy, the toddler was always part of your family and is your daughter, your sister-in-law never existed. Pregnant mistress moves into your house a month after your wife dies of cancer, and so you kick out your daughters? No worries, pay for a small apartment and send them an allowance. Also, pay off the landlord to turn a blind eye to two minors living in his complex, and pay the grocer to deliver food so no one thinks it's suspicious that one daughter can be continuously seen in the supermarket when you've remarried and the stepmother should be the one still shopping. etc.

God, this father. Sexist pig, but probably a stereotype of the times...

It's a lot of processing for Alex to try to keep things together for the light of her world, Beatrice. After everything that's happened in the book,

I hope Alex gets therapy. At the minimum she must have some sort of PTSD from watching her mother die. At the most, she's already mentioned she has panic attacks whenever Beatrice mentions dragons. Though this is written in the style of a memoir, I'm glad that Alex was still able to find a reliable adult to advocate for her education needs and push her to higher education which ultimately served her well.

It's still a mystery why and how dragoning occurs, but I appreciate how it seems like the trigger is

joy

, and not

suffering from domestic violence

like all the anecdotes seem to have implied.

This was overall a really enjoyable read that's easy to pick-up, but hard to put down because it scratches our human need for justice.

gluntv's review against another edition

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challenging emotional hopeful reflective 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? Yes

3.5

3.5⭐️ I feel extremely conflicted on this book… On one hand I really enjoyed it and found Alex’s perspective incredibly relatable and enjoyed how feminist it was. On the other hand, the ending was underwhelming and it felt like the author was trying to go in multiple directions for why women dragoned. I’ve been staring at this for 30 minutes and still don’t know how I feel about it or how to articulate it🙃

Content Warnings

unhinged_female_protagonist's review against another edition

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4.0

I liked this book. It was a girl-powered feminist read, and it was a fun fantasy-perspective on channeling female rage into female joy. When the women dragon, they are following their true selves, without even the sky to limit them! The dragoning was also an obvious allegory to the acceptance of women regardless of assigned gender or sexual preference. The sub plot around Beatrice especially makes this point. I loved the role libraries/the librarian played. Mrs. Gyzinka was a minor character, but she was an interesting one. I would read a prequel to this book based on her story!!