Reviews tagging 'Grief'

When Women Were Dragons by Kelly Barnhill

76 reviews

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

booking_along's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional informative inspiring reflective medium-paced

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

4.25

i went into this book expecting a bit of a strange read and while that certainly is part of this book, it was also an extremely honest an real look at women and their life’s and while it had this magical realism fantasy aspect of women turning into dragons- the actual overall topic was very much about women in general - at least for me.


it was almost a commentary about what women went through and how that could have gone if women would have been more physical powerfully - how men couldn’t have kept pushing women down as much and wouldn’t have gotten away with as much so easily as they did and still do.


now you don’t have to read too much into this book. 
you can also just read it as a story of a girl growing into a women and more or less sharing her life story and how the world was that she grew and old in with the ability of women to become dragons. 

it’s written in a bit of a slower sometimes almost meandering tone, so don’t go into this expecting a fast paced or action packed story. 


each book by this author -i read at least 3 of hers now- were completely different and had nothing to do with the other. they differentiated from tone to topic to amount of fantastic elements and plot completely. 
this author isn’t one that just because you liked one book means you enjoy an other or the other way around - or you can love them all because they are all so different and in ways uniquely done.

i really enjoyed this and while k did thing that the middle part dragged a little bit and i would have absolutely loved this if it would have verbs little bit shorter it was a fantastic read and such a different book that i know i want to come back and experience it all over again at some point. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Infidelity, Gaslighting, Death of parent, Sexism, Alcohol, and Grief

kerrygetsliterary's review against another edition

adventurous emotional funny mysterious reflective slow-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cancer, Death, Infidelity, Lesbophobia, Abandonment, Alcoholism, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Grief, Panic attacks/disorders, Pregnancy, Sexism, and Terminal illness

racheldonna14's review against another edition

emotional hopeful tense medium-paced

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

5.0

It felt like this book was written for me. Each line felt purposeful and intentional and I want to remember each and every detail for the rest of my life. Alex's range of emotions leap off the page and are deeply relatable to any person raised as a girl in Catholic School. The expectation of silence, not questioning authority, and maintaining appearances was so relatable and rage inducing. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cancer, Chronic illness, Emotional abuse, Abandonment, Misogyny, Fire/Fire injury, Sexism, Death of parent, Grief, and Religious bigotry

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

cheye13's review against another edition

mysterious sad 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? No

5.0

This reads very much like a false history or a fictional memoir, which is my absolute favorite genre. The articles and papers inter-spliced were very cool, but I wish there'd been more of them, or that they tied in with Alex's story more. It did feel like it had about ten endings, but I did enjoy seeing where everyone ended up. 

Everything up until the final part (which was primarily that series of endings) was perfect to me. The tangibility of the time periods, the snippets of everyday magic, the characters reaching out to each other. The whole book really embodies a very specific feeling I have reading about being a woman in those times.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Misogyny, Death of parent, and Sexism

Moderate: Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Homophobia, Infidelity, Cancer, and Abandonment

Minor: Alcoholism, Fire/Fire injury, Domestic abuse, and Sexual assault

amandaboyer's review against another edition

adventurous 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? Yes

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Homophobia, Lesbophobia, Alcoholism, Gaslighting, Sexism, Grief, Misogyny, and Abandonment

sadiaa's review against another edition

2.75

The premise of the book is interesting, women suddenly turning into dragons and societies denial of the existence of dragons. This book took me forever to finish, I kept picking it up and putting it down. I found myself skipping pages at a time, I was only interested in Alex and Beatrice's story. I found myself angry at the misogyny Alex faced, "no point getting an education when you'll just become a wife and mother", it was infuriating and testament to how women deal with adversity.
I loved the female rage aspect of the book,

when the dragons attack the abusive men in their lives, I wish Alex got her revenge on her teacher, he was insufferable.

It just failed to hold my interest and I struggled through this book, determined not to dnf 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Cancer, Chronic illness, Gaslighting, Emotional abuse, Alcohol, Grief, Homophobia, Death, Lesbophobia, Abandonment, Misogyny, and Physical abuse

grubrednuf's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional 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

5.0

This book utterly destroyed me. When I saw the book dedication to Christine Blassey Ford I anticipated a hard read. The first page was intriguing and hooked me but the story was slow to 'get to the point' already, once it did I could not put it down- I had to know how it ended. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Terminal illness, and Grief

Moderate: Cancer, Misogyny, Infidelity, Homophobia, and Abandonment

Minor: War

arwinadrea's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Grief, Alcoholism, Toxic relationship, Abandonment, and Misogyny

Moderate: Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Alcoholism, Domestic abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Toxic relationship, and Cancer

Minor: Lesbophobia, Dysphoria, and Outing

Cold War, Women's Lib, Toxic Patriarchy, and Traumatic Childhood meets hopeful coming of age magical realism!