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stitchbooks22's review
- 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? Yes
2.0
However, can publishers and marketing teams stop pushing the term “feminist retelling” onto books that are so clearly NOT a feminist retelling? That is my biggest issue with this book. If the book had been done differently, it had the potential to be a feminist retelling. But trying to focus a bit more on the women in a story that is male dominated and being unsuccessful at focusing on the women and their own lives does NOT make a book a feminist retelling. That is my main gripe with this book.
So if you’re looking for a feminist retelling of Greek mythology, this is not it. Otherwise it was an okay book.
Graphic: Murder, Physical abuse, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Grief, Death, Toxic relationship, Suicide, War, Slavery, Infidelity, Medical content, Torture, Child death, Injury/Injury detail, Misogyny, Pregnancy, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Vomit, Animal death, Blood, Body shaming, and Violence
chloj_'s review against another edition
- 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
4.5
!!spoilers ahead!!
- ‘his idea of female beauty was a woman so fat if you slapped her backside in the morning she'd still be jiggling when you got back home for dinner.’ damn me too
- ‘she could’ve been kind to me and she wasn’t; she could’ve helped me find my feet and she didn’t.’
- ‘when i got to the door i paused with my hand on the latch and looked back, but she’d already turned away’
- the main character’s relationship with femininity is so cleverly written- both her relationship with other women, and with her own femaleness
- ‘but the dying man, his face wiped clean of pain, cradled his spilling intestines as gently as a mother nurses her newborn child.’
- ‘“it’ll be alright,” i said, knowing it wouldn’t.’
- ‘he fucked as quickly as he killed, and for me it was the same thing. something in me died that night.’
- the emotions in this book are soooo beautiful done
- ‘the bed was cold.’ this one sentence is so incredibly powerful
- ‘no girl ever dressed more carefully for her wedding than achilles for the battlefield’
- ‘as long as i lived and remembered, [my brothers] weren’t really dead.’
- the relationship between briseis and iphis is SO special- it is born entirely from shared tragedy and the kindness only women can share with each other.
- that depiction of wasteland at the end of 46/start of 47 is SUCH a beautiful depiction of the waste of female beauty (both physical and mental) at the hands of men
- ‘the world began to close in around me, and i realised that the songs belonged to my brothers and not me’
- ‘i always remember that she wept for me when i couldn’t weep for myself’
- the list format of the people Achilles killed / how they died is SO good- it really displays how the repeated trauma and war has made tragedy something clinical.
- ‘before leaving, he always bent down and kissed him in the mouth, though the lips had darkened and begun to retract.’
- ‘Why him? Why not me? He asks the questions over and over, as if one day they might have a different answer, and the burden of guilt be lifted at last.’
- achilles grief is written so beautifully
- ‘and i do what countless women before me had been forced to. i spread my legs for the man who killed my husband and brothers.’
- ‘now my own story can begin’
Graphic: Slavery, Rape, Grief, Medical trauma, Blood, Physical abuse, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Misogyny, Violence, and War
Moderate: Alcohol, Fatphobia, Body shaming, Cursing, and Pedophilia
evelynepisodes's review against another edition
Graphic: Suicide, Torture, Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Gore, Kidnapping, Misogyny, Body horror, Death, Murder, Pregnancy, Slavery, Violence, War, Blood, Rape, Sexual harassment, Body shaming, Child death, Confinement, Injury/Injury detail, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Sexism, and Vomit
kredeprnz's review against another edition
- 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? It's complicated
4.0
Graphic: Rape, Murder, War, Blood, Body horror, Death, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Alcohol, Grief, Kidnapping, Misogyny, and Slavery
Moderate: Child death, Cursing, Confinement, Suicide, and Pregnancy
Minor: Body shaming, Miscarriage, and Infertility
elizabethchoi's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Graphic: Blood, Body horror, Body shaming, Bullying, Child death, Child abuse, Cursing, Death, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Excrement, Gore, Grief, Infertility, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Murder, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual violence, Sexual assault, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Torture, Trafficking, and Violence