Reviews with content warning for Homophobia - Kiedy kobiety były smokami

I truly don't really know how to feel about this book.

The premise itself is interesting- women spontaneously turning into dragons, sometimes ridding themselves of the awful men in their lives in the process, and then flying away to seek greener pastures- but I felt that the concept of "dragoning" was a bit under-utilized. How can you have an entire book built around this concept and really only make vague mentions to it throughout the narrative? And why is it never truly explained why everybody just agrees to cover it up and go along with their lives when, uh, oh yeah, there's a bunch of women spontaneously turning into dragons, which you would think would be pretty darn noticeable? Why did the author choose to make the dragons out to be mindless beasts at first before doing a complete 180 and saying that they have human intelligence, actually, and can even sometimes wear silly hats and such? There just seemed like far too many holes poked in the narrative for it to be worthwhile to me, way too many dangling loose ends left over at the end.

The narrator also came across as a bit insufferable, in my eyes. I did empathize with her struggles to some degree, but after a certain point it really seemed like she was just choosing to be angry at the world for no real reason, like the author decided "hmm okay what this girl really needs is a healthy dose of teenage angst" and decided to cram it into the narrative at the last second. Okay, yes, I get it, on some level your teenage years are a lot of just being angry at the world in general, but at some point you have to let up on it.

That being said, I did love the themes of feminism and independence and struggling with suddenly being thrust into adulthood far too early throughout, even if it seemed rather clumsily executed even at the best of times. I second the opinion that this really would have been better off as a collection of short stories or something, instead of the author trying to stretch the narrative out to a novel format in a way that just made it seem rather hollow as a result.

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savshanae's review against another edition

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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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scarlett_f's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious sad slow-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

3.5

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vatakarnic33's review against another edition

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challenging emotional slow-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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imskylow's review against another edition

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I’m sure this book is powerful and that I could love it but at this stage of my life, I just can’t bring myself to complete it. It’s been such a struggle to get through.

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bmpicc's review against another edition

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hopeful reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

Good but... This story is a lot of things I enjoy. Coming of age, 1950's, feminist ideals, queer positive, marriage, family, quest for knowledge, and the librarians are obviously the best. What bothered me is the ideas & connections were almost too obvious. I enjoy having to think a little. I like peeling back the onion and unveiling things. I didn't have to do that at all with this one.

I sort of wish the POV was the dragons and not those left behind... I'm not mad I read it, but it is not what I was hoping for.

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ehoustonmyatt's review against another edition

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emotional inspiring mysterious 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

3.25

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