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sarah_speaks's review
emotional
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? It's complicated
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Misogyny, Violence, Grief, Torture, Child death, Death, Miscarriage, and Sexism
Moderate: Animal death, Pregnancy, and Rape
Minor: Death of parent and Slavery
kelly_e's review against another edition
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? No
3.0
Title: The Book of Longings
Author: Sue Monk Kidd
Genre: Historical Fiction
Rating: 3.0
Pub Date: March 23 2021
T H R E E • W O R D S
Tender • Imaginative • Historic
📖 S Y N O P S I S
Set in the first century, Ana is a gifted young woman secretly writing stories in a male dominated society. She comes from a wealthy family, and is expected to marry a rich, older widower, but an encounter with 18-year-old Jesus will change everything.
The Book of Longings is the story of their marriage and one women's determination to realize her passion and potential.
💭 T H O U G H T S
I was super excited to read The Book of Longings because I had loved Sue Monk Kidd's previous works. When I originally bought this book, I hadn't read the premise, and when I finally did I was hesitant to jump in. On the urging from several book friends to give it a chance, I did just that and here are my thoughts.
It is flawlessly and beautifully written with each sentence flowing into the next.
It is well researched and presented. The author even mentions where she erred on dates in the name of creative freedom to help with flow.
It is imaginative, the plot is definitely unlike any historical fiction I've read before.
It is an ode to fierce females with Ana being one of the most courageous characters in recent memory, especially in a male dominated society.
But...
It was just not for me. I couldn't remove the religious aspect from my experience, and all the biblical detail and reference were hard for me to focus on.
Don't let that deter you. This is hands down one of those cases where it was me and definitely not the book.
📚 R E C O M M E N D • T O
• bookclubs
• readers who love a fierce female lead
🔖 F A V O U R I T E • Q U O T E S
"When you're in love, you remember everything."
Author: Sue Monk Kidd
Genre: Historical Fiction
Rating: 3.0
Pub Date: March 23 2021
T H R E E • W O R D S
Tender • Imaginative • Historic
📖 S Y N O P S I S
Set in the first century, Ana is a gifted young woman secretly writing stories in a male dominated society. She comes from a wealthy family, and is expected to marry a rich, older widower, but an encounter with 18-year-old Jesus will change everything.
The Book of Longings is the story of their marriage and one women's determination to realize her passion and potential.
💭 T H O U G H T S
I was super excited to read The Book of Longings because I had loved Sue Monk Kidd's previous works. When I originally bought this book, I hadn't read the premise, and when I finally did I was hesitant to jump in. On the urging from several book friends to give it a chance, I did just that and here are my thoughts.
It is flawlessly and beautifully written with each sentence flowing into the next.
It is well researched and presented. The author even mentions where she erred on dates in the name of creative freedom to help with flow.
It is imaginative, the plot is definitely unlike any historical fiction I've read before.
It is an ode to fierce females with Ana being one of the most courageous characters in recent memory, especially in a male dominated society.
But...
It was just not for me. I couldn't remove the religious aspect from my experience, and all the biblical detail and reference were hard for me to focus on.
Don't let that deter you. This is hands down one of those cases where it was me and definitely not the book.
📚 R E C O M M E N D • T O
• bookclubs
• readers who love a fierce female lead
🔖 F A V O U R I T E • Q U O T E S
"When you're in love, you remember everything."
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death, Death, Miscarriage, and Sexism
Moderate: Violence, Grief, Misogyny, Rape, and Sexual assault
Minor: Suicide, Blood, and Domestic abuse
death of partnerkcarney86's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
emotional
inspiring
reflective
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? Yes
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Miscarriage, Grief, Misogyny, and Torture
Moderate: Antisemitism and Blood
Minor: Rape, Murder, Abandonment, Suicide, Slavery, Religious bigotry, and Death of parent
keeganrb's review
emotional
inspiring
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? Yes
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Miscarriage, Sexism, and Death
Moderate: Misogyny and Rape
Minor: Domestic abuse and Suicide
vivelarevolution's review
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
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? It's complicated
I read this book as a teenager and loved it. I was a bit nervous to re-read it because my tastes have changed quite a bit, as has my religion-I'm converting to Judaism. I definitely did find a lot of odd and even anti-semitic inaccuracies scattered throughout the first 139 pages of this book, but none of them were bad enough to make me stop. What made me stop was so egregious I have absolutely no idea how I missed it on the first read.
This author has, for whatever mysterious unhinged reason, decided to depict Jesus as a fucking pedophile. Ana, the protagonist, is 15 when they marry. Since Jesus's age was left ambiguous, I read on for a bit, assuming that he might have been a bit older than her but surely not more than a couple of years. I was wrong. It's not long before Jesus's age is confirmed - he's at least 21.
I don't particularly care that the legal age of marriage in Rome was 12. We all know that shit is sick. Why someone would want to imply that marriage between a 15 year old and a 21 year old is not only acceptable but so freaking acceptable that they'll write about the founder of their religion doing it is incomprehensible to me.
Also, there is explicit sexual harassment and abuse of Ana by Herod in the preceding chapters. I thought their inclusion was strange despite the time period and general theme of rape culture in the book and I should've listened to that instinct. No way could this author have written a sincere and meaningful condemnation of rape culture while explicitly condoning and celebrating child marriage & rape.
This author has, for whatever mysterious unhinged reason, decided to depict Jesus as a fucking pedophile. Ana, the protagonist, is 15 when they marry. Since Jesus's age was left ambiguous, I read on for a bit, assuming that he might have been a bit older than her but surely not more than a couple of years. I was wrong. It's not long before Jesus's age is confirmed - he's at least 21.
I don't particularly care that the legal age of marriage in Rome was 12. We all know that shit is sick. Why someone would want to imply that marriage between a 15 year old and a 21 year old is not only acceptable but so freaking acceptable that they'll write about the founder of their religion doing it is incomprehensible to me.
Also, there is explicit sexual harassment and abuse of Ana by Herod in the preceding chapters. I thought their inclusion was strange despite the time period and general theme of rape culture in the book and I should've listened to that instinct. No way could this author have written a sincere and meaningful condemnation of rape culture while explicitly condoning and celebrating child marriage & rape.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Pedophilia, Emotional abuse, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Sexual assault, Misogyny, Adult/minor relationship, Sexism, and Child abuse
Moderate: Antisemitism
raeshala's review against another edition
challenging
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.0
Started off great but failed to keep my interest.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Misogyny
Moderate: Miscarriage, Rape, and Violence
jen_sometimes's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
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
Content Warnings
Graphic: Miscarriage and Child death
Moderate: Torture, Sexual assault, and Misogyny
Minor: Rape, Suicide, and Slavery
shostakofish's review against another edition
dark
emotional
inspiring
reflective
sad
slow-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
4.5
Content Warnings
Moderate: Death, Rape, Slavery, Sexual violence, Sexual assault, Sexism, Religious bigotry, Pregnancy, Murder, and Misogyny
storiesandsidequests's review against another edition
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
I listened to the audiobook and it was a great read - highly engaging and thoughtful. The story follows Anna, the fictional wife of Jesus, and highlights the challenges and triumphs of being a woman in biblical times, particularly one who has a desire for knowledge and a life of her own. I loved Anna’s character and found myself relating to her even though her experiences were so different from my own. I also enjoyed the depiction of Jesus and the way Anna’s story was woven into historical facts of his life.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Miscarriage and Misogyny
anastasia_reads's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
informative
inspiring
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? It's complicated
5.0
"A book to be enjoyed like a cold lemonade during a hot summer afternoon"
I loved getting into Ana's world everytime I opened this book. The historical context is so well researched that I feel I've learnt a lot while reading. The plot itself is amazingly well executed, with a flawless logic. I didn't find myself asking "why" for lack of context from the author's part. It really was like reading someone's memoir or autobiography. There were only a very few moments were the story got slow but picked up almost immediately so as to not vet boring. Long book (over 300 pages is long to me ^^) but so worthwhile! Would recommend if you enjoy female lead characters, coming of age novels a dive into history and/or rewritings of ancient texts!
I loved getting into Ana's world everytime I opened this book. The historical context is so well researched that I feel I've learnt a lot while reading. The plot itself is amazingly well executed, with a flawless logic. I didn't find myself asking "why" for lack of context from the author's part. It really was like reading someone's memoir or autobiography. There were only a very few moments were the story got slow but picked up almost immediately so as to not vet boring. Long book (over 300 pages is long to me ^^) but so worthwhile! Would recommend if you enjoy female lead characters, coming of age novels a dive into history and/or rewritings of ancient texts!
Content Warnings
Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Antisemitism, Child death, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Grief, Misogyny, Murder, Rape, Sexism, and Sexual assault