Reviews tagging 'Abandonment'

The Book of Longings by Sue Monk Kidd

6 reviews

eyedoc's review

adventurous challenging emotional inspiring 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, and Violence

kcarney86'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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Miscarriage, Grief, Misogyny, and Torture

Moderate: Antisemitism and Blood

Minor: Rape, Murder, Abandonment, Suicide, Slavery, Religious bigotry, and Death of parent

bandysbooks's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful reflective sad tense 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

4.0

This is basically the telling of Jesus’ life through the eyes of his wife. She explains her absence from the biblical stories and he’s written in a way that he’s just a normal man, not a deity. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Slavery, Animal death, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Miscarriage, Abandonment, Blood, Classism, Death, and Violence

bseigel's review

hopeful reflective sad 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? No

4.75

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Rape, Sexual assault, Violence, and Sexism

Minor: Abandonment and Physical abuse

gem114's review

informative reflective 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? Yes

5.0

The Book of Longings is one of the most memorable books I've read this year. I know this one will stay with me for a long time, and I can definitely see myself rereading it. Having grown up Catholic, I would say I've spent a lot of time thinking about Jesus, and very little of that thought was about what he was like prior to beginning his ministry. Similarly, I've thought a lot about Mary, but very little about what her life and the lives of other women were like at the time. The Book of Longings is a beautiful exploration of both, with a focus on the latter. It is speculative historical fiction about a hypothetical wife of Jesus and her own longing for a voice. Like the Jesus I was taught about growing up, Ana challenges the status quo. She is progressive for her time, an educated woman willing to rebel against the path set by her parents in order to pursue her own vision for her future. Her story is a powerful one, both tragic and inspiring. I truly enjoyed considering Ana, who, if she were real, would be (in Sue Monk Kidd's words) the most silenced woman in history. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Pregnancy, Child death, Violence, and Murder

Moderate: Abandonment

morganwiard's review

SO BORING. I tried SO HARD to get into it cause it had so many good reviews. Plus it was kind of retelling the Jesus story in a way that christians would think is blasphemous, but it was absolutely terrible. So boring and overall uninteresting. I need a quicker plot.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Sexism, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Abandonment, Adult/minor relationship, Confinement, and Sexual content

Minor: Slavery