Reviews tagging 'Confinement'

Madam by Phoebe Wynne

13 reviews

a1exander's review

dark mysterious tense slow-paced

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

2.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Forced institutionalization, Misogyny, Fire/Fire injury, and Sexism

Moderate: Pedophilia, Bullying, Alcoholism, Homophobia, Lesbophobia, Suicide, Confinement, and Death

Minor: Abortion, Body shaming, and Death of parent

gondorgirl's review

challenging dark emotional mysterious tense 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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Misogyny, Toxic friendship, and Classism

Moderate: Fire/Fire injury, Suicide, Suicidal thoughts, Adult/minor relationship, Confinement, Sexism, and Chronic illness

Minor: Mental illness, Stalking, Gaslighting, Alcoholism, Death of parent, Forced institutionalization, Racism, and Trafficking

directorpurry's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious medium-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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Misogyny, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Sexism, Sexual content, Homophobia, Death, Child abuse, Gaslighting, and Lesbophobia

Moderate: Confinement, Abortion, and Medical content

Minor: Death of parent

aliyachaudhry's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense slow-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Forced institutionalization, Homophobia, Adult/minor relationship, Confinement, Stalking, Death, Fire/Fire injury, Child abuse, Classism, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Child death, Sexism, Bullying, Chronic illness, Cultural appropriation, Cursing, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, and Suicidal thoughts

Moderate: Body shaming and Abortion

voxelbee's review

dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Sexism, Misogyny, Suicide, Child abuse, Classism, Death, and Gaslighting

Minor: Abortion, Alcoholism, Bullying, Confinement, Homophobia, Adult/minor relationship, Racism, Medical content, and Mental illness

laurenleigh's review

dark mysterious tense slow-paced

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

4.0

The premise of this is right up my alley. It’s got a creepy old boarding school for girls, a setting on the moody cliffs of Scotland, and lots of dark academia content focused on Ancient Greek and Roman mythology. The narrator was also quite skilled, navigating through lots of European accents. The plot was pretty well executed, but the characters fell quite flat, especially our main character. Her backstory was confusing, her relationship with her mother baffling, and her motivations mysterious. I couldn’t connect with her at all. I finally felt some connection to some of the students at the very end, but not enough. I just wish this novel got a bit more workshopping, a bit more editing.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexism and Misogyny

Moderate: Suicide, Adult/minor relationship, Death, Confinement, Fire/Fire injury, and Sexual content

Minor: Abortion

caties_books's review

dark emotional mysterious medium-paced

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Racism, Sexism, Terminal illness, Body shaming, Classism, Fire/Fire injury, Forced institutionalization, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Misogyny, Rape, Sexual content, Sexual harassment, Lesbophobia, Chronic illness, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Medical content, Physical abuse, Alcoholism, Adult/minor relationship, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Death of parent, Colonisation, Confinement, Cultural appropriation, Cursing, Death, Suicide, and Xenophobia

Minor: Abortion

lynette_reads's review

dark mysterious tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

2.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Sexual content, Murder, Gaslighting, Rape, Sexual violence, Pedophilia, Emotional abuse, Adult/minor relationship, Trafficking, Suicide attempt, Death, Suicide, Sexual assault, Confinement, Child abuse, Child death, and Classism

fuzzythealmighty's review against another edition

mysterious tense medium-paced

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

2.0

Here are just a handful of the issues in this book:

1. It misrepresented itself in its synopsis. This book advertises itself as a "modern gothic" but it take place in the mid 90s which is now far from modern. It also is not as dark or atmospheric as it claims.
2. There are many many inconsistencies in the book. Most of these are inconsistencies in characterization, but there are some in the plot which makes it difficult to suspend disbelief. For example,
   The fact that the school new the details of Rose's father's death, which Rose and her mother tried to keep hidden, but not the fact that Rose's mother was an outspoken feminist.
3. The book has a very narrow conceptualization of dark academia.
4. Arguably, the worst bit of this book is it's fake feminism. This book was lauded as feminist literature, again a misrepresentation, when the feminism in it is very underdeveloped. It lacks intersectionality. The mentions of sexuality and race in this book are not explored in a meaningful way. The cast, and tone and ethos and etc., of this book was exceptionally white, cis, and straight. It didn't address these issues brought up in the book enough. Rose was raised by a prominent feminist but disliked feminism. I also felt she was exceptionally judgmental of other women. Many Greco-Roman stories were used in this text and the author did not discuss actual current feminist critiques of this text. The discussion around autonomy and choice was honestly disheartening. She basically describes women having no choices as a good thing that changed history. 
5. Finally, there were so many issues that this book could have touched on that it didn't including: colonialism, socioeconomic status, autonomy, cultural transfer, education, and the meaning of indoctrination. I know that this book technically discussed class, but it was done in such a way that it didn't explicitly critique how wealth is hoarded and maintained by taking from other people.

Anyways, don't read this. There are better dark academia books out there.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault, Suicide, Sexual violence, Sexism, Rape, Racism, Pedophilia, Misogyny, Homophobia, Confinement, Child abuse, and Adult/minor relationship

Moderate: Abortion, Mental illness, Gaslighting, and Chronic illness

hilarylouise's review against another edition

dark mysterious medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Misogyny and Sexism

Minor: Abortion, Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Body shaming, Bullying, Confinement, Death, Fatphobia, Forced institutionalization, Misogyny, Sexism, and Suicide

Fire