Reviews tagging 'Homophobia'

Madam by Phoebe Wynne

22 reviews

fortunavhs's review

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dark mysterious sad 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? No
This book in theory had all the components to make me love it - I got on very well with the writing style and adored the setting. I mostly enjoyed the slow pace, but the time between the reveal of the twist and the climax of the story felt too drawn out, and then the ending itself very rushed.

This book ends with an exceptionally bleak ending. It's not for you if you're looking for a story about overcoming misogynistic institutions.
I was especially unsettled by the ending, not that being unsettled is a bad thing! But by killing off so many characters simultabeously  the impact just didn't really sink in, and I'm genuinely quite distressed that most of the girls Rose tried to save died. I don't mind sad endings but I was genuienly disturbed by the fact that a character who had been groomed and sexually abused by her teacher died with him. Also, I'm getting frustrated that the inclusion of LGBT characters in so many books these days is for them to be a supporting character who suffers and gets a miserable ending/death that's contrasted with the heterosexual lead surviving or getting a happily ever after.


I didn't mind the 90s setting at all, though I see some reveiwers did - I think the explicit assocations to the breakdown of Charles' and Diana's marrage was really interesting. The interludes of prominent women in Greek/Roman culture were a fantastic touch!
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hmurff's review

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dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

2.5

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acoffeeandagoodbook's review against another edition

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dark mysterious tense medium-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? It's complicated

4.0

 Read for the Popsugar Reading Challenge prompt "a book with a palindromic title."

I love a good gothic story and dark academia, so Madam was right up my street. None of the 'twists' were especially surprising, but the atmosphere created by the book was oppressive and strange (perfect for this genre).

I found the main character, Rose, a little frustrating at times, but her relationship with her students was sweet, and I enjoyed the parts of the book set in her classroom to be my favourites. The girls she teaches are vibrant and fierce, and I was behind them every step of their way through their journey through this strange school.

None of the reveals were a surprise to me, but this didn't lessen my enjoyment. If anything, I found the opposite. Working out what was going on through the slowly revealed clues gave me a sick feeling of dread, so the payoff of having guessed right was very effective!

The only thing that didn't really work for me was the 90s setting. It felt like it had been set earlier, and then some 90s references to movies and Princess Diana were shoved in for no real reason. 
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caties_books's review

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dark emotional mysterious medium-paced

4.5

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sophie_w's review against another edition

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challenging dark mysterious tense medium-paced

4.0

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fuzzythealmighty's review against another edition

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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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frecca95's review

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dark emotional mysterious reflective sad slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.75

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melnealgarcia's review

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dark emotional mysterious tense slow-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

3.0

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anovelbeauty's review against another edition

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

3.25

Book TW:
suicide, misogyny, adult/minor relationship, blackmail, bullying, child death, teacher/student relationship, abortion

I have fairly mixed feelings on this dark academia novel. On the one hand, the format of the book with its classics lessons interspersed into the story that inform the plot of that section is really wonderful. On the other hand, there were some things that were clunky or just… a bit too much, even for the dark academia corrupt officials and conspiracy plot. 
First, the good. As I already mentioned, I loved the format and the classics. Rose was a pretty good main character and I think she was a good medium to impart the full horror of the truth of Caldonbray as the plot unfolds. I liked her almost the entire boom and her passion for Classics was lovely.  Although I was frustrated with how Rose reacted to some of the people in the story who clearly suffered from trauma and learned helplessness and she just expected them to… not and immediately fight injustice and wrongdoing the same way that she did even. Like she would state “this person is a victim of an oppressive system” but then still low-key victim blame them for their perfectly realistic limitations, lack of hope, and ingrained fear of their oppressors. The book does a /very/ good job of building suspense and anxiety because you start to feel as trapped and horrified with the full situation as Rose does. The atmosphere of the book was definitely on point. 
Next, the meh. I really wish some of the side characters like Daisy, Nessa, and Freddie had more fleshed out to them. There was the potential for me to really love them, but I felt like we just didn’t get to know them well enough. I felt similarly about the two main adult side characters: Francis and Antony. Rose was the only character I felt truly invested in. Everyone else, except for those I was supposed to hate/loathe, I was very “eh” about. 
Finally, the not great. There was a couple factual errors that I noticed during the story section with Boudicca? Which was weird (bc the author taught classics) and I listened to it twice to make sure I heard right. But the only reason I caught it was because i spent literally a whole year and a half studying pretty much everything to do with the historical account of her. The lesson stated that the Romans managed to outnumber Boudicca’s rebel forces and defeat her during the battle of Watling Street. The /only/ historical accounts we have of the event (Tacitus’ “Agricola” and Cassius Dio’s “Roman History”, of the two, Tacitus is the more trustworthy because he is telling the life story of his father-in-law, Agricola, who was literally there) state that the Britons /far/ outnumbered the Romans and the only reason that they weren’t slaughtered and driven out of the land was that Paulinus managed to find a place that forced Boudicca’s force to be funnelled in to face the Romans. Paulinus won through strategy alone. Saying that the Romans outnumbered them is just…. a very weird thing to get wrong. 
It also mentioned that Boudicca killed her daughters and then herself after the battle. There is actually no true historical knowledge of what happened to the daughters after the battle. Tacitus doesn’t mention them at all after saying that they rode with their mother into battle and Dio literally never mentions them at all. The two historians also disagree on Boudicca’s death in general, Dio says she fell sick and died after the battle while Tacitus states that she poisoned herself. 
I realize this is a very nitpicky thing to harp on, but it just bothered me so much because the lessons, particularly with the historical women, were just presented as fact and so finding errors in one piece I know well makes me wonder about the stories I /don’t/ know as well. And again, since the author taught classics in the past, it seemed like a really, /really/ weird thing to get incorrect (or I guess technically she could have taken creative liberties with it… but I would have issues with taking creative liberties with history that you still present as full fact). This obviously only applies to the historical women, the mythological ones have more leeway as myths are often shifted and told with different details over time and by different authors. 
I should also say that the resolutions with Francis and Antony, as well as the overall ending didn’t quite feel earned enough. I wanted slightly more expansion in the summer term section of the book to justify the way the plot threads were tied up. Without that, there didn’t feel like enough of a payoff for the level of tension and dread that had built up to that point. 
Lastly, there were a couple nitpicky things I didn’t like the execution of in the plot that are semi-spoilers, so I’ll leave it just by saying the nitpicks existed! 
I still don’t really think this is at all a bad book, but it didn’t live up to my expectations or how much I wanted to enjoy it. It definitely handles a lot of problematic things and tries to unpack the misogyny blatant in both classical history, not-so-distant history, and the modern day. There’s some definite potential for triggering content, so please be wary of that if you’re at all sensitive. Fortunately, all of the problematic/triggering content is actually viewed as problematic, so it’s a bit easier to stomach reading about in the thriller context of the story. 
Basically, I don’t know if I would actively recommend the story, but if my qualms don’t bother you, go for it and see what you think. You may especially like it if you’re an atmospheric driven reader. 
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caidyn's review

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dark mysterious tense 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

4.5

This book gives Catherine House vibes. It's dark academia done very well. I kinda figured it out early about where the story was going, but I still enjoyed the hell out of it. The story was woven so well. This is definitely an author I'm going to be watching out for in the future!
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