Reviews tagging 'Sexual violence'

Madam by Phoebe Wynne

8 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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lynette_reads's review

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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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mintrogue's review against another edition

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dark emotional mysterious slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75


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annaclaire18's review

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mysterious reflective tense medium-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

2.0

The premise of this book was quite interesting, and parts of it were even fun to read. Overall, though, it was incredibly predictable and a bit grotesque. The love interest that was set up for the main character was also incredibly weak and underdeveloped. I would say, overall, if you are looking for something easy to read that you don't have to think about, go for it. If you want something well-written with well-developed characters and a true mystery, this is not the book for you.

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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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sarabook's review against another edition

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I don't want to read about gratuitous child sexual abuse and paedophillia
Also the main character is horrendous. 

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jamieleepilk's review against another edition

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challenging dark hopeful mysterious sad tense fast-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? Yes

4.5

Thank-you so much to Quercus for the proof UK release 13/5/21.

Welcome to Caldonbrae Hall, an isolated school for girls where the girls "value" is placed higher than all else. This book wasn't what I was expecting. To be honest I was steering clear from reading to much about it because it felt like a book with lots of mystery. I was surprised by the time of the book set in the 1990s, for some reason I was expecting it to be a lot earlier and with the creepiness of the novel it feels like an old victorian gothic!

Everything is told from the point of view Rose, the newly recruited classics teacher who is at least half the age of the other teachers in the school. Rose is the first new teacher in quite some time. For most of the first half of the novel she is kept in the dark and as the reader you are kept from information about how the school is run and what happened Jane the old classics tutor. I personally loved Rose as an antagonist, she felt very real and reacted how some-one in her situation should react. Her relationships with the girls are varied and I loved the lighter sides of the novel with Rose teaching Nessa, Freddie and Daisy and her relationship towards those three girls.

The addition of the Greek classic plays was brilliant and was done in a way that even if you're aren't aware of these plays before hand you won't miss out. The Heroines stories being interweaved with the lives of Rose and the girls was a great element.

Parts of this book hard to read, especially towards the end. And some parts of this book did want me to scream and chuck the book across the room similar feelings I had with reading books like The Handmaid's Tale and Vox.

Overall I really enjoyed it and I did find it hard to put it down, the writing is extremely smooth so you do read pretty quickly. Some sections and interactions started to feel a bit repetitive after the half way point, if not for that it would have easily been five stars.

📖 If you liked/For Fans of 📖
Plain Bad Heroines by Emily Danforth
Circe by Madeline Miller
The Power by Naomi Alderman

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