Reviews tagging 'Terminal illness'

Madam by Phoebe Wynne

6 reviews

esmartd's review against another edition

dark mysterious 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

2.5

This book was frustrating. The setting was very interesting, but not ever fully fleshed out, which was also true for most of the characters. There was a lot of potential but ultimately didn’t get anywhere interesting in my opinion. I don’t feel like it said anything significant about feminism which is what I think it was going for. 

Rose was such a pushover in so many ways, and I didn’t really understand her behavior most of the time. I was especially upset when it was suggested that the girl who had died the previous year had died during an abortion and Rose didn’t push back on that at all. Dying during an abortion is not a normal or common thing and the fact that she took that art face value was very troubling to me. Even in the 90s, the daughter of an activist feminist would have known better I think. When she spoke out vs when she didn’t was really confusing. I could tell she was starting to go crazy but it was just hard to understand her.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexism, Pedophilia, and Terminal illness

Moderate: Rape and Suicide

hmurff's review

dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

2.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexism, Sexual content, Suicide, Terminal illness, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Gaslighting, Grief, Death of parent, Fatphobia, Forced institutionalization, Abortion, Adult/minor relationship, Death, Lesbophobia, Mental illness, and Pedophilia

Minor: Homophobia, Incest, Rape, Suicide, Pregnancy, and Racism

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

patricia0227's review

dark emotional 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? No

4.0

Mysteries drive me crazy, I'm just so desperate to know what's going on. Madam definitely keeps you on your toes. The atmosphere is tense and dark and upsetting. You can feel how trapped the main character is becoming. I like the time period setting of the 1990s, made for an interesting change since it's not contemporary and not super historical. Great criticisms of class, marriage, and British society within the text. The ending was not my favorite, but a wonderful brooding mysterious novel for those craving a little darkness with their boarding school books. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Fire/Fire injury

Moderate: Terminal illness, Death, and Child abuse

Minor: Abortion and Suicide

adelaidebijou's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense slow-paced

• Loveable characters? No

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying and Body shaming

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Addiction, Body shaming, Confinement, Death of parent, Forced institutionalization, Kidnapping, Racism, Rape, Sexism, Suicide, Terminal illness, and Toxic relationship

Minor: Abortion

jamieleepilk's review against another edition

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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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abortion, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Forced institutionalization, Homophobia, Mental illness, Misogyny, Racism, Sexism, Suicide, Terminal illness, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Rape, Sexism, Sexual content, and Sexual violence