Reviews tagging 'Fire/Fire injury'

Madam by Phoebe Wynne

19 reviews

ajay913's review

challenging dark 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? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Sexism, Child abuse, Stalking, Misogyny, Toxic relationship, Racism, Suicide, Child death, Pedophilia, Suicidal thoughts, and Sexual content

Moderate: Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Adult/minor relationship, Lesbophobia, Mental illness, Fire/Fire injury, and Forced institutionalization

Minor: Abortion, Vomit, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Trafficking, Death of parent, and Chronic illness

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

megelizabeth's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix

4.0

This book does subtle, slow-building creepiness really, really well. It's unsettling right from the start, but it takes a while for things to fall into place, and I didn't see the ending coming at all and felt like I'd been hit by a truck. There's a lot of really great commentary and I definitely think this book does a good job of highlighting the insidiousness of misogyny and specifically male power within elite institutions. I did feel at times that the points being made or the main character's reactions to things happening didn't quite go far enough, and the 'truth' behind the school didn't go in the direction I expected it to and that sort of spun me out a bit, but as I said, the ending hit me like a truck and I did feel as if overall this book was really well-done.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Fire/Fire injury, Misogyny, Death, Suicide, Child death, Rape, and Child abuse

Moderate: Homophobia and Racism

Minor: Incest and Abortion

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

dollhousebooks's review against another edition

dark mysterious reflective tense slow-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Child death, Suicide, Forced institutionalization, Death, Misogyny, Pedophilia, and Sexism

Moderate: Trafficking

Minor: Fire/Fire injury and Bullying

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

abbiemreads's review against another edition

challenging dark 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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Adult/minor relationship, Emotional abuse, Forced institutionalization, Sexism, Homophobia, Misogyny, and Racism

Moderate: Death of parent, Death, Bullying, Alcoholism, Sexual content, Fire/Fire injury, Suicide, and Gaslighting

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

fortunavhs's review

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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Content Warnings

Graphic: Misogyny, Sexual violence, and Suicide

Moderate: Homophobia and Fire/Fire injury

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