Reviews tagging 'Colonisation'

The Personal Librarian by Marie Benedict, Victoria Christopher Murray

5 reviews

dev921's review against another edition

dark informative inspiring reflective sad medium-paced

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

3.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Body shaming, Death of parent, Toxic relationship, Colonisation, War, Classism, Slavery, Racism, Sexual content, Abortion, Forced institutionalization, Alcohol, Grief, Hate crime, and Medical content

leannanecdote's review against another edition

informative reflective slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Abortion, Sexual content, Racism, Antisemitism, Xenophobia, Abandonment, Classism, Alcohol, Cultural appropriation, Grief, Homophobia, Lesbophobia, Infidelity, Death of parent, and Colonisation

Moderate: Hate crime, War, Slavery, and Sexism

bookcasey's review against another edition

adventurous emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.5

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism

Moderate: Abandonment, Abortion, Colonisation, Antisemitism, Grief, and Lesbophobia

Minor: Alcohol, Pregnancy, Bullying, Classism, Slavery, War, Xenophobia, Death of parent, and Outing

remie's review against another edition

emotional informative inspiring tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: Alcohol, Medical trauma, Racism, Sexism, and Abortion

Minor: Antisemitism, Abandonment, Colonisation, Death of parent, Death, Emotional abuse, Grief, Hate crime, Homophobia, Infidelity, Outing, Racial slurs, Racism, Slavery, and War

erica_palmisano's review against another edition

emotional informative reflective slow-paced

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

3.5

I'm not sure why I didn't connect with this book emotionally. The story certainly has lots of drama and tension baked in and seems quite well researched. I also appreciated the authors' notes about the inspiration and process of writing. I think perhaps the style of the book itself was just a mismatch for me. Too much dialogue (much of it flowery, as befits the period but still). There was a lot of overt exposition that I wish had been more deftly handled. I'd have preferred the narrative to flow over months and years without drawing so much attention to exact dates. And so often, I wondered: why draw an explicit conclusion when one could leave some mystery and room for doubt in characters' motivations? The narrative made all the subtext into text and thus had a didactic vibe. When comparing it to another book about a white-passing woman in "The Vanishing Half," which I read just a few months ago, I wished it had more the nuance of the latter. However, I'm not a big aficionado of historical fiction so perhaps that's me bringing my literary fiction expectations to a genre that has its own conventions. 

---

Content Warnings

Minor: Abortion, Antisemitism, Colonisation, Grief, Infidelity, Outing, Racism, Sexism, Slavery, and Toxic relationship