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drippingchiffon's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
Graphic: Physical abuse, Child abuse, Mental illness, and Ableism
Moderate: Death of parent, Misogyny, Racial slurs, Classism, Alcoholism, Racism, and Sexism
Minor: Abandonment, Fire/Fire injury, and Forced institutionalization
icapturethecastle's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Graphic: Fire/Fire injury, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Addiction, and Animal cruelty
Minor: Injury/Injury detail, Bullying, Death of parent, Medical content, Forced institutionalization, Infidelity, Mental illness, Death, and Medical trauma
Eugenicsitsreirei's review against another edition
5.0
Moderate: Animal cruelty and Child abuse
Minor: Forced institutionalization
rosemaryfay's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
0.5
This pervasive eugenics discussion honestly ruined the book for me. I finished it out of spite, but at 40% in, my note just says "I'm done." And it's true! Despite Webster's talent for developing proto-feminist characters in both her narrators and side characters (Betsy and Helen in this book particularly), the supposedly likeable narrator joking about the murder of a child under her care (BY ARSENIC. FROM THE DOCTOR.) because she is disabled is simply unforgivable. She...doesn't seem to grow much out of these beliefs as the book progresses, leaving me constantly worried about any child in her care who wasn't perfectly "normal," to use Sally's own horrible phrasing.
I finished it, but i would strongly suggest that you look for your nineteen-teens literature elsewhere.
Graphic: Ableism
Moderate: Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Child abuse, Racial slurs, and Racism
Minor: Forced institutionalization and Mental illness
There isn't a trigger tag for eugenics but I cannot emphasize enough the major role that eugenics plays in this book. Several pages are devoted to explaining why not allowing disabled people to have children is a good thing, and that is the milder of examples.