Reviews tagging 'Suicide'

Circe by Madeline Miller

23 reviews

etalton's review

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Rape

Minor: Suicide

katie_hg's review against another edition

adventurous slow-paced

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

2.75

I feel like throughout the book it was too heavy on description like the author wanted to force the reader to envision her world the way she saw it and not let the reader see it how they please.Also the pace of the book was uncomfortably slow.With this said I do appreciate the beautiful writing throughout the book and will be quoting it continuously.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape and Suicide

eni_iilorak's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional informative mysterious reflective slow-paced

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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Infidelity, Body shaming, and Sexual content

Moderate: Suicide, Confinement, Death, Grief, Misogyny, Medical content, and Pregnancy

Minor: Violence and War

cemeterygay's review

4.0

I thought it was a really interesting retelling of Circe throughout her life. I really enjoyed the emotional progress in the book and how it was paced. I also really enjoyed Madeline Miller's prose and I think it greatly helped the emotional journey of the book. While I do feel like most of the cast outside of Circe was flat, I do think it really helped solidify Circe's isolation and how much our perspective is impacted by hers. I also really liked what Madeline Miller did with Circe's character and how she handled the myths surrounding her. 

I also just adored both the set-up and ending of the book. I think I will probably be revisiting this sometime in the future

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Bullying, Rape, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Infidelity, Suicide, Suicidal thoughts, Self harm, Alcohol, Pregnancy, Blood, Grief, Death, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Child death, Animal death, Murder, and Torture

Minor: Incest

CW: rape by coercion discussions, verbal abuse, forced marriage, nightmares, graphic childbirth (c-section), non-consensual drugging, corpses, death of a sibling, death of a child, death of a father, death of a husband, death of a friend, death from a fall and death by drowning, bestiality mention

lipstickitotheman's review against another edition

adventurous emotional sad medium-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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Medical content, Animal death, Alcohol, Body shaming, Bullying, Child death, Pregnancy, Violence, Ableism, Body horror, Child abuse, Confinement, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Animal cruelty, Blood, Rape, Sexism, Adult/minor relationship, Gore, Grief, Infidelity, Injury/Injury detail, Misogyny, Murder, and Death

Minor: Incest, Pedophilia, Self harm, Cannibalism, Antisemitism, Sexual content, Suicide, War, and Death of parent

g_ace's review against another edition

challenging dark informative reflective sad slow-paced

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

2.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide

folded_between_pages_of_books's review

medium-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Pregnancy, Sexual violence, Torture, War, Animal death, Blood, Gore, Body horror, Death, Death of parent, Physical abuse, Violence, Abandonment, Bullying, Child abuse, Infidelity, Murder, Emotional abuse, and Rape

Moderate: Self harm, Sexual content, Alcohol, Confinement, Incest, Suicidal thoughts, and Suicide

Minor: Grief

molly_rose's review against another edition

adventurous dark reflective medium-paced

• 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? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Death, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Genocide, Grief, Infidelity, Misogyny, Murder, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, Rape, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Slavery, and Suicide

Minor: Animal death, Bullying, Injury/Injury detail, and War

skudiklier's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional inspiring reflective tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

This book was amazing. It was a bit slow to start, but I had heard such good things and loved SOA so much--and wow am I glad I kept going. This book made me feel every possible emotion. Everything I knew about Circe came from reading the Percy Jackson series as a kid, so I knew nothing of what to expect with the plot. It was just incredible. Miller is a fantastic writer, and I copied so many beautiful quotes and passages into my notes. I love the whole concept of this book, of telling the story of Circe's life, of making the epic about her and the stories that never get told. I'd recommend this book to anyone I could convince to read it. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Sexual assault, Violence, Murder, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Misogyny, Pregnancy, and Grief

Moderate: Abandonment, Self harm, Fire/Fire injury, Slavery, Physical abuse, Animal death, Torture, Suicide, and Child death

Minor: Sexual content and Suicidal thoughts

tiemzahra's review

adventurous dark emotional informative inspiring tense medium-paced

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

4.5

Circe was born to the god of the sun, Helios and an ocean nymph, Perse. But Circe was not as powerful as her father, not alluring like her mother. Having mortals as companionship, Circe discovered that she did possess power - witchcraft and transformation. She was banished to a deserted island by Zeus where she honed her power, and crossed paths with famous figures in mythology. 

 

If you have read about Circe and Greek mythology, this book will give you a feminist retelling of her - how she defended herself as a woman who stood by herself. You don’t need to have prior knowledge to Greek mythology to read this book, because you will learn about her as her story in Miller’s was paralleled to what she was originally told in Homer’s poems, except she’s more empathetic and not without flaws. Miller painted quite an amazing alternative picture of Greek gods and goddesses, and made Circe more humane than her original character. Her characterisations from an innocent child to revengeful witch to loving mother were transformative and justified. This book was also easy to read. You will root for her, and wishing she would have her happy ending. The last sentence was a bit confusing for me, and I made a little Google search, that I know what she intended to do in the end. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment

Moderate: Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Rape, Pregnancy, and Emotional abuse

Minor: War, Suicide, Sexism, and Confinement