Reviews tagging 'Medical trauma'

Circe by Madeline Miller

46 reviews

moond4ncer's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional slow-paced

• 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

Graphic: Rape, Animal death, Classism, Grief, Pregnancy, Violence, War, Blood, Gaslighting, Medical content, Medical trauma, Sexual assault, Abandonment, Alcohol, Animal cruelty, and Forced institutionalization

slefebvre95's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional slow-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: War, Sexual violence, Body horror, Infidelity, Abandonment, Sexual assault, Emotional abuse, Death, Death of parent, Bullying, Rape, Pregnancy, Murder, Gore, Torture, Xenophobia, Medical trauma, Confinement, and Blood

Moderate: Sexual content

Minor: Alcohol

clovetra's review against another edition

adventurous challenging inspiring mysterious reflective tense 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? It's complicated

4.0

oh that was delectable.

ok so i will admit. i am a baby greek mythology consumer. before this i knew barely anything - i knew of the minotaur, and “read” the odyssey last year (no i didn’t i got 30 pages in and closed it and then pretended i read it for my year 12 literature class…. i ate that essay up)

anyways i can solemnly say this book has actually turned me into a greek mythology lover. wow did i love the way miller wrote.

her writing seems to have this lyrical quality of it that seems like she herself is immortal, like circe. honestly i could read her work for days.

also the way she made some stories beginner friendly? chefs kiss.

i was so enthralled in circe’s life, i couldn’t stop thinking about her. granted my insanity for the twilight series was unmatched, but i have banned myself from twilight for a while. and in the meantime circe has taken its place in my noggin.

god i cant gush about this book enough

now the question is…. why is it only a four star?

i found this so ooo ooo o fucking hard to read for like the first 150 pages. not because it’s boring! oh no! because it reads like i’m trying to read an untranslated bible. granted it works for the book! if it was written any other way i would be a little bitch about it! but the reason i dnf’d the odyssey wasn’t because i was bored, but because the writing style was like trying to read 30 layers of subtext in one sentence. this book had less of that, but i would spent ages reading a page. i’d say i’m a quick reader, but genuinely i would spend 5 minutes on each page. like just having to wrap my head around some of the phrasing being used made my noggin want to explode. i think over time i will get used to it if i keep reading books in this same style (is style the right word idk), but for this being my first book of its kind it was a doozy!

anyways shout out to medea what a bad bitch.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Pregnancy, Rape, Murder, Sexual assault, and Alcohol

Moderate: Incest, Toxic relationship, Physical abuse, Blood, War, Infidelity, Child death, Misogyny, and Medical trauma

micalyia's review

challenging emotional sad medium-paced

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

5.0

I love Greek mythology. Idk if I’m vocal enough about that. 

I’d been meaning to read this for over a year and I’m glad I finally got around to it. It’s such a beautiful and harrowing tale that follows Circe’s life but weaves in the stories of so many other gods and goddesses. I was deeply engrossed even if I was sad.

I will say it was long asffff. And when I hit the 80% mark I was tired, but I’m glad I kept going because I loved the ending. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual violence, Pregnancy, Medical trauma, War, Sexism, Rape, and Violence

strange_and_unusual's review

challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Body horror, and Sexual assault

Moderate: Violence, Medical trauma, Toxic relationship, and Abandonment

passivewax's review

adventurous dark emotional hopeful reflective sad tense medium-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? Yes

4.75

WOW! Blown away. Beautiful and dark and the best testimony I’ve seen to the worthwhile flaws of being human. 

“I had walked the earth for a hundred generations, yet I was still a child to myself.”

Something else I want to add is that often I have trouble being able to envision scenery when reading, like following along with an author’s depictions is usually pointless for me and something I will read twice and then skip over because the description just doesn’t do it for me. Miller’s writing never once stumped me or had me reread, even in complex visual scenes. And also - it was so beautiful! The world she created and the imagery of nature and feelings was so extremely vivid. Was a nice change for sure. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Sexual harassment, Physical abuse, Violence, Rape, Sexual violence, Torture, Medical trauma, Slavery, War, Alcohol, Cursing, Death, Incest, Medical content, Pregnancy, Sexual assault, Sexual content, and Toxic relationship

gabriella_'s review

adventurous dark emotional funny reflective sad tense 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

I read most of this book on a round trip train ride and someone’s front lawn. My god this book was gripping. I preferred The Song of Achilles for the romantic overtures but I think Madeline Miller really comes into her own as an author writing prose in this piece. The depth of the way she characterizes has compounded exponentially in this book. It’s such a refreshing spin on Greek mythos that I couldn’t put the book down.

This book made me laugh and cry within mere lines. I love the way Madeline Miller writes structures of misogyny without relegating women to damsels, and while writing all her characters as multidimensional with their own agendas. She captures the essence of Greek mythos without letting it choke out her own artistic vision.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Cursing, Domestic abuse, Rape, Child death, Emotional abuse, Body horror, Cannibalism, Murder, Forced institutionalization, Mental illness, Sexism, Death, Grief, Pregnancy, Violence, Blood, Body shaming, Confinement, Medical trauma, Medical content, Misogyny, Incest, Sexual harassment, War, Child abuse, Classism, Physical abuse, Animal cruelty, Sexual assault, Sexual content, and Sexual violence

bryelle's review against another edition

emotional funny inspiring fast-paced

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

5.0

Circe retelling of Greek myths. So good. She is a bad ass and complicated. We love to see growth in women. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Blood, Pregnancy, Medical trauma, and Emotional abuse

Moderate: War and Violence

Minor: Sexual content

issyd23's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring mysterious reflective relaxing sad tense 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? Yes

4.0

Welcome to Αἰαία, see the pigs transform from humans. Welcome to Αἰαία, hope you like Circe you ain’t leaving. Caroline Polachek would love it here 4🏝️

I love how intricate names in Greek mythology are: Helios, Pasiphaë, Minos, Aeëtes & then there’s literally Jason!💀

NB Fuck, marry, kill: Odysseus, Achilles, Paris (in that order) 🏛️

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Blood, Gaslighting, Infidelity, Injury/Injury detail, Rape, Misogyny, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Abandonment, Adult/minor relationship, Animal death, Child death, Confinement, Drug use, Medical content, Mental illness, Self harm, Sexual content, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Stalking, Suicide attempt, Toxic friendship, Violence, Gore, Kidnapping, Sexual assault, Slavery, Animal cruelty, Domestic abuse, Murder, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, Sexism, Torture, Child abuse, Death, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Grief, Medical trauma, and War

golelifsu's review

adventurous emotional reflective medium-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? Yes

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Pregnancy, Medical trauma, Fire/Fire injury, Confinement, Abandonment, Murder, Violence, and Sexual violence

Moderate: War

Minor: Incest