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heather_freshparchment's review
- 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? Yes
4.0
Graphic: Death, Confinement, Gaslighting, Infertility, Domestic abuse, and Murder
Moderate: Child death, Medical trauma, and Vomit
helenaramsay's review against another edition
- 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
The writing is fabulous- you can read a chapter or two and realise there hasn't been much in the way of actual events happening, but the character development and, even moreso, the emotional current flowing through the whole novel are sublime.
Graphic: Misogyny, Murder, and Domestic abuse
Moderate: Animal death and Animal cruelty
Minor: Medical trauma
cadybooks'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? Yes
4.0
Graphic: Religious bigotry, Toxic relationship, Abandonment, Animal cruelty, Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Child death, Classism, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Grief, Confinement, Death, Medical content, Murder, Pedophilia, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Violence, Infertility, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Misogyny, and Physical abuse
Moderate: Eating disorder
Minor: War, Animal death, Alcohol, Fatphobia, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Blood
newton's review
- 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
3.0
With that said, I really do feel that she existed ONLY as Lucrezia’s loyal servant. An obvious example is her scar (gotten from playing with Lucrezia/foreshadowing that Lucrezia will be Emilia’s end), but this is MOST clear in how Emilia died. Unnamed and unmourned by anyone, not even Lucrezia! I wish I could say that she should have gone back for Emilia after her escape (or at least like, considered that Emilia looks like her and is ASLEEP IN HER BED. And there are men COMING TO KILL HER), but honestly? I never got the impression that Lucrezia gave much of a shit about Emilia outside of her loyalty and companionship.
This could have been a place for O’Farrell to explore the self-centered nature of nobility or the ways that Lucrezia IS privileged despite her gendered oppression as Alfonso’s wife. However, this doesn’t seem to have been given much of a thought, and Emilia was reduced to a simple plot device in order to allow Lucrezia to survive where history insists she did not.
A few more nit-picky issues I had:
If Alfonso was going to kill Lucrezia, why would he poison her only to then smother her a day or so later? I feel like it would make much more sense for the venison and wine to have contained a deadly poison rather than a poison that weakened her, though granted, I won’t pretend to know what was going through Alfonso’s mind in that moment.
The title, frankly, does not make sense. The marriage portrait, O’Farrell writes in the notes, is completely fictional, and it doesn’t even appear until well past the halfway mark. It had very little to do with the story as a whole, and instead tied the novel to Browning’s poem. This might just have been me, but I was reading this as historical fiction rather than a strictly intertextual work with “My Last Duchess.”
I also thought that Lucrezia’s feelings towards Alfonso flip-flopped a bit more than was realistic. It made sense to me that she would be unsure if he truly loves her, but to have her thinking that he would never hurt her moments after she’s convinced that he is going to kill her just felt unnatural.
All in all, this was a book that I enjoyed reading, but I don’t think it’s one that I would highly recommend or reread.
Graphic: Murder, Sexual violence, Misogyny, Sexism, and Rape
Moderate: Religious bigotry, Medical trauma, and Pregnancy
cstein's review
- 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? Yes
5.0
Graphic: Misogyny, Gaslighting, Grief, Sexism, Toxic relationship, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Abandonment, Adult/minor relationship, and Death
Moderate: Animal death, Infertility, Violence, Domestic abuse, Animal cruelty, Blood, Confinement, Emotional abuse, Vomit, Panic attacks/disorders, Medical content, Medical trauma, Pregnancy, and Sexual content
Minor: Alcohol, Death of parent, Gore, Body shaming, Classism, and Miscarriage
lostinthelibrary's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.5
Graphic: Rape, Medical trauma, Murder, Domestic abuse, and Infertility
Moderate: Physical abuse
Minor: Infidelity