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franceselsie'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
5.0
Moderate: Death and Cursing
Minor: Sexual assault
have_a_doris_day'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
4.0
Moderate: Grief, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Child death, Confinement, Dementia, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Terminal illness
Minor: Child abuse, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Fire/Fire injury, Pedophilia, War, and Rape
cinnaminskies's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Graphic: Violence, Sexual assault, Death, and Torture
Minor: Rape
unabridgedchick's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
As a novel about medieval, 12th century monastic life for women, it's brilliant. Groff's narrative style -- a kind of wooden, present-tense, third person that ends up suiting the story, with the rigidity and distance from us in time -- paints vibrantly what life at this once blessed-or-bewitched convent would be like. How a smart, ambitious woman might make lemonade out of lemons. But to imagine it would be how the historical Marie de France -- a figure so unknown to us that scholars can't agree who it might be -- ended up living her life felt a bit like a bait and switch. Marie de France's poetry figures in quite early in the story, and then disappears completely; the rich story that unfolds could genuinely have figured for anyone especially since it articulates the history of a royal abbey we never learn the name of, an abbey that grows to mythic grandeur that it too can't be truly historical.
Still, I liked this book, especially when I stopped trying to search for a poet and lyricist in the pages. I adore novels of nuns and convents, of mystics and abbesses, and this joined the list of those books. An easy read, mostly, with passages tangled and rich with images.
Minor: Sexual assault and Animal death
balth_the_chaotic_good's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
Moderate: Animal death, Body horror, Child death, Death, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Miscarriage, Pregnancy, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Terminal illness, Violence, Vomit, and War
maxcarwile's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Graphic: Animal death
Moderate: Animal cruelty and Sexual assault
caseythereader'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
4.5
- MATRIX is gorgeous, painful, and powerful. Groff's writing carries you along its current through Marie's ups and downs, power grabs and moments of softness.
- This book is an ode to matriarchy, female friendship and sapphic love, and how these support systems propel us through even the bleakest of times.
- Though at times the poetry of the writing felt like it kept the reader at a remove, I still felt deeply for these women, cheering their victories and mourning their losses with them. Even if you know next to nothing about Marie de France or Eleanor of Aquitane (as I did not) this book is still quite engrossing.
Graphic: Animal death, Blood, Body shaming, Child abuse, Child death, Chronic illness, Death, Death of parent, Dementia, Emotional abuse, Excrement, Fire/Fire injury, Gore, Grief, Medical content, Mental illness, Murder, Pregnancy, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Terminal illness, Violence, Vomit, and War