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kalypsowolf's review
dark
sad
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
1.5
I just didn't get the point of this one which was unfortunate cause I did highlight and tab quite a few moments of really enjoyable writing (the reason for a 1.5 and not a flat 1). I just think the overall vibe of the book is quite dull. There's nothing really to pull you along and entice you to read more of the story.
The chapters where you follow Clara after the events of the main story didn't really add anything, and, other than maybe the first one to just set up foreshadowing, could have been done with completely while still providing the same impact (and a shorter page count). And maybe the last one, because there was something important to Clara's development as a character in the ending chapter
Even in the main story Clara really feels like she's being pulled along. She has functionally no agency during the entire book, and when she finally does seek to make her own agency, it's pulled out from under her, thus entirely undermining any character development she had in the first place. The men around her are assholes and I mean, at least they made me feel something I guess, but I don't think the main takeaway of this book was supposed to be 'men bad'. One of them, surely, but not the main one. Also as the book goes on they became cartoonishly evil, which took away from the more low-key sinister sort of vibe the beginning had with Henry's letter and behavior.
You do really feel bad for Clara. Shes stuck in this shitty situation right after getting out of another shitty situation that was a result of a mental break caused by - you guessed it - ANOTHER shitty situation. Girl can't catch a break. It's infuriating and depressing. Which I'm all for in a book, but there's gotta be something compelling to go along with it and there just wasn't here for me.
The authors note in the back mentions this idea that Mary Ann Cotton - a very real convicted murderer who was thought to maybe be a serial killer - might not have been found guilty if brought to trial today. Honestly if that was the point of the book, it really didn't do a good job of being convincing at all. So while yes, she may have been found innocent if tried today, reasonable doubt is attempted in the book but not done very effectively. At least in my opinion.
All of the concepts touched upon here could have made for a genuinely amazing book, but almost every aspect of it fell flat for me and I am really sad about that cause I wanted to love it so badly. I just think it spent so much time trying to be ambiguous when it really needed to either commit to the likely innocent angle or the passing on murderous tendencies angle and it could've been significantly better.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Rape, Domestic abuse, Medical trauma, Sexual assault, and Child death
sapphiczebra's review against another edition
dark
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.25
Content Warnings
Graphic: Mental illness, Domestic abuse, and Confinement
meowster's review
dark
mysterious
sad
- 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
3.0
Good but nothing more.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death, Domestic abuse, Confinement, Drug use, Kidnapping, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Forced institutionalization, Gaslighting, Murder, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Death, Mental illness, Rape, and Suicide attempt
Moderate: Body shaming and Grief
megaden's review
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Clara has just been released from a mental institution after her husband had her forcibly confined after the stillbirth of their child. As she struggles to readjust to “normal” life, she finds herself stifled by her controlling husband. Enter Mary Ann Cotton, England’s first female serial killer. Cotton is in prison awaiting trial for the murder of her child (and suspected murder of multiple other children and a few husbands). Clara meets her when she visits the prison to do charity work and finds herself drawn to Mary Ann. Mary Ann consistently proclaims her innocence, but as Clara discovers her husband’s plan to reinstitutionalize her to claim her vast inheritance she starts thinking that poisoning your husband might not be the worst idea in the world.
Clara reminded me of the woman in The Yellow Wallpaper. Both faced incredible traumas that today probably would have been diagnosed as postpartum depression, but instead of treatment they are treated like feral idiots. As the book went on, I couldn’t help but hope that her husband, Henry, met a bad end. His gaslighting was infuriating and Clara’s isolation and growing terror of imprisonment were palpable. I highly recommend this book with the caveat that it might make you very angry at misogynist society.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Forced institutionalization
Moderate: Domestic abuse, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Violence, and Physical abuse
raechel's review
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- 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? It's complicated
2.0
Maybe literature in a Victorian setting just isn't my thing. I didn't like this, I didn't like The Valancourt Book of Victorian Christmas Ghost Stories: Volume Five, and I didn't like Fingersmith. I thought this book was way too heavy-handed with the misogyny, everyone in the book was an idiot, and there was also zero tension.
The book primarily takes place during Clara's return home from being away at an asylum after the stillbirth of her baby and she has a lot of trouble adjusting. All the men in her life are ridiculously evil (like rubbing their hands together and laughing about how they're going to send her away and take her family fortune), yet she still keeps trusting them and being shocked when she overhears them say awful stuff. Also, there are flash-forward chapters where we're basically told what's happened to certain characters... so we know everything turns out all right. And we know something specific that happens so there's a real start-and-stop feeling because every time Clara is totally for sure escaping... we know that isn't the case because the flash forwards tell us what actually happened.
Also it turns out Henry (her husband) is just... a mama's boy? And it's a WOMAN who was the true evil behind it all???
Clara is so dumb and naive but we're just supposed to believe she turns stone cold at the veryyyyy end of this book. What?
The book primarily takes place during Clara's return home from being away at an asylum after the stillbirth of her baby and she has a lot of trouble adjusting. All the men in her life are ridiculously evil (like rubbing their hands together and laughing about how they're going to send her away and take her family fortune), yet she still keeps trusting them and being shocked when she overhears them say awful stuff. Also, there are flash-forward chapters where we're basically told what's happened to certain characters... so we know everything turns out all right. And we know something specific that happens so there's a real start-and-stop feeling because every time Clara is totally for sure escaping... we know that isn't the case because the flash forwards tell us what actually happened.
Also it turns out Henry (her husband) is just... a mama's boy? And it's a WOMAN who was the true evil behind it all???
Clara is so dumb and naive but we're just supposed to believe she turns stone cold at the veryyyyy end of this book. What?
Content Warnings
Moderate: Child death, Domestic abuse, Forced institutionalization, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Physical abuse, and Sexual assault
bookedbymadeline's review
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
medium-paced
- 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? Yes
4.0
Thank you to NetGalley and Inkshares for the eARC of The Savage Instinct by Marjorie DeLuca!
“This case was notable for the media attention it received, and that inspired me to create a story, not necessarily about Mary Ann Cotton’s crimes, but about the impact her arrest and trial had on Victorian society at the time, as well as what it revealed about that society’s attitudes towards women who strayed from their natural “God-given” roles.”
The writing was a little bumpy in the beginning but it smoothed itself out by the second half. The last couple chapters were intense with plot twists and that ending blew my mind! The book is fast paced and I loved the characters. Clara has some good developments over the course of her story. I especially loved seeing Mary Ann Cotton become unreliable as we see her through Clara’s eyes and never know what to believe.
Overall an enjoyable read and if you like Victorian era books, true crime based fiction, The Familiars by Stacey Hall, or books about women going against society’s expectations, you may enjoy this one!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death, Forced institutionalization, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Violence, Infertility, Sexism, Misogyny, Death, and Blood
Moderate: Medical trauma, Medical content, Miscarriage, Grief, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, and Rape
Minor: Death of parent
justagirlwithabook's review
dark
informative
mysterious
sad
tense
fast-paced
- 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? It's complicated
3.5
Savage Instinct takes on a really interesting feminist perspective of the woman and events surrounding Mary Ann Cotton, a tried and convicted English serial killer from the mid-late 1800s. The story is told through the perspective of a fiction character, Clara, whose husband is really absolutely everything that any self-respecting woman would completely despise: he's misogynistic, abusive, manipulative, and self-seeking. His marriage to Clara is simply a means to an end; she is to be a doting, perfect wife and fulfill all her wifely duties with obedience and without complaint, and when her grandmother dies, he'll come into a large inheritance and his life will be perfect as he climbs the social ladder. Any actions on her part that are contrary to this vision, and she's accused of being mental unstable and threatened with the asylum.
At the start of the story, we discover that Clara has suffered through her own kind of trauma and reacted in a way that anyone would. As she arrives home from a few stints in a couple different asylums, her carriage is greeted by a crowd which, in turn, is welcoming the arrival of Mary Ann Cotton, a woman who supposedly killed many of her own children and husbands in an effort to claim insurance money and thus better her life. Clara's curiosity gets the better of her, and in the guise of being charitable, begins visiting with Cotton. Clara's husband's actions and manipulation come to light, and she begins to embark along a path that she won't be able to turn back from (with the guidance of Cotton).
What I didn't love:
- The first part of the story was a little bit bumpy, writing wise; it could've used an editor's hand in smoothing out some of the disconnect and disjointed descriptions. I continued to read though, and as the story moved along, it seemed the author had found their groove and the writing flowed a bit more naturally.
- Clara's character was also a bit bumpy at the start -- we see her as a very delicate and meek woman at the start, very traumatized by her experiences, but there are times throughout the story when her actions are contradictory to the character we were introduced to. She seems to go from meek to courageous in waves and I think her development could've been better written over the course of the story.
- There was a small blurb towards the end about Victorian England and Mary Ann Cotton but it was very brief and followed by a list of recommended reading, which is great, but I would've appreciated a bit more on what aspects of the story truly were historically accurate (including general historical information on the inequality of women, the role of asylums in society, etc.) and what things were written with a bit of liberty.
What I did love:
+ I did know some about Mary Ann Cotton before diving into the story and really enjoyed seeing this historical character from a different perspective.
+ I enjoyed how Mary Ann Cotton's character fed us information that led us to really doubt what was true, what had really happened, and what was just lies and manipulation.
+ I, for the most part, was able to envision this Victorian London decently well and, though I find myself fuming at the male characters and the things they said and did, this remained true to the time period. (I would never wish to ever travel back in time to this time period - I don't know how it could've been anything but miserable for the vast majority of women or anyone really who wasn't a wealthy white man).
Mixed feelings (Spoilers!)
~ I had some mixed feelings about the end of the story. I didn't love this cyclical nature of the ending ... finding ourself in the same place we were to begin with. Clara tried to do what she could to escape under an authoritative husband and live as a free woman in society, but instead, she ended up in the same position as she started: in need of a husband to provide for her. I was hopeful that Clara would be the one to get out, to truly be free. Her husband's death felt a bit like a cop-out. Part of me thought, "Well, that was sort of nice (?) of Mary to sort of 'help out her friend, Clara' even after she was gone, in her own way." But then I also thought that this was just an easy way to dispose of her husband so Clara could free herself, sort of, without having to also resort to murder ... but then we find ourselves at the end where she's basically set her mind to resorting to murder. I sort of liked that twist, but then at the same time just felt sad for her. Like I said, mixed feelings.
Overall, this was a fast-paced and I think an interesting read. I'd probably rate it anywhere between an arbitrary 3-4 stars.
Thank you to Inkshares and Netgalley for the e-ARC in exchange for an honest review!
At the start of the story, we discover that Clara has suffered through her own kind of trauma and reacted in a way that anyone would. As she arrives home from a few stints in a couple different asylums, her carriage is greeted by a crowd which, in turn, is welcoming the arrival of Mary Ann Cotton, a woman who supposedly killed many of her own children and husbands in an effort to claim insurance money and thus better her life. Clara's curiosity gets the better of her, and in the guise of being charitable, begins visiting with Cotton. Clara's husband's actions and manipulation come to light, and she begins to embark along a path that she won't be able to turn back from (with the guidance of Cotton).
What I didn't love:
- The first part of the story was a little bit bumpy, writing wise; it could've used an editor's hand in smoothing out some of the disconnect and disjointed descriptions. I continued to read though, and as the story moved along, it seemed the author had found their groove and the writing flowed a bit more naturally.
- Clara's character was also a bit bumpy at the start -- we see her as a very delicate and meek woman at the start, very traumatized by her experiences, but there are times throughout the story when her actions are contradictory to the character we were introduced to. She seems to go from meek to courageous in waves and I think her development could've been better written over the course of the story.
- There was a small blurb towards the end about Victorian England and Mary Ann Cotton but it was very brief and followed by a list of recommended reading, which is great, but I would've appreciated a bit more on what aspects of the story truly were historically accurate (including general historical information on the inequality of women, the role of asylums in society, etc.) and what things were written with a bit of liberty.
What I did love:
+ I did know some about Mary Ann Cotton before diving into the story and really enjoyed seeing this historical character from a different perspective.
+ I enjoyed how Mary Ann Cotton's character fed us information that led us to really doubt what was true, what had really happened, and what was just lies and manipulation.
+ I, for the most part, was able to envision this Victorian London decently well and, though I find myself fuming at the male characters and the things they said and did, this remained true to the time period. (I would never wish to ever travel back in time to this time period - I don't know how it could've been anything but miserable for the vast majority of women or anyone really who wasn't a wealthy white man).
Mixed feelings (Spoilers!)
~ I had some mixed feelings about the end of the story.
Overall, this was a fast-paced and I think an interesting read. I'd probably rate it anywhere between an arbitrary 3-4 stars.
Thank you to Inkshares and Netgalley for the e-ARC in exchange for an honest review!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Misogyny and Forced institutionalization
Moderate: Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Sexism, Rape, Physical abuse, and Murder
Minor: Blood, Child death, and Confinement
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