Scan barcode
peteredout's review against another edition
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Graphic: Domestic abuse, Classism, Ableism, Racism, Misogyny, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Colonisation, Child abuse, Body horror, Violence, and Forced institutionalization
arlaubscher'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? No
5.0
Graphic: Child abuse, Murder, Panic attacks/disorders, Racism, Suicide, Blood, Misogyny, Racial slurs, Self harm, Sexism, Emotional abuse, Forced institutionalization, Gaslighting, Grief, Infertility, Injury/Injury detail, Medical trauma, Medical content, Mental illness, and Violence
Moderate: Abortion, Addiction, Body shaming, Drug use, Blood, Colonisation, Homophobia, Self harm, Sexual violence, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Classism, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Rape, Infertility, Police brutality, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Sexual assault
lottiegasp's review against another edition
- 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
3.75
Moderate: Violence, Suicide, Forced institutionalization, Medical trauma, Fatphobia, Mental illness, Misogyny, War, and Miscarriage
aeonidon'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? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Graphic: Forced institutionalization, Confinement, and Medical trauma
Moderate: Abortion, Addiction, Death, Domestic abuse, Homophobia, Mental illness, Misogyny, Racism, and Sexism
Minor: War, Suicide, Pregnancy, Murder, Police brutality, Child abuse, and Blood
briartherose's review against another edition
4.0
- This is a well-written, creative, diverse novel. I really enjoyed reading it. The mental hospital scenes in particular are powerful, but gritty and uncompromising. They provide an often jaw-dropping portrait of life as a impoverished woman of colour in mid-20th century America.
- The Mattapoisett scenes, while a creative vision of the future, often seemed tangential (and more than a little didactic). The reason for Connie being transported to their timeline isn't made clear until well past the halfway point, encouraging the reader to interpret them as Connie's coping mechanism, or hallucination. Which I don't think the author intended.
- However, the brief scenes in the 'bad future' were fascinatingly horrible. Is their world of exploitative, unpleasantly violent media that far removed from our own?
- A side note about the gender politics of the novel: in Mattapoisett everyone is referred to by the gender-neutral pronoun 'person', or 'per', yet the author insists on referring to those same characters as male or female. Even in-universe someone refers to their people as 'biological males and females'. Either the author didn't really understand the purpose of gender-neutral pronouns, or she was mocking them for it: whichever way it was, it comes off awkward. It seems like Piercy was much more comfortable talking about racial politics than gender identity.
Graphic: Addiction, Drug use, Forced institutionalization, Homophobia, Medical content, Mental illness, Misogyny, Racial slurs, and Racism
naimo's review against another edition
5.0
Graphic: Ableism, Confinement, Emotional abuse, Forced institutionalization, and Medical content
Moderate: Misogyny, Mental illness, Medical trauma, Physical abuse, Rape, Violence, and Sexual violence
Minor: Child death, Death, Alcoholism, Child abuse, and Suicide