Reviews tagging 'Emotional abuse'

When Women Were Dragons by Kelly Barnhill

42 reviews

racheldonna14's review against another edition

emotional hopeful tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

It felt like this book was written for me. Each line felt purposeful and intentional and I want to remember each and every detail for the rest of my life. Alex's range of emotions leap off the page and are deeply relatable to any person raised as a girl in Catholic School. The expectation of silence, not questioning authority, and maintaining appearances was so relatable and rage inducing. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cancer, Chronic illness, Emotional abuse, Abandonment, Misogyny, Fire/Fire injury, Sexism, Death of parent, Grief, and Religious bigotry

cheye13's review

mysterious sad 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? No

5.0

This reads very much like a false history or a fictional memoir, which is my absolute favorite genre. The articles and papers inter-spliced were very cool, but I wish there'd been more of them, or that they tied in with Alex's story more. It did feel like it had about ten endings, but I did enjoy seeing where everyone ended up. 

Everything up until the final part (which was primarily that series of endings) was perfect to me. The tangibility of the time periods, the snippets of everyday magic, the characters reaching out to each other. The whole book really embodies a very specific feeling I have reading about being a woman in those times.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Misogyny, Death of parent, and Sexism

Moderate: Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Homophobia, Infidelity, Cancer, and Abandonment

Minor: Alcoholism, Fire/Fire injury, Domestic abuse, and Sexual assault

sadiaa's review

2.75

The premise of the book is interesting, women suddenly turning into dragons and societies denial of the existence of dragons. This book took me forever to finish, I kept picking it up and putting it down. I found myself skipping pages at a time, I was only interested in Alex and Beatrice's story. I found myself angry at the misogyny Alex faced, "no point getting an education when you'll just become a wife and mother", it was infuriating and testament to how women deal with adversity.
I loved the female rage aspect of the book,

when the dragons attack the abusive men in their lives, I wish Alex got her revenge on her teacher, he was insufferable.

It just failed to hold my interest and I struggled through this book, determined not to dnf 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Cancer, Chronic illness, Gaslighting, Emotional abuse, Alcohol, Grief, Homophobia, Death, Lesbophobia, Abandonment, Misogyny, and Physical abuse

arwinadrea's review

challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious sad tense medium-paced

• 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? No

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Grief, Alcoholism, Toxic relationship, Abandonment, and Misogyny

Moderate: Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Alcoholism, Domestic abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Toxic relationship, and Cancer

Minor: Lesbophobia, Dysphoria, and Outing

Cold War, Women's Lib, Toxic Patriarchy, and Traumatic Childhood meets hopeful coming of age magical realism!

tostita's review against another edition

challenging emotional hopeful sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Homophobia, Sexism, Death of parent, Cancer, Abandonment, Lesbophobia, Terminal illness, Misogyny, and Gaslighting

Moderate: Emotional abuse, Alcoholism, and Infidelity

Minor: Sexual harassment and Physical abuse

cryfest's review

dark emotional hopeful mysterious reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Pandemic/Epidemic, Sexism, Death of parent, Grief, Fire/Fire injury, Terminal illness, and Abandonment

Moderate: Cancer, Emotional abuse, Body horror, Death of parent, Toxic relationship, Dysphoria, Fire/Fire injury, and Homophobia

esknight89's review

challenging emotional hopeful inspiring reflective sad slow-paced

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

3.75

I agree with other reviews saying that it was hard to get into the story. I remembered hitting the 50% mark in my audiobook and still waiting for the story to pick up the pace. I had been led to believe that this novel was in the same genre as Max Brooks's "Devolution" and "World War Z", a fantasy genre that takes place in the 'real world' and features both solved and unsolvable mysteries about the fantastic elements featured in the book. 

That was not what I found here. For the first few chapters I kept thinking the dragons were euphemisms for society's evils and that I had been misled. Eventually I accepted that they were actually real for the characters in the book. 

The story never went in the direction I wanted it to, which was somewhat disappointing and somewhat entertaining despite it.

The allegories that the dragons represented in various parts of the story was fairly heavy-handed, in my opinion. Sometimes it seemed like the author was bludgeoning me with them. 

Other reviews of this book have mentioned thinking that Alex, the main character, seemed rather slow to realize what was actually happening around her, however I didn't feel that way. Maybe it's because I'm autistic and/or trauma-informed but when someone is literally taught by their society to ignore & suppress thoughts on certain subjects, it's not much of a stretch to know that it can figuratively blind someone to the obvious. 

Overall, I enjoyed reading this book. It didn't wow me but it was entertaining. It was a good palate cleanser for me after I finished reading N.K. Jemison's Broken Earth Trilogy. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexism, Body horror, Emotional abuse, Misogyny, and Death of parent

Moderate: Death of parent and Death

ka_ke's review

emotional inspiring reflective slow-paced

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

4.5

Calling all feminists, this book is a must read. A carefully balance mix of fantasy and memories, When Women Were Dragons shares the stories and the struggles of those who fought for the rights we have (for now at least) so that we may preserve their memories and work towards a better future. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Body shaming, Death of parent, Terminal illness, Sexism, Misogyny, and Gaslighting

Moderate: Homophobia, Emotional abuse, Child abuse, Classism, Dysphoria, Grief, Lesbophobia, and Panic attacks/disorders

dealingwithdragons's review

adventurous challenging emotional funny hopeful inspiring reflective fast-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

5.0

I loved this book. I especially appreciated that the moment I wondered "where are the trans dragons" was the moment the trans dragons showed up.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Terminal illness, Religious bigotry, Lesbophobia, Homophobia, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Sexism, Alcoholism, Misogyny, Cancer, Abandonment, Child abuse, and Death

Moderate: Body horror

Minor: Gun violence

The mentions of guns are mainly in the context of "dragons are bulletproof". Body horror is entirely women turning into dragons.

bookworm247's review

emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring mysterious reflective sad tense medium-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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexism, Addiction, Death, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Abandonment, Grief, and Cancer