Reviews tagging 'Incest'

Circe Excerpt: The First 3 Chapters by Madeline Miller

219 reviews

isaaah's review against another edition

emotional hopeful reflective fast-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Bullying, Confinement, Death, Infidelity, Sexual assault, Violence, Blood, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, Abandonment, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Misogyny, Rape, and Grief

Minor: Incest, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Vomit, Cannibalism, Alcohol, and War

vaniavela's review against another edition

emotional medium-paced

• 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? It's complicated

4.25

Greek mythology is not exactly my cup of tea and it makes little sense to me with all those names and gods and goddesses and I get confused easily. She is a woman who has pulled off terrible things, but is still human. She's lonely and tough, and hides in sarcasm oftentimes. As a retelling, Circe deserves between 4 and 5 stars for being written with a lovely prose. However, there could have been improvements. I would have liked to have seen the handmaids on her island play a larger role. I found the concept of an island inhabited by women who have been exiled by the gods interesting, but it was not tapped into enough. The author was afraid of success. Overall it was a good book, but I didn't feel the same excitement that everyone was telling me about it with. 

Trigger/Content Warnings: Violence, gore, murder, torture, physical abuse, child abuse, thoughts of suicide, brief scene with cutting, graphic childbirth scenes, mention of bestiality, mention of incest, animal sacrifice, death of a sibling, death of a child, death of a loved one, death of an animal, rape, adultery, and war themes.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gore, Physical abuse, Torture, Violence, Murder, and War

Moderate: Animal death and Suicidal thoughts

Minor: Incest

wwnter's review against another edition

adventurous mysterious slow-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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Bullying, Death, Incest, Rape, Murder, and Pregnancy

Moderate: Misogyny and Torture

folded_between_pages_of_books's review against another edition

medium-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Body horror, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Infidelity, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual violence, Torture, Violence, Blood, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Abandonment, and War

Moderate: Confinement, Incest, Self harm, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, and Alcohol

Minor: Grief

gillian_wagner's review against another edition

reflective medium-paced

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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Rape

Minor: Incest, Pregnancy, and War

zeegy's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional funny hopeful inspiring reflective slow-paced

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

4.25

Circe is a coming of age book even if it takes millenia for her to come of age. The way she grows as a person and as a witch but always stays loving fiercely. Her loneliness her lack of loneliness and finally creating a family on her own and achieving what i think was always meant for her. I love her. And this was beautifully written as to be expected

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Misogyny, Rape, and Pregnancy

Moderate: Incest

ashybear02's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful informative inspiring mysterious reflective sad tense slow-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Rape and Murder

Minor: Incest

jfield351's review against another edition

lighthearted fast-paced

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

3.0

The story was good but at some times I found it boring. It was really good to read about Greek mythology though even though some of the things they did were very gory. I prefer books with a plot and this was more character based but the writing was very nice.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Body horror, Death, Emotional abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual violence, Grief, and Murder

Minor: Animal cruelty, Incest, Infidelity, Torture, Violence, Blood, War, and Injury/Injury detail

katiieecat's review against another edition

adventurous emotional inspiring reflective sad slow-paced

• 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

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Content Warnings

Minor: Animal death, Bullying, Child death, Confinement, Death, Incest, Misogyny, Rape, Blood, Grief, Pregnancy, and War

crisi_books's review against another edition

emotional reflective medium-paced

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

4.0

4/5 ⭐️

At first, I was leaning towards rating this 3-3.5 stars, but the latter half of this book made me bump it up to 4.

The prose is beautiful and poetic, and extremely efficient in detailing events that happen over thousands of years. It reads like a cautionary tale told by the fireplace, sardonic and reflective, which is highly accurate for the vibes of this book and the stuff that happens in it. As someone who liked to call themselves a Greek myth nerd, I also thought all the cameos were exciting and the portrayal of their characters intriguing.

The reason I originally wanted to rate this 3 stars has a lot to do with Circe’s character. I don’t hate her necessarily, but the fact that she wailed about her misfortune for so long (the whole first half of the book) but still groveled at the feet of those around her was…unappealing, personally. I almost DNF’d it because I can’t stand mc’s who grovel and are docile and too easily swayed. I understand that it is a part of her growth, and that growth indeed paid off. By the end, I found her character to be a lot more endearing and sympathetic. It was the kind of character development that makes all the sighs of frustration and facepalms worth it.

That being said, I did overall enjoy Circe’s character more than I disliked it. Her capacity for mercy, sympathy, and understanding sets her apart from the mercilessness of everyone around her, and her need for independence but cluelessness in obtaining it is frustrating yet endearing. Her defiance against the gods is hard earned, and that makes this book all the more enjoyable.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Torture and Violence

Moderate: Alcoholism, Death, Gore, Incest, Infidelity, Misogyny, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Murder, Pregnancy, Alcohol, and War

Minor: Cannibalism