Reviews tagging 'Incest'

Circe Excerpt: The First 3 Chapters by Madeline Miller

205 reviews

kwichris's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional inspiring reflective 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

5.0

Circe is a cleverly written novel about the goddess herself and the experiences she endured from her perspective. This novel spans centuries in time with both well-known and new mythological events and experiences Circe must navigate. Circe is shown as a more fully-developed person than in the minor roles she's played in other grand masterworks of classical literature. She perseveres through more hardships than can be imagined and her shere ingenuity and life-experience guides her actions through each trial and tribulation. Through it all, Circe demonstrates how many of us feel at different points in our lives despite never being bestowed with divinity as she has. Just as Circe is more fully realized in this novel, so too are her accompanying characters often the focus of the story when they encounter Circe. All in all, Madeline Miller has crafted a wonderfully detailed novel encompassing more mythology and the human experience than one might expect. If you're a fan of Greek mythology, history, and novels that really flesh out their characters, then I would highly recommend this book! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Rape, Blood, Injury/Injury detail, Pregnancy, Sexual content, and Violence

Moderate: Animal death, Grief, Mental illness, Murder, Alcohol, Bullying, Child death, Torture, and Incest

Minor: Physical abuse, Infidelity, Classism, Confinement, Adult/minor relationship, Toxic relationship, and Slavery

pjdotcom's review against another edition

adventurous emotional inspiring slow-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? It's complicated

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault, Child death, Pregnancy, Body horror, Incest, Misogyny, Rape, Death of parent, Abandonment, Animal death, Grief, Sexual content, and War

passivewax's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional hopeful reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.75

WOW! Blown away. Beautiful and dark and the best testimony I’ve seen to the worthwhile flaws of being human. 

“I had walked the earth for a hundred generations, yet I was still a child to myself.”

Something else I want to add is that often I have trouble being able to envision scenery when reading, like following along with an author’s depictions is usually pointless for me and something I will read twice and then skip over because the description just doesn’t do it for me. Miller’s writing never once stumped me or had me reread, even in complex visual scenes. And also - it was so beautiful! The world she created and the imagery of nature and feelings was so extremely vivid. Was a nice change for sure. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Sexual harassment, Physical abuse, Violence, Rape, Sexual violence, Torture, Medical trauma, Slavery, War, Alcohol, Cursing, Death, Incest, Medical content, Pregnancy, Sexual assault, Sexual content, and Toxic relationship

gabriella_'s review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny reflective sad tense medium-paced

• 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? Yes

4.5

I read most of this book on a round trip train ride and someone’s front lawn. My god this book was gripping. I preferred The Song of Achilles for the romantic overtures but I think Madeline Miller really comes into her own as an author writing prose in this piece. The depth of the way she characterizes has compounded exponentially in this book. It’s such a refreshing spin on Greek mythos that I couldn’t put the book down.

This book made me laugh and cry within mere lines. I love the way Madeline Miller writes structures of misogyny without relegating women to damsels, and while writing all her characters as multidimensional with their own agendas. She captures the essence of Greek mythos without letting it choke out her own artistic vision.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Cursing, Domestic abuse, Rape, Child death, Emotional abuse, Body horror, Cannibalism, Murder, Forced institutionalization, Mental illness, Sexism, Death, Grief, Pregnancy, Violence, Blood, Body shaming, Confinement, Medical trauma, Medical content, Misogyny, Incest, Sexual harassment, War, Child abuse, Classism, Physical abuse, Animal cruelty, Sexual assault, Sexual content, and Sexual violence

sandhyaa's review against another edition

adventurous emotional funny inspiring mysterious 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

5.0

I love how this book focuses on Circe's character development. It's a book that gives you space for reflection as the story is going on. I love how the character is given the time to grasp and understand her power. This in turn allows for her confidence to be developed and subsequently nurtured, making the story very inspiring. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Sexual assault, and Incest

rionstorm's review against another edition

adventurous emotional hopeful mysterious sad fast-paced

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

5.0

I was expecting this book to be just okay, but I absolutely could not put it down. It's been a while since I started a book and found myself thinking about it the whole time I wasn't reading it.
It's a sad book, but also very magical, and surprisingly easy to read despite the almost constant tragedy. I was never into greek mythology as I found the stories densely woven and confusing, but this retelling felt like it pulled the perfect level of detail into the storytelling for me to enjoy.
Really loved this book - so glad I followed the recommendations I got to read it! :)

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement

Moderate: Injury/Injury detail, Fire/Fire injury, Rape, Sexual violence, Bullying, and War

Minor: Incest and Torture

mxpringle's review against another edition

adventurous challenging reflective sad medium-paced

• 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? Yes

3.5

The first 90% of the book? Amazing. Immaculately written and enthralling. The last 10% of the book? What in the

stepmother/stepchild relationship

was that... 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Incest, Abandonment, Gaslighting, Rape, Adult/minor relationship, Confinement, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Misogyny, Pregnancy, and Torture

Moderate: Death, Blood, and Death of parent

gaeke's review against another edition

informative reflective slow-paced

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

2.0

for a character driven book, this sucked. while I was reading this, I felt like this was the type of story you have to come into already invested or at least slightly interested in the characters. circe wasn't redeemable in any way, and if that was the point I didn't get it. the characters were replaceable in my opinion, and none really left a strong impression on me. circe's actions pissed me off and I came here expecting a strong female main character but was terribly disappointed. I will say though that circe's mother arc had to be the best part of this book for me. 

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Content Warnings

Minor: Incest, Animal cruelty, Misogyny, and Rape

niatella's review against another edition

adventurous inspiring reflective 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? Yes

4.75

After having read Ariadne, my first book into Greek Mythology, it piqued my interest to pick up another greek mythology book and I am no disappointed.

The writing is beautiful, especially Circe's motherhood and her pov as a parent who wishes to protect her son as much as possible, to realise that that might not be the best course of action for he seeks greater knowledge beyond what was on the island he dwells.

Highly recommend for anyone who wishes to venture into greek mythology.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Sexism, War, Incest, Violence, and Misogyny

ellski's review against another edition

adventurous emotional reflective medium-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

Moderate: Rape, Misogyny, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, Gore, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, and Incest