Reviews tagging 'Misogyny'

Ariadne by Jennifer Saint

147 reviews

hannahbailey's review against another edition

challenging sad slow-paced

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

2.0

I went into this excited to read a Greek myth feminist retelling that WASN'T about the Trojan war and instead focused on Ariadne, sister of the Minotaur and traitor to her family. After trudging through (barely) the clunky prose I was disappointed to discover this portrayal of Ariadne as passive and boring. I kept persisting with the hope that she would either become more interesting or begin her revenge arc, but she did neither. As I'd not read about this myth before I was interested to find out how it ended, and it seemed to be leading somewhere empowering (finally!) for Ariadne. Jokes on me, I was wrong again. The ending left me unsatisfied and a bit speechless tbh. I could go on but to spare you the pain, if you're struggling to get through this, it doesn't get better -- sorry 🤷‍♀️😔

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Sexism, Alcohol, Animal cruelty, Child death, Death, Genocide, Gore, Adult/minor relationship, Confinement, Death of parent, Misogyny, Sexual assault, Self harm, Abandonment, Animal death, Suicide, Slavery, Blood, Murder, Pregnancy, and Alcoholism

marippe's review against another edition

adventurous slow-paced

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

2.0

I'm kinda disappointed by this. I learned a bit about Ariadne in Circe and I went into this excited, seeing how a sister could love a brother that everyone hated and called a monster. It discussed how her mother and her would lovingly call him Asterion, before he was named by Minos as the Minotaur. Ariadne describes her feelings for her brother to be overwhelmed by pity, but I feel that was really boring and underwhelming. The conflict of Ariadne is betraying her family, specifically Minos and the Minotaur, so if she had a stronger love for her brother it would be a lot more interesting.

How Ariadne "fell in love" with Theseus felt very underwhelming. You are allowing your brother to be murdered, fearing banishment from your parents, for a prince you spoke to once? It felt very naïve and harmed the "feminist" narrative that was intended to be set. If her relationship with the Minotaur was stronger, her betrayal would have been more interesting.
With the feminist narrative, I did enjoy the core sisterhood between Phaedra and Ariadne, although I didn't really believe in it. Anything else didn't really sit with me. It's still a book run by men with Ariadne and Phaedra mostly watching. The book didn't bring anything too original for me, I feel like I could read the original story of the Minotaur and still gain the same thing.

I did like the writing style as a whole, some parts felt very drawn out but I did like some metaphors. I particularly liked when the Minotaur is born. However, my BIGGEST pet peeve was Ariadne (and Phaedra) addressing Minos and Pasiphaë by name in their narration. It removes the intimate part of their relationship. If that's what the author was intending, there's other ways to show that other than just referring to them by name. It really annoyed me. 
I also didn't understand why it's dual pov if the story is called Ariadne? 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Misogyny, Child death, Abandonment, Pregnancy, and Sexual assault

Zoophilia

sas_ram's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.0

I think it would be wrong to compare it to Madeline Miller's books just because it's also a greek myth retelling. 
I did enjoy this book. The first half to 2/3 are really good and interesting but the ending seems rushed and is unsatisfactory. I'm unsure if I should give the book 3,75 or 4 stars. So I think I will give it 4 stars with the possibility of correction. 
I do think the characters lack a certain depth especially as the plot carries on. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Death, Toxic relationship, Pregnancy, Murder, War, Rape, Alcohol, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Blood, Grief, Misogyny, Sexual assault, Violence, and Suicide

nialiversuch's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Abandonment, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Animal death, Child abuse, Sexism, Suicide attempt, Addiction, Animal cruelty, Blood, Body horror, Death, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Injury/Injury detail, Misogyny, Murder, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, Rape, Suicide, Gore, Grief, Toxic relationship, War, Child death, Confinement, and Domestic abuse

droggelbecher42's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? N/A
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

I think it's a testament to how well written this is that I kept getting really upset the actions of the men in this book. 
It made me tear up a couple of times so it feels illegal to give it any less than 4 stars.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gaslighting, Toxic relationship, Animal death, Suicide, and Abandonment

Moderate: Rape, Child death, Misogyny, and Incest

Minor: War

elizabeth_lepore's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Suicide, Animal death, and Misogyny

Moderate: Rape, Pregnancy, Child death, Gore, and Abandonment

yilliun's review against another edition

adventurous emotional reflective fast-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? Yes

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief and Misogyny

Moderate: Abandonment and Violence

Minor: Suicide

asourceoffiction's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad 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

4.0

This is an amazing retelling, that gives weight to a story I knew surprisingly little about. Ariadne's is such a tragic story which, let's face it, is pretty typical of women in Greek myth. Having only read a handful of this genre it was nice to pick up a story that wasn't centred on Troy (though I've loved all those I've read), and I really enjoyed Saint's focus on one particular woman in her stories.

The settings in this book are utterly beautiful, and I was so quickly drawn in by the beautiful writing. I felt constant tension in the presence of the Minotaur (another female tragedy; I was totally oblivious to his origins), even if that was the only part of the story whose ending I already knew. Ariadne's emotions are laid totally bear for the reader; as she is betrayed, saved (by coincidence or design I was never quite sure) and struggles to trust her safety, I was totally caught up in that with her.

Dionysus was a really interesting character to follow, his motives were so ambiguous throughout that he fascinated me. I loved Phaedra's entire story, which again I knew absolutely nothing about. The end feels sort of inevitable, what with the current of sadness that runs through the book, but it hit me really hard in how sudden and unnecessary it felt (oh look, yet more tragedy). Jennifer Saint is definitely going onto my must-read list.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Animal cruelty, Murder, Gore, and Death

Moderate: Pregnancy, Child death, Violence, and Misogyny

functional_fox's review against another edition

emotional sad tense slow-paced

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

4.5

Gorgeous feminist retelling, emphasizes the plight of women in Greek mythos. At times dialogue was wordy but otherwise descriptions flowed effortlessly. Saint does a good job at creating a deep sense of unease in readers as one discovers betrayals alongside the characters. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Sexual assault, Animal death, Violence, Sexual violence, Rape, Pregnancy, and Misogyny

cassidyjennings's review against another edition

dark mysterious sad medium-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

2.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide, Child death, Suicide attempt, Pregnancy, Death, and Sexism

Moderate: Abandonment, Sexual assault, Murder, Misogyny, Gore, Violence, Rape, Animal death, Toxic relationship, Emotional abuse, Death of parent, and Blood

Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Vomit