Reviews tagging 'Toxic friendship'

Clytemnestra by Costanza Casati

5 reviews

nehaanna's review against another edition

adventurous dark 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? Yes

4.75

The retelling of female mythological characters is a delicate execution. This novel seeks to excavate the life and thoughts of one of the most ruthless women in Greek mythology, the wife of the ruthless king Agamemnon. This novel undertakes the retelling of Clytmnestra’s life from childhood to middle age as she rules in the absence of her husband during the famed Trojan War. This book is very similar to other feminist retelling of myths such as the novel Kaiyeki. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Infidelity, Grief, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, War, Cursing, Sexual violence, Misogyny, Sexual content, Sexual assault, Torture, Violence, Murder, Physical abuse, Child abuse, Pregnancy, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Death of parent, Injury/Injury detail, Rape, Slavery, Blood, Emotional abuse, Forced institutionalization, Gaslighting, Gore, and Child death

Moderate: Alcohol, Incest, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Bullying, Homophobia, and Sexism

dreamitallaway's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective tense medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Sexual assault, Grief, Emotional abuse, Blood, Death, Domestic abuse, Misogyny, Murder, and Toxic friendship

Minor: Suicidal thoughts, Xenophobia, Lesbophobia, War, and Kidnapping

Content topical of those in greek mythology

missgarceau's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional reflective sad 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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Blood, Child abuse, Child death, Death of parent, Deportation, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Gore, Grief, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Pregnancy, Religious bigotry, Toxic relationship, Violence, Vomit, Slavery, Stalking, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic friendship, Hate crime, Incest, Injury/Injury detail, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Suicide attempt, Adult/minor relationship, Body shaming, Bullying, Cannibalism, Classism, Sexism, War, Confinement, Death, Kidnapping, Murder, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual violence, Abandonment, Animal death, Body horror, Infidelity, Mental illness, Torture, and Trafficking

heatherjchin's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Slavery, Sexual violence, Physical abuse, Misogyny, Injury/Injury detail, Blood, Animal death, War, Gore, Bullying, Body horror, Sexual harassment, Sexual assault, Self harm, Religious bigotry, Pregnancy, Medical trauma, Forced institutionalization, Death of parent, Rape, Pedophilia, Murder, Homophobia, Gaslighting, Emotional abuse, Domestic abuse, Child death, Abandonment, Adult/minor relationship, Violence, Trafficking, Toxic relationship, Toxic friendship, Suicide, Suicidal thoughts, Sexism, Kidnapping, Infidelity, Incest, Grief, Death, and Child abuse

Moderate: Alcoholism

lovelymisanthrope's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-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

4.0

I selected this as one of my Book of the Month selections.
"Clytemnestra" follows Clytemnestra, arguably the most infamous villainess of the ancient world. She unknowingly marries a tyrant who commits multiple evil acts against her, the worst being murdering their child in an effort to appease the gods. When presented with the choice, Clytemnestra can decide to accept her fate, or exact revenge on all of those who have wronged her. In her own cunning way, she chooses to play the long game, and take the power she deserves.
Clytemnestra is definitely an evil character, but once you begin to read her story, you cannot but help to feel badly for her. Everyone treated her horribly, and seemingly every time she got a sliver of good in her life, it was tainted and taken away.
This story absolutely blew me away, especially because it is a debut. I am not a huge fan of Greek retellings, but this one I could not put down. Clytemnestra is such a complex and morally gray character, and I loved seeing her evolution. This villain origin story will make you empathize with her and be up in arms with her.
The writing was beautiful, but very approachable. The author wrote this in a way that even if you know nothing about Greek history, you can enjoy and follow this story easily.
I look forward to reading more from Costanza Casati in the future. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Infidelity, Child death, Toxic relationship, Murder, Death, Kidnapping, Violence, Sexual assault, Sexism, Misogyny, Injury/Injury detail, Grief, War, Toxic friendship, Torture, and Gaslighting