Reviews with content warning for Classism - Weyward

I had high expectations because this was the Goodreads Choice Awards Book of the Year (2023)—perhaps too high. It was a good book, but I felt the three good storylines were one too many. With stories set in the 1600s, 1940s, and the present day, the story constantly jumped around. If I had been able to read it in one sitting, it might have worked.

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emlawley's review against another edition

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challenging emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious 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? No

5.0

This book blew me away. It’s so clever and well-thought-out how all the protagonists’ stories interlink and the subtlety the author used with that ‘golden thread’ is wonderful. Pretty much every chapter ending on a bit of a cliffhanger was so skillful! A fantastic feminist tale that I didn’t know we needed. I had to force myself to stop listening so that I didn’t just get through it in one day 🫣

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godfrina's review against another edition

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challenging dark sad tense medium-paced

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

2.0

Three women's stories through the centuries, centering on their suffering, horrific abuse and mistreatment mostly at the hands of men. The writing itself is beautiful and I guess it's meant to read as a story of "female resilience".
However, it taught me predominantly two things:

I must stop getting seduced by gorgeous cover art
I cannot stomach stories about misogynistic physical and emotional abuse 🤷🏻‍♀️

2 stars for the writing style and tackling the issues at hand.
Content warnings longer than this review.

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kyrstin_p1989's review

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dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense 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

Beautiful & magical. A story about the power of women and the bond between them, even when they’ve been kept away from one another for far too long.

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opie_azvuc's review

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dark emotional sad 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? Yes

0.25

3 Girls 1 Spine

I'm really concerned for the author of this book. I don't know if men did something to her, or she's just chronically online or something, but she HATES men so MUCH. Every single male character in this book is an absolute monster save exactly one who's only kind of okay until the very end where he's a hero. To be fair, two of the three "protagonists" are incredibly bad at it.

Misandry aside, this book is not that well written. Each chapter takes around 5-10 minutes to read and less than that in the first third or so of the book. Each chapter follows around one of three women in three completely different time periods and ends on a cliffhanger. The first few chapters are only around 6 pages each, so it's very jarring and disconnected and feels like the author may have written it while guzzling espresso and shooting cocaine.

The first person we follow is Altha, a woman accused of witchcraft in the 1600's and literally the only protagonist to have any sort of backbone or agency despite the face her situation is the most dire. She avoids prosecution and immolation and goes on to rescue the wife of an abusive husband by causing said abusive husband to be attacked by woodland creatures Loony Tunes style.

The second protagonist, Violet, is a sixteen year old girl with an abusive father and a brother off at boarding school during World War 2. Her cousin, a soldier, comes to stay with the family on leave, date rapes Violet, and the father finds out and sequesters her in this cabin in the woods where it turns out he had her mother interred there where all sorts of horrible things happened to her by men. She learns how to give herself an abortion using noxious weeds and realizes she has the power to chase her father away with woodland creatures Loony Tunes style.

The third protagonist is Kate in 2019 who is running from an abusive boyfriend she has been with for 5 years and has had multiple chances to get away from but chose not to until she decided to flee to the countryside, at no point contacting the police, battered women's shelter, lawyer, or anything that makes sense. She doesn't even bother to get a gun or ask any of her new acquiaintances to look out for her. When the boyfriend tracks her down because of the script, she realizes she also has the power to chase her boyfriend away with woodland creatures Loony Tunes style.

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