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jkunke's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
5.0
Moderate: Death, Domestic abuse, Infertility, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Vomit, Car accident, Abortion, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Pregnancy, and Alcohol
Minor: War
soozevp's review
- 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
Graphic: Domestic abuse and Abortion
Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Death, Emotional abuse, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Blood, Medical trauma, Pregnancy, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Confinement, Death, Gore, Incest, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Forced institutionalization, Vomit, Car accident, Death of parent, and Injury/Injury detail
bubblybelle's review against another edition
- 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
4.0
Graphic: Confinement, Domestic abuse, Rape, Sexism, Toxic relationship, Abortion, and Pregnancy
Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Death, Emotional abuse, Incest, Car accident, Death of parent, and Alcohol
Minor: Animal death, Cancer, Infertility, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Dementia, and Suicide attempt
nickoliver's review against another edition
- 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
2.5
My biggest issue with it was the way it tried to be this powerful feminist story, which it failed at completely at the end of the day. To put it bluntly, this book was basically just 370 miserable pages of violence against women, with a little sprinkle of hope that really didn’t make up for any of it. Was I supposed to come out of this book feeling empowered and happy instead of depressed? Because there really should have been less focus on women being abused and violated if that was the case.
The story was told from the perspective of three different women from the same family in three different time periods, who all dealt with misogyny and sexism in different forms: Altha in 1619 had been accused of witchcraft and was awaiting trial; Violet in 1942 was a sixteen-year-old girl who really liked insects and was heavily misunderstood by her father and general society; and Kate in 2019 was escaping a horribly abusive relationship. While I enjoyed the fact that I got to see different perspectives, they eventually all fell flat for me. They all were pretty much stereotypes of the kind of woman who was subjugated to men’s violence in their respective time period - the witchy single woman in the 1600s, the autistic-coded wild girl who felt stifled by the expectations put on her in the 1940s, and the woman in 2019 who suffered the abuse of an almost caricature of an abusive man.
Kate’s POV bothered me the most, because for the vast majority of it, it was literally just trauma porn. Her abusive boyfriend, Simon, was evil incarnated, yet it somehow didn’t feel genuine at all. It just seemed as if Hart really wanted us to understand that he was a piece of shit and hammered it home over and over and over again. He just felt like “Abusive Boyfriend 101” as opposed to a genuinely fleshed-out character. Several chapters from Kate’s POV did nothing but tell in brutal detail all the abuse Kate had suffered over the six years she’d been with Simon. It really wasn’t necessary to go into that much depth, especially since there was never really any pay-off. Sure, Kate learnt to free herself from him by the end of the story, but Simon got punished only a little bit. You could argue that that was realistic, but did a story like “Weyward” that emphasised the witchiness of a purely female family line really need realism?
Moreover, what’s empowering about a story where the men not only didn’t really get punished, but where the punishment in the end stemmed almost solely from the witchcraft? What message did that bring to women in real life, who couldn’t just sic a bunch of crows on their abusers whenever they pleased?
Violet’s POV was similar. It dealt a lot with her sexist father and his expectations of her as well as the trauma inflicted upon her by someone in her life, and again, none of it really ended satisfyingly. Like yes,
Plus, the way Hart wrote about adult Violet, despite maybe not having been intended, always sounded as if Violet wasn’t actually happy but just made the most of it. Sixteen-year-old Violet didn’t sound like she wanted a husband and children to begin with, yet later on, it was phrased as if she’d been happy in spite of not having children as opposed to regardless of it. As if a woman couldn't possibly be happy childless and choose it for herself willingly.
Altha’s POV was the one that infuriated me the least when it came to its feminist portrayal, but it did make me realise how indistinguishable from one other the time periods felt like. You would’ve thought that a story set in 1619 would be different from a story set in 2019, but it really wasn’t. Of course, some of the things the characters in 1619 said wouldn’t be taken seriously in 2019 (though looking at Trump supporters, I admittedly wouldn’t bet on it). But the writing was completely the same. Altha wrote her story down, which was found later by both Violet and Kate, and they had no issues reading it. You’d think Old English from 1619 would give someone from 1942 and from 2019 - unless they were an English major - trouble, but no. Altha’s voice read exactly like the voice of Violet, which read exactly like the voice of Kate. It read like no research was put into the time period aside from very superficial surface-scratching (women were burnt at the stake in the 1600s, and they were supposed to be housewives and obedient in the 1940s).
Lastly, and I don’t know if maybe that was just me, but the book had really weird pro-life undertones while masking as pro-choice, if that makes sense. It’s not as if Hart actively said that abortion was bad or that she considered it murder, but she also didn’t really do much to counteract those claims. For example, in one of the first chapters in her POV, it was revealed that Kate had gotten pregnant by Simon. Simon had wanted to have a baby with her for a while and basically forced it on her (refused to let her use birth control etc.). Yet despite all of that, the moment she heard her daughter’s heartbeat, she couldn’t get an abortion anymore, and pregnancy made her all glowing and happy and strong. People around her were judgmental of even the possibility of her getting an abortion, and not much was done to criticise those points.
The other perspectives also had pregnancy and abortion as themes, but it was also kind of portrayed as this painful, horrible act that would bring shame upon their families. And yes, the women chose to have the abortions and they didn’t regret them afterwards, but that’s about the only positive thing I can say about the portrayal of it. There was never any nuanced discussion - or even thought process in one of their heads - about abortion, and at the end of the day, it just felt too much like Hart very much preferred birth over abortion regardless of the circumstances. Which was completely at odds with the kind of story she tried to sell me this book as.
So while I liked this book when I first finished it, I realised quickly once I started to think about it more that there was actually a lot wrong with it. The only thing I can still genuinely recommend this book for is the fact that I liked that we got to see three different generations of women, and the fact that it was quick to read due to rather short chapters, despite the heavy subject matter. But I really hated that I was supposed to see this as an empowering story as opposed to just surface-level White Feminism 101.
Graphic: Domestic abuse, Misogyny, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Grief, Abortion, Death of parent, and Pregnancy
Moderate: War
Minor: Miscarriage
CW for forced impregnationmadmantha's review
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.75
Lost a star from me because the r*pe scene halfway through was unnecessarily detailed and descriptive.
I feel like in this day and age, we have many tools and resources that we don’t need scenes such as this one mentioned to be written on the page, or worse, recorded audibly.
There’s hundreds of ways this scene could have unfolded to make the reader understand what happened without triggering readers and survivors with such graphic details.
Other than the graphic scenes and descriptions, and the lack of trigger warnings, I rather enjoyed this book. It’s difficult to look back on it in a positive light because some of its scenes are so triggering, dark, and contrast the other themes of this novel greatly.
If you do decide to read this book, I highly suggest reading up on the triggers before hand so you know what you’re getting yourself into. Beware of the halfway mark and Violet’s chapters.
Graphic: Body horror, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Incest, Miscarriage, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Medical trauma, Abortion, Death of parent, Pregnancy, and Sexual harassment
Moderate: Animal death, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Gore, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Violence, Vomit, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Abortion, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Lesbophobia, Toxic friendship, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Cancer, Racism, and War
meghanm404's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
Graphic: Violence and Abortion
Moderate: Bullying, Sexism, Sexual assault, Blood, and Pregnancy
Minor: Child death, Confinement, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Miscarriage, Physical abuse, Rape, Forced institutionalization, Medical content, Grief, Religious bigotry, Car accident, Death of parent, and Injury/Injury detail
souris_de_coton's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.25
Graphic: Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexism, and Gaslighting
norahhm's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
I didn’t think the witch theme was explored enough for the amount of suspense built up throughout the book about what that entailed…I think delving more into the ways the women used their powers aside from just punishing the men would have better served the message the author seemed to be sending about finding empowerment from within—rather than from a man. Because the culmination of each woman’s journey was finding their power through hurting abusers, it decentered their personal journeys to emancipation and refocused the way they found freedom on the involvement of men.
Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Incest, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Grief, Medical trauma, Abortion, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Gaslighting, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Child death, Miscarriage, Medical trauma, and Car accident
Minor: Cursing and Forced institutionalization
joyce_porter's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
Graphic: Emotional abuse, Miscarriage, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Abortion, Death of parent, and Pregnancy
pollyhall's review
- 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? No
5.0
Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Confinement, Domestic abuse, Infertility, Miscarriage, Panic attacks/disorders, Rape, Sexism, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Blood, Grief, Car accident, Abortion, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, and War