Reviews with content warning for Sexual harassment - Weyward

Reviews tagging 'Sexual harassment'

debstrain's review

dark emotional mysterious tense slow-paced

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

3.5

This was a slow and challenging read as I tend to prefer a faster pace and more lighthearted / fantastical plot. However, I am so glad I stuck it out as the ending was really inspiring and thought-provoking and held up a mirror to motherhood and relationships.

I think all baby mamas should read this book 🙌

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tmartini's review

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challenging emotional inspiring reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.5

What an appropriate time to read a book about women's suppression, abuse and torment by men. This book just added fuel to my female rage, in a good way. And inspired me to not yield. Loved it.

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isabelmargetts's review against another edition

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dark emotional mysterious sad medium-paced

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

3.75

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the_bookish_babee's review against another edition

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dark emotional sad tense 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? It's complicated

4.0

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lindyloureads's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional informative inspiring reflective tense 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? No

4.25

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kbairbooks's review

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I cannot think of a single good thing about this book. It was HEAVY with trigger warnings, at over 60% nothing good had yet to happen which led me to not wanting to pick up this book because it would drastically bring down my mood. The characters were so awful to each other. I just couldn't stand it anymore.

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clairebartholomew549's review

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dark emotional inspiring mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

I really loved this book. It's dark and moody and vaguely mysterious, and the scene-setting is impeccable. I've always been intrigued by the Salem witch trials, and this retelling felt fresh and new and interesting. At its core, this is a story about men trying to control women and women breaking free of patriarchal expectations and realities. I rooted for Kate, Violet, and Altha, and I enjoyed each of their perspectives and didn't find myself itching to get back to one perspective (which I find rare in books with multiple timelines). I also deeply loved the depictions of nature and animals and attunement with the world.

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jasmine8's review

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slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No

2.5

I was excited to read this book based on the concept, but, unfortunately, I found it rather disappointing. The idea of the novel - the stories of three women from the same family with a supernatural connection to nature across time - is strong, but the execution fell flat.

*Spoilers ahead*

A major issue with the book is its pacing. Two of the three main characters (Violet in the 1940s and Kate in the modern day) are unaware that they are pseudo-witches. The final woman (Altha in the early 1600s) knows of her heritage, but her section is written in first-person POV and she intentionally does not discuss her family's "secrets" until the end of the novel. The problem with this mystery structure is the reader is almost immediately aware of the characters' powers & the Weyward legacy (it is easy to figure out based on the first couple of chapters and, frankly, if you have read the summary or looked at the cover, you already have a pretty good idea of the novel's substance). However, the characters take almost the entire book to realize these things and so the majority of the novel is set-up. It can be frustrating to read chapter after chapter that aims to create suspense, but not be invested since the secret is already so obvious.

As discussed by many other comments, this book should have explicit trigger or content warnings. There is domestic violence, loss of pregnancy, unwanted pregnancies, sexual assault, attempted suicide, and continuous violence against women. There is nothing wrong with writing about heavy topics, but, in my opinion, if the author chooses to do so, they should make sure they do it well. Although there are heavy topics in this book, it feels almost shallow in the way they are approached and discussed, as if the writer did not have particular experience with these topics and didn't complete any research to learn more. For example (TW: suicide, SA), Violet (at 16 years old) tries to commit suicide by jumping out of her bedroom window after being r*ped by her cousin, but is stopped by her brother (unknowingly, he merely enters the room and tells her to climb down so he can retrieve something from her). After this scene, the suicide attempt is mentioned in Violet's story once more (after her brother briefly mentions her suicide note and what happened to her in the end of the novel) and once in Kate's story (as she finds the note when searching Violet's cottage). It seems to have almost no lasting impact on Violet, the suicidal ideation goes away and isn't mentioned again, and it is not discussed. My question being - why include the topic of suicide in the first place if it is meant to be a fleeting scene with no depth? What does it add to the story?

The main characters are one-dimensional with little personality or distinguishing characteristics. After reading the whole novel, I cannot remember any of the three main women's hobbies or interests outside of "nature," "insects," and "plants." The fact that all three characters have the same interests (which are due to their Weyward heritage) and not much else to them makes them rather boring to the reader. They also don't have very solid personalities and flip rapidly between being extremely passive & scared of the world and being powerful, strong women. Also, for a book that presents itself as an ode to female friendships, there are...minimal female friendships and all side characters have even less substance than the main three (Kate makes a single friend in the novel, Violet has no female friends besides her nanny who is unimportant plot-wise, and Altha has one "friend" that she barely interacts with).

It is clear the book wants to present strong women overcoming adversity, but in reality, the main female cast spend the majority of the novel being abused, harmed, and scared, and then suddenly overcome all of these issues in a single dramatic scene (which occurs at the very end). Almost every single male character is so evil it is comical so the issues of abuse & SA tend to fall flat. The idea that being brave in a single instance can instantly solve these issues further shows the book's shallow understanding of its main themes. In my opinion, this book lacks the nuance to provide a meaningful commentary on women overcoming reoccurring issues and how these issues have changed over time. There are simply better books that cover these topics with the respect they deserve. It further feels as if the book (likely unintentionally) presents the "right" way to be a powerful woman (not being in a relationship with a man, being in the countryside away from others, having children to continue the family line) and other ways of choosing to live are less valid (I mention this because the characters, particularly Violet, tend to lose their powers when they become interested in men or at all separated from the countryside). Even when the characters can access their powers, they never use them to challenge the overarching systems that harmed them, but instead tend to hide away in a cottage. (It is true that the characters use their powers to get rid of the specific man in their life causing them trouble, but after that, they never seem to use their powers again).

In addition, the book is VERY focused around pregnancy and I would not have read it if I was aware just how much time is spent on this topic (Kate's abusive boyfriend gets her pregnant against her will, but after having a dream of a daughter, she is suddenly super into having a child; Violet gets pregnant against her will by her cousin; Altha is helping her friend terminate her pregnancy). The novel's decision to tie womanhood so strongly to pregnancy and the desire to have children feels somewhat problematic. The novel makes it clear that the main women are exclusively interested in having female children, but I believe my criticism stands.

Overall, an excellent idea with a poor execution and shallow presentation of what it means to be a "strong woman overcoming adversity." I'd recommend reading another book with a similar vibe, but more depth.

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