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aellwy's review
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
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? Yes
5.0
This book is a beautifully written macabre retelling of the The Goblin Market. The relationship between Marie and Sadie is darkly enmeshed. They ruined the lives of others for their love.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death, Toxic friendship, Sexism, and Toxic relationship
Moderate: Suicide, Rape, Sexual content, Self harm, and Sexual harassment
Minor: Animal cruelty
mackenziez's review
dark
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
I have complicated feelings for this book. The first half was very slow to me and kept putting me to sleep but I’m glad I stuck it out because the ending was a real treat.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Rape, Animal death, and Murder
freyanjani's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
funny
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
I saw this book reccomended by someone I follow on Instagram and loved the cover, only knew it was somewhat gay so I was sold. But it was so much more than what I thought. This book was a roller coaster ride and I saw reviews saying it was too long and dragged out but in every turn there is always an unexpected twist, especially in the second half. Genuinely the first time I read a 400 page book and didn’t realize it was 400 pages, one of the only books I read this year that kept me wanting to read more.
It was queer in a really theatrical way, and I liked that it wasn’t advertised or written to be an exclusively queer story about two women in love with each other—it had everything in it. Snarky feminism, a twist on history, the cobweb of privilege, class struggle and the exhilarating side of a revolution. It’s a really unique call out of capitalism, and a fresh look on feminism. I just loved when fiction tries to intertwine with real history, especially the wordplay on the main characters’ names (Mary Antoine and Sadie Arnett). A really refreshing historical fiction.
My ADHD brain also loved how the book has very short chapters so it didn’t feel like I was reading a long book. It felt like reading proses that was easily digestible even though it was so decadent with thought-provoking ideas.
My only critique for this books how it describes George. It just didn’t felt right to me that she was constantly described as ugly, at times it felt unnecessary. Even though in the end it’s sort of explained why she was seen as ugly… just didn’t feel too right for me that the only gender non conforming character is being described with such negativity but I digress. I do think it’s cool to explore George’s gender identity from the POV that she was a biological female, it made me think of myself which was nice in a way. I do think we should have gotten more of George and less on Marie and Sadie’s insanity but again, I digress. Also one more critique is the fatphobic remarks on Marie’s “fatness” when she was a child. Like idk. I thought it wasn’t THAT necessary.
This has been my favorite 5 star read of the year. Very thought provoking, engaging, and radical. If it was more compact and shorter, I think it would reach a wider audience. Will be exploring more of the author’s works.
It was queer in a really theatrical way, and I liked that it wasn’t advertised or written to be an exclusively queer story about two women in love with each other—it had everything in it. Snarky feminism, a twist on history, the cobweb of privilege, class struggle and the exhilarating side of a revolution. It’s a really unique call out of capitalism, and a fresh look on feminism. I just loved when fiction tries to intertwine with real history, especially the wordplay on the main characters’ names (Mary Antoine and Sadie Arnett). A really refreshing historical fiction.
My ADHD brain also loved how the book has very short chapters so it didn’t feel like I was reading a long book. It felt like reading proses that was easily digestible even though it was so decadent with thought-provoking ideas.
This has been my favorite 5 star read of the year. Very thought provoking, engaging, and radical. If it was more compact and shorter, I think it would reach a wider audience. Will be exploring more of the author’s works.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Classism, Rape, Sexual assault, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, Abortion, Misogyny, Sexism, Sexual content, Sexual harassment, and Sexual violence
Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child abuse, Child death, Drug use, Injury/Injury detail, Adult/minor relationship, and Domestic abuse
thoughtful_reader's review
dark
funny
hopeful
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death of parent, Dysphoria, Rape, Murder, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Forced institutionalization, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, and Toxic friendship
kaitisbooknook's review
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Marie Antoine, the sole child and heir of sugar factory owner Louis Antoine, and Sadie Arnett, the daughter of a wannabe, morally righteous politician, form an unlikely but distinctly intense and passionate friendship in 19th century Montreal. When a childhood game of make believe results in the accidental yet tragic death of one of the Antoine family’s maids, the girls are forced to separate - an event that not only had far reaching consequences for the ladies and their families, but for the entire world.
I can easily say this is my favorite release of 2022, my personal favorite read of the year so far, and now one of my all-time favorite books. O’Neill masterfully explores the various ways in which women, but in 19th century Montreal and present day, are oppressed, whether that be by societal shame or the law of the land. She explores struggles of gender and gender identity, sexuality, class, and international relationships in a way that ties together both eras, showing us we may not have progressed as much as we think we have.
Through incredibly lyrical yet concise writing, she draws you in from the first chapter and doesn’t let you go even after you’ve finished the last page. Her omniscient narration that even knows the minds of pigs and inanimate objects is at once sympathetic and brutally honest, so you will deeply care for each character even while acknowledging their great imperfections.
Given the recent news regarding the threat to our own bodily autonomy in the United States, I urge you to pick this up. I cannot recommend it enough.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Animal death, Death, Sexual violence, Death of parent, and Sexual assault
beanjoles's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
funny
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
I was SO into this book in part one, and found the rest of the book to be a bit of a let-down. :(
To me this book has a similar tone and style to season one of The Great, and I kept picturing Marie as Elle Fanning's Catherine and Sadie as Phoebe Fox's Marial (sort of). There's a great deal of dedacent behaviour; everything is lush and beautiful (except for when it's unbearably drab and unjust). Sadie and Marie are always laughing at themselves and at the world to some degree. Everything is a bit absurd to them except each other.
Spoilers for parts two-three: Based on character names I assumed that the plot would pivot to involve a social revolution, and indeed it did. But, for me that kind of ruined things. I was captivated by the depth and peculiarity of Sadie and Marie's obsession with each other because it closely mirrors what a lot of queer women feel for their "best friends" growing up (minus the murder element for most of us). This book excelled when it was describing these two personalities playing off of one another. I wish the author would have chosen a singular direction and stuck with it, rather than trying to make this book about social revolution and about their friendship. To me it just didn't gel.
Part two shows them both developing separately. Sadie's character progression worked, but but it didn't make sense to me why Marie went down the road she did despite what happened with Phillip.
Also, to have them get back together AND NO INTIMACY?! They clearly have an erotic love of sorts for each other and while we get to see this with George (and everyone else Sadie is with), that element of Marie and Sadie's relationship is almost never broached. I kept waiting for them to be a power couple in all aspects but alas, it was not to be.
So as you can see, I guess part of my rating comes from the book not focusing on what I wanted it to lol. However, I also struggled with the writing. Overall, it was slightly sardonic and weird and enjoyable. But there was SO MUCH repetitive sentence structure. Entire paragraphs of "She thought this. She wondered that. She walked here. She picked up an object. Then she put it down." I'm not sure if this was intended to produce a certain rhythmic effect; to me it came across as stilted and unnatural.
Overall: Promising, don't regret reading it, but I am left wishing the author had gone in a different direction and played into her strengths, which imo was the characters.
To me this book has a similar tone and style to season one of The Great, and I kept picturing Marie as Elle Fanning's Catherine and Sadie as Phoebe Fox's Marial (sort of). There's a great deal of dedacent behaviour; everything is lush and beautiful (except for when it's unbearably drab and unjust). Sadie and Marie are always laughing at themselves and at the world to some degree. Everything is a bit absurd to them except each other.
Spoilers for parts two-three:
Part two shows them both developing separately. Sadie's character progression worked, but but it didn't make sense to me why Marie went down the road she did despite what happened with Phillip.
Also, to have them get back together AND NO INTIMACY?! They clearly have an erotic love of sorts for each other and while we get to see this with George (and everyone else Sadie is with), that element of Marie and Sadie's relationship is almost never broached. I kept waiting for them to be a power couple in all aspects but alas, it was not to be.
So as you can see, I guess part of my rating comes from the book not focusing on what I wanted it to lol. However, I also struggled with the writing. Overall, it was slightly sardonic and weird and enjoyable. But there was SO MUCH repetitive sentence structure. Entire paragraphs of "She thought this. She wondered that. She walked here. She picked up an object. Then she put it down." I'm not sure if this was intended to produce a certain rhythmic effect; to me it came across as stilted and unnatural.
Overall: Promising, don't regret reading it, but I am left wishing the author had gone in a different direction and played into her strengths, which imo was the characters.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Toxic friendship and Sexual violence
Moderate: Animal death, Rape, and Death of parent
Minor: Suicide
smallestcat's review
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
reflective
tense
medium-paced
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Toxic relationship
Moderate: Abortion, Rape, Murder, Animal cruelty, and Animal death
Minor: Abandonment, Suicide, Classism, Death of parent, Forced institutionalization, Domestic abuse, and Colonisation
readgramrepeat's review
dark
funny
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Abortion, Rape, Animal death, Gun violence, Drug use, Suicidal thoughts, Classism, and Fire/Fire injury
sjames's review
adventurous
dark
funny
mysterious
fast-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
5.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Animal cruelty, Child abuse, Rape, Animal death, Blood, Abortion, Classism, and Forced institutionalization
nini23's review against another edition
- Diverse cast of characters? No
4.25
I devoured this book in two days, like a decadent cake. A coincidence that I happen to be reading The Masochist by Katja Perat which references Leopold von Sacher-Masoch where the term masochism/masochist originated from. Here in When We Lost Our Heads, the main character Sadie Arnett is a reference to Marquis de Sade, also a historical figure whose writings arose the concept of sadism. Both books are set in late nineteenth century and examine women's agency, sexual perversion, madness.
When We Lost Our Heads is a spectacle, an extravaganza, ferocious, exuberant, intense. I can see it adapted into a play or musical, à la Les Misérables with Fantine and her factory workers + prostitutes staging a strike and revolution. It's set in the gilded age of 19th century Montreal with many important personas of the French Revolution transposed in the naming of characters, the spirit of the revolution overhangs the entire novel. There's Marie Antoine in a clear reference to Marie Antoinette ('let them eat cake') who is the heiress of a sugar empire, daughter of sugar baron Louis Antoine (her likeness is printed on all the bags of sugar). There's Mary Robespierre alluding to Maximilien Robespierre, Jeanne-Pauline Marat alluding to Jean-Paul Marat, George Danton to Georges Danton and so on, interestingly the gender of all these famous French revolutionaries have been flipped. The revolution brewing is that of the women's suffrage movement, worker's rights, female liberation fomenting in the lower classes who live in The Squalid Mile.
The female empowerment novel revolves around the consuming mutually fascinating relationship between Marie Antoine and Sadie Arnett, who meet each other as tweens, both living on the Golden Mile. The Arnetts are social climbers whereas the Antoines lord over the city. These two freerun girls are extremely precocious and get along like a house on fire. Envy and a shocking crime cause their physical separation. The titillating tale brings us to a boarding school for troubled girls in England, a brothel in the Squalid Mile where a transgender individual performs deliveries and abortions, a bakery beside the sugar factory where the most delectable confections are made, the sugar factories themselves where harsh working conditions abound. Poisonings, burning revenge, licentious trysts, birth secrets, lunatic asylums, class warfare, hangings...oh my!
What struck me reading this novel is a lot of the themes are just as relevant in modern times. The factory workers at the sugar factory losing their fingers to workplace accidents could be the Amazon workers of our time working under strict time constraints and with one of the highest rates of work injuries in the industry. Those maids who are taken advantage of sexually by their employers are the MeToo movement with powerful famous men standing accused. The morality police and hypocritical majority male lawmakers are still present with regard to prostitution and abortion laws. The rich poor disparity gap is wider than ever. Boarding prep schools in England still exist but I'm also thinking of places like Eton where a lot of the white old boy's power exclusive club is well and alive. Class differences may not be so apparent anymore but if we look at access to healthcare, incarceration rates among certain racial groups, housing affordability, the opulent lifestyles of the 1%...
O'Neill's use of language and metaphors is scrumptious (I can't seem to escape sweets-based descriptors after reading), many passages were highlighted and savoured.
The only rather glaring omission is that although this purportedly tackles sexism and class poverty, making sweeping all-encompassing statements about women, all the characters appear to be white with some half-hearted inclusion of biracial prostitutes. Where are the First Nations people? The racial minorities? Intersectional feminism.
Interview with author in The Montreal Gazette: https://montrealgazette.com/entertainment/local-arts/heather-oneill-conjures-a-parallel-world-montreal-in-when-we-lost-our-heads
When We Lost Our Heads is a spectacle, an extravaganza, ferocious, exuberant, intense. I can see it adapted into a play or musical, à la Les Misérables with Fantine and her factory workers + prostitutes staging a strike and revolution. It's set in the gilded age of 19th century Montreal with many important personas of the French Revolution transposed in the naming of characters, the spirit of the revolution overhangs the entire novel. There's Marie Antoine in a clear reference to Marie Antoinette ('let them eat cake') who is the heiress of a sugar empire, daughter of sugar baron Louis Antoine (her likeness is printed on all the bags of sugar). There's Mary Robespierre alluding to Maximilien Robespierre, Jeanne-Pauline Marat alluding to Jean-Paul Marat, George Danton to Georges Danton and so on, interestingly the gender of all these famous French revolutionaries have been flipped. The revolution brewing is that of the women's suffrage movement, worker's rights, female liberation fomenting in the lower classes who live in The Squalid Mile.
The female empowerment novel revolves around the consuming mutually fascinating relationship between Marie Antoine and Sadie Arnett, who meet each other as tweens, both living on the Golden Mile. The Arnetts are social climbers whereas the Antoines lord over the city. These two freerun girls are extremely precocious and get along like a house on fire. Envy and a shocking crime cause their physical separation. The titillating tale brings us to a boarding school for troubled girls in England, a brothel in the Squalid Mile where a transgender individual performs deliveries and abortions, a bakery beside the sugar factory where the most delectable confections are made, the sugar factories themselves where harsh working conditions abound. Poisonings, burning revenge, licentious trysts, birth secrets, lunatic asylums, class warfare, hangings...oh my!
What struck me reading this novel is a lot of the themes are just as relevant in modern times. The factory workers at the sugar factory losing their fingers to workplace accidents could be the Amazon workers of our time working under strict time constraints and with one of the highest rates of work injuries in the industry. Those maids who are taken advantage of sexually by their employers are the MeToo movement with powerful famous men standing accused. The morality police and hypocritical majority male lawmakers are still present with regard to prostitution and abortion laws. The rich poor disparity gap is wider than ever. Boarding prep schools in England still exist but I'm also thinking of places like Eton where a lot of the white old boy's power exclusive club is well and alive. Class differences may not be so apparent anymore but if we look at access to healthcare, incarceration rates among certain racial groups, housing affordability, the opulent lifestyles of the 1%...
O'Neill's use of language and metaphors is scrumptious (I can't seem to escape sweets-based descriptors after reading), many passages were highlighted and savoured.
The only rather glaring omission is that although this purportedly tackles sexism and class poverty, making sweeping all-encompassing statements about women, all the characters appear to be white with some half-hearted inclusion of biracial prostitutes. Where are the First Nations people? The racial minorities? Intersectional feminism.
Interview with author in The Montreal Gazette: https://montrealgazette.com/entertainment/local-arts/heather-oneill-conjures-a-parallel-world-montreal-in-when-we-lost-our-heads
Content Warnings
Moderate: Abortion, Animal death, Sexism, and Animal cruelty
Minor: Fire/Fire injury, Murder, and Rape