Reviews tagging 'Emotional abuse'

When Women Were Dragons by Kelly Barnhill

49 reviews

twistykris's review against another edition

adventurous emotional hopeful inspiring reflective 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? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Misogyny, Death of parent, Abandonment, Cancer, Sexism, and Emotional abuse

Moderate: Infidelity, Lesbophobia, Homophobia, Toxic relationship, and Grief

faduma's review against another edition

emotional hopeful informative inspiring mysterious reflective slow-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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Abandonment, Emotional abuse, and Gaslighting

Moderate: Sexism, Death of parent, Misogyny, and Panic attacks/disorders

amandadevoursbooks's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional funny hopeful lighthearted mysterious reflective relaxing sad 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? It's complicated

3.0

Ugh 😫 the first half of this book was delightful. The middle was a challenge, and the end complicated.

The premise is unique. In the 50s, a bunch of women turned into dragons, and they left. Alex, the primary's story, is one of remembering and forgetting as her culture remembers and forgets.

If you read it as a memoir, the story flows like water. 

It centers rage, trauma, and healing, and it leans into an idea that if women had more power the world would be better. I find this challenging since colonialism and white supermacy wield white feminism as both a shield and a knife. 

It's a book I'm going to be thinking about for a long time. It is both tragic and hopeful, sad and sweet, and creative and destructive. 

I can't get over the how it centers white people in stories of black and brown people though. If recommend it to a specific type of reader. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, and Xenophobia

lynxpardinus's review against another edition

challenging emotional hopeful reflective

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Terminal illness, Abandonment, Cancer, Grief, Misogyny, Death, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Death of parent, and Sexism

Moderate: Addiction, Alcohol, Body horror, Physical abuse, War, Sexual harassment, Alcoholism, Domestic abuse, Homophobia, Infidelity, Pregnancy, Xenophobia, and Dysphoria

Further warning for descriptions of menstruation.

kelseyr713's review against another edition

adventurous emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious reflective sad fast-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

"He looked at the window, toward the sky. In a brief, wild moment, I imagined it filled with dragons. Burning houses. Burning buildings. Swallowing men whole. I imagined the entire Mass Dragoning happening again, but bigger this time—every city, every town, every block, dark wings and sharp jaws and bright scales crowding the sky. I imagined myself unleashed, unhooked, unraveled, an explosion of heat and rage and frustration. My bones felt hot. My skin felt tight. The air in my lungs seemed to sizzle."

This alternate history fiction is a love letter to women, libraries, and science. Under the surface, it’s also challenging notions of what should be considered "normal" and encouraging not ignorance and fear, but love and acceptance. I loved and devoured it.

Content warnings: homophobia, parental emotional abuse, death of parents, cancer, body horror (although I personally found the dragoning described beautifully, this may not be true for all readers).

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Lesbophobia, Misogyny, Fire/Fire injury, Homophobia, Cancer, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, and Sexism

Moderate: Grief, Terminal illness, Abandonment, Body horror, and Dysphoria

Minor: Murder, Physical abuse, Infidelity, and Pregnancy

stayshomeandreads's review against another edition

adventurous emotional hopeful

3.5

Loved this kooky feminist fantasy. I personally wish it was more fantasy than historical fiction but the characters were so lovable and the emotions so real that I didn’t even care by the end. Also anyone who says this book isn’t trans inclusive   didn’t actually read the book. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Sexism, Abandonment, Cancer, Death of parent, and Emotional abuse

kshertz's review against another edition

adventurous emotional inspiring tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

I friggin loved this book. It could be the time period. I love the idea of women becoming dragons spontaneously in 1955. It’s a result of anytime the woman is suppressed, or had their rights pushed away, or tried to be put in a box. There’s a few stories going on but the main is a family where the mom doesn’t spontaneously dragon but probably should have, and the aunt does. The young daughter is left to pick up the pieces and decide what she and her cousin (pretend now sister) will do. Her dad is trash. The other side is people trying to silence all the dragonings happening. There are fake centers for learning and congressional hearings. It’s just brilliant in my humble opinion. I only loved it more when I found out it was written and dedicated to Christine Blasey Ford and written after the Brett Kavanaugh hearing. I think if you’re currently enraged and feeling helpless, this book made me feel a little less alone. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Injury/Injury detail, Toxic relationship, Abandonment, Child abuse, Death, Panic attacks/disorders, Biphobia, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Misogyny, Homophobia, Infidelity, and Murder

sometimes_samantha_reads's review against another edition

adventurous emotional slow-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? It's complicated

3.0

I liked it. It was fun having court testimonies and articles thrown in the mix between chapters. I liked those more than the character narration most times to be honest. It was a bit slow but I would still recommend it to someone. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cancer, Death of parent, Sexism, and Emotional abuse

keenanmaree's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional funny hopeful reflective sad slow-paced

• 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? Yes

5.0

What a gorgeous, weird, and wonderful book. As bizarre and fantastical as it is, it still manages to provide an incredibly grounded exploration of what it is like to grow up feminine in a world that has declared so many aspects of femininity to be taboo. It is a powerful study of gender, relationships, and what happens when we allow too much to remain unsaid simply because “we don’t talk about that.” 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Chronic illness, Misogyny, Cancer, Death of parent, and Terminal illness

Moderate: Grief, Religious bigotry, and Emotional abuse