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themirrorball's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
Graphic: Abandonment, Sexism, Cancer, Death of parent, and Misogyny
Moderate: Lesbophobia and Homophobia
kaitlinlovesbooks'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? Yes
4.5
Moderate: Cancer, Death of parent, Lesbophobia, Misogyny, and Emotional abuse
Minor: Alcohol
juliaureads's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.5
"Anger is a funny thing. And it does funny things to us if we keep it inside. I encourage you to consider a question: Who benefits, my dear, when you force yourself to not feel angry?" She tilted her head and looked at me so hard I thought she could see right into my bones. She raised her eyebrows. "Clearly not you.”
We all know I love a story about women getting mysterious powers, so of course, I had to grab this over the summer.
When Women Were Dragons is a historical fiction/magical realism/alternate history where the world reacts to a "mass dragoning" - one day a bunch of women leave their homes and families and turn into dragons, never to be seen again.
We see these events through the eyes of two sisters - one who was old enough to understand what happened, the other too young to remember. They both come of age in a world that doesn't speak of dragons, and certainly not of the ones who left.
The most resonant part of this story for me was not the dragoning itself, but society's reaction to it. Society chooses to sweep the dragoning under the rug. Speaking about family members who left becomes taboo - everyone simply moves on without explanation or finding out why.
The culture of silence and avoidance hit deeply, coming from a conservative Catholic family, I am familiar with these coping mechanisms - seeing them on a global scale in this world threw everything into sharp relief.
I highly recommend this to anyone looking for historical fiction that hits differently. Lightly sapphic (romance is certainly not the main plotline), this is a coming-of-age story that dives into how the questions of our past can shape our future.
Graphic: Homophobia, Gaslighting, Lesbophobia, Misogyny, Death of parent, and Sexism
bookishkale's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
The story is set up in an exciting way, where you are not fully sure what is happening until it starts, and then you want to devour it, or at least I did! The story is structured almost like a memoir, but not fully, intermixed there are academic excerpts. It's very creative, and one of the first books that attempted to do something like that, and did it well! The book is set from the 1950s to the '60s. I think this is the best period of time to set this in, because any later or early, the Author wouldn't have succeeded in curating this particular feeling around Dragoning.
The story is told from the point of view of Alex Green, who we 'see' grow up. I personally liked Alex's character, though, I did find her to be frustrating at times. However, she is a product of the people around her, and the people around her did not care for her the way she should have. I love Beatrice and her spunk, and their Aunt Marla. I loved Sonja and the Librarian whose name I can't remember. Their importance in the story was palpable, without any of them, Alex wouldn't be Alex. Overall, I would say the characters all meshed well together, their reactions to the happens of the book make sense, and they are enjoyable. However, I don't know how I feel about Alex's character development by the end of the book, however, I understand the choices that were made and it does not sour the book for me.
The only thing keeping me from rating this higher was the lack of intersectional feminism. There are virtually none, or very, very few, people of color in this book at all. I understand that this book isn't about that, and it's written in a specific time period, but you have fucking dragons in your book... I think you can add a person of color without it being out of place. It would have been so interesting to see someone from any other background talk about their experience with Dragoning with Alex. I do appreciate that there is sapphic love in this story, I don't think it could be the same without it, and I find that wonderful! I wish more exploration could have gone into transwomen and their dragoning. I just love the dragoning experience that the author portrays and I want more and more and more.
Overall, a great read, I did enjoy it and I think it only could have been better. Please check out the content warnings for this book, it can get a bit heavy at times. I buddy read this with my friend Coletta, who also enjoyed this book a lot!
Graphic: Abandonment, Death of parent, Cancer, Chronic illness, Grief, Lesbophobia, Medical content, Medical trauma, Misogyny, Sexism, Terminal illness, Emotional abuse, and Gaslighting
Moderate: Bullying and Infidelity
The book is very in-depth with sexism and misogyny, it's kind of the whole premise of the book, if you don't feel like you can handle any amount, I would avoid it. However, from what I remember, there is no violence toward women, from what I remember. Mainly just through comments and the social structures at the time.bunny_boy's review against another edition
Graphic: Sexism, Abandonment, Grief, Death of parent, and Emotional abuse
Moderate: Body horror, Gaslighting, Bullying, Cancer, Hate crime, and Lesbophobia
cameronreads's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
4.0
Graphic: Grief, Abandonment, Cancer, Death, Sexism, Child abuse, and Death of parent
Moderate: Fire/Fire injury, Homophobia, and Lesbophobia
Minor: Physical abuse and Medical content
twistykris's review against another edition
- 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
Graphic: Misogyny, Death of parent, Abandonment, Cancer, Sexism, and Emotional abuse
Moderate: Infidelity, Lesbophobia, Homophobia, Toxic relationship, and Grief
spaceseagull321's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Graphic: Death of parent and Terminal illness
Moderate: Chronic illness, Misogyny, and Sexism
Minor: Child abuse and Lesbophobia
bao_bao's review against another edition
- 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
4.0
Graphic: Cancer, Sexism, Death of parent, and Abandonment
Moderate: Lesbophobia
kelseyr713's review against another edition
- 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
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).
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