Reviews tagging 'Racism'

The Dance Tree by Kiran Millwood Hargrave

26 reviews

albon's review against another edition

emotional fast-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? No

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Infertility, Miscarriage, Religious bigotry, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Death, Grief, Death of parent, Outing, Pregnancy, Racism, Animal death, Confinement, Suicide, Homophobia, Misogyny, and Police brutality

znvisser's review against another edition

dark reflective sad slow-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? No

2.25

Hmm this wasn't for me. For the first third of the book, nothing much happens. And just when I was about to DNF, the story picks up and gets interesting, only for it all to sizzle out again. This book had a compelling premise but unfortunately the main character was by far the most boring bit, her character only formed by motherhood, religion and whining. The other characters were way more interesting, and I understand that this helps create mystery for the MC, but a lot of repetitive time is spent mostly with her and I didn't really care for it. The use of the antagonist felt like reading a children's story, as if this book was somehow supposed to be a family tale. So even though I appreciated bits in the middle part, where this story crackles and comes to life, to me it wasn't worth struggling through the rest of it.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Fire/Fire injury, Misogyny, Religious bigotry, Animal death, Animal cruelty, Outing, Racism, Xenophobia, Homophobia, Infertility, and Pregnancy

Moderate: Miscarriage, Death of parent, Grief, Suicide, Violence, and Infidelity

Minor: Domestic abuse, Murder, and Alcohol

bree_of_the_woods's review against another edition

adventurous dark informative sad tense fast-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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Lesbophobia, Homophobia, Miscarriage, Misogyny, and Racism

Moderate: Islamophobia, Infidelity, Death of parent, Addiction, and Fire/Fire injury

signeskov's review against another edition

emotional mysterious sad 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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Homophobia, Pregnancy, Racism, Sexism, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Violence, and Xenophobia

Moderate: Alcoholism, Forced institutionalization, and Miscarriage

edamamebean's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful reflective sad tense slow-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

4.75

Every once in awhile a book comes along that makes reading feel like a fever. This was definitely one of those books, once I was reading it I couldn’t stop and the ending brought tears to my eyes. I highly recommend but please check the content warnings before picking this one up!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Miscarriage, Outing, Grief, Infidelity, Gore, Hate crime, Racism, Death of parent, Pandemic/Epidemic, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, Religious bigotry, Suicide, Xenophobia, Homophobia, Death, Emotional abuse, Misogyny, Domestic abuse, Infertility, Lesbophobia, Violence, Drug use, Mental illness, Murder, and Sexism

Moderate: Animal death, Classism, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Alcoholism

hue's review against another edition

challenging informative sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.5

Bitter, tragic, loving. Not a light topic to touch upon at all, but Kiran Millwood Hargrave does it so well. It's an immense joy to read what she's written, especially historical fiction like this and her former glory The Mercies. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Miscarriage, Child death, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, Animal death, Homophobia, Religious bigotry, Sexism, Sexual content, Violence, Death, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Murder, and Pandemic/Epidemic

wordsofclover's review against another edition

informative mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Infertility

Moderate: Violence and Homophobia

Minor: Racism, Death of parent, and Child death

jesselynn's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

• 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? It's complicated

3.5

A very emotive and dramatic story set in and around Strasbourg in 1518, at the time of the infamous Dancing Plague.

We follow Lisbet, a heavily pregnant young woman who keeps bees alongside her husband and mother-in-law. Lisbet is desperate for her unborn child's survival, due to multiple previous miscarriages, which wounds her and familial relationships deeply. When her husband's sister Agnethe returns from seven years in the mountains atoning for a mysterious sin, the path of her life is forever changed.

The content is very emotionally stimulating, with really moving and detailed language and a narrative that is very centred around Lisbet's feelings and emotional state. The cast of characters are interesting, with Lisbet's sister-in-law Nethe being a favourite of mine. The story explores a very harrowing sapphic relationship, as well as themes of religious fervour, immigration and xenophobia. The story is not an account of the Dancing Plague as such, but the events of the summer and strange event are an atmospheric setting, the rhythm of the dance weaved throughout Lisbet's story in interludes. The novel is much more character focused than a simple retelling, which I liked. I would recommend this to anyone who enjoys historical fiction, especially women's historical fiction. Tread carefully if pregnancy, infertility and miscarriage is a trigger point for you. 

Thanks to Picador for the reading copy in exchange for an honest review. I'll definitely be recommending this one to my customers and am looking forward to future works from Kiran Millwood Hargrave!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Hate crime, Infidelity, Injury/Injury detail, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Pandemic/Epidemic, Xenophobia, Animal cruelty, Cursing, Lesbophobia, Medical content, Misogyny, Animal death, Murder, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, Religious bigotry, Sexism, Sexual content, Confinement, Death of parent, Infertility, Blood, Child death, Death, Emotional abuse, Grief, Homophobia, Racism, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Self harm, Classism, and Miscarriage

mxrumphius's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug use, Outing, Injury/Injury detail, Misogyny, Suicide, Miscarriage, Racial slurs, Animal death, Child death, Death, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Grief, Homophobia, Islamophobia, Murder, Physical abuse, Religious bigotry, Xenophobia, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Racism, Sexism, and Violence

Moderate: Drug use and Infidelity

aliteraryescape's review against another edition

challenging emotional reflective tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.75

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Fire/Fire injury

Minor: Homophobia, Infidelity, Racism, and Xenophobia

Mentions of pregnancy loss