Reviews tagging 'Rape'

Madam by Phoebe Wynne

14 reviews

megelizabeth's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix

4.0

This book does subtle, slow-building creepiness really, really well. It's unsettling right from the start, but it takes a while for things to fall into place, and I didn't see the ending coming at all and felt like I'd been hit by a truck. There's a lot of really great commentary and I definitely think this book does a good job of highlighting the insidiousness of misogyny and specifically male power within elite institutions. I did feel at times that the points being made or the main character's reactions to things happening didn't quite go far enough, and the 'truth' behind the school didn't go in the direction I expected it to and that sort of spun me out a bit, but as I said, the ending hit me like a truck and I did feel as if overall this book was really well-done.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Fire/Fire injury, Misogyny, Death, Suicide, Child death, Rape, and Child abuse

Moderate: Homophobia and Racism

Minor: Incest and Abortion

esmartd's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

2.5

This book was frustrating. The setting was very interesting, but not ever fully fleshed out, which was also true for most of the characters. There was a lot of potential but ultimately didn’t get anywhere interesting in my opinion. I don’t feel like it said anything significant about feminism which is what I think it was going for. 

Rose was such a pushover in so many ways, and I didn’t really understand her behavior most of the time. I was especially upset when it was suggested that the girl who had died the previous year had died during an abortion and Rose didn’t push back on that at all. Dying during an abortion is not a normal or common thing and the fact that she took that art face value was very troubling to me. Even in the 90s, the daughter of an activist feminist would have known better I think. When she spoke out vs when she didn’t was really confusing. I could tell she was starting to go crazy but it was just hard to understand her.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexism, Pedophilia, and Terminal illness

Moderate: Rape and Suicide

hmurff's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

2.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexism, Sexual content, Suicide, Terminal illness, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Gaslighting, Grief, Death of parent, Fatphobia, Forced institutionalization, Abortion, Adult/minor relationship, Death, Lesbophobia, Mental illness, and Pedophilia

Minor: Homophobia, Incest, Rape, Suicide, Pregnancy, and Racism

aswift1's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

2.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death, Rape, Emotional abuse, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Forced institutionalization, and Suicide

caties_books's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious medium-paced

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Racism, Sexism, Terminal illness, Body shaming, Classism, Fire/Fire injury, Forced institutionalization, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Misogyny, Rape, Sexual content, Sexual harassment, Lesbophobia, Chronic illness, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Medical content, Physical abuse, Alcoholism, Adult/minor relationship, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Death of parent, Colonisation, Confinement, Cultural appropriation, Cursing, Death, Suicide, and Xenophobia

Minor: Abortion

lynette_reads's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense slow-paced

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

2.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Sexual content, Murder, Gaslighting, Rape, Sexual violence, Pedophilia, Emotional abuse, Adult/minor relationship, Trafficking, Suicide attempt, Death, Suicide, Sexual assault, Confinement, Child abuse, Child death, and Classism

mintrogue's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious slow-paced

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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexism, Rape, Xenophobia, Sexual violence, Trafficking, Toxic relationship, and Suicide

fuzzythealmighty's review against another edition

mysterious tense medium-paced

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

2.0

Here are just a handful of the issues in this book:

1. It misrepresented itself in its synopsis. This book advertises itself as a "modern gothic" but it take place in the mid 90s which is now far from modern. It also is not as dark or atmospheric as it claims.
2. There are many many inconsistencies in the book. Most of these are inconsistencies in characterization, but there are some in the plot which makes it difficult to suspend disbelief. For example,
   The fact that the school new the details of Rose's father's death, which Rose and her mother tried to keep hidden, but not the fact that Rose's mother was an outspoken feminist.
3. The book has a very narrow conceptualization of dark academia.
4. Arguably, the worst bit of this book is it's fake feminism. This book was lauded as feminist literature, again a misrepresentation, when the feminism in it is very underdeveloped. It lacks intersectionality. The mentions of sexuality and race in this book are not explored in a meaningful way. The cast, and tone and ethos and etc., of this book was exceptionally white, cis, and straight. It didn't address these issues brought up in the book enough. Rose was raised by a prominent feminist but disliked feminism. I also felt she was exceptionally judgmental of other women. Many Greco-Roman stories were used in this text and the author did not discuss actual current feminist critiques of this text. The discussion around autonomy and choice was honestly disheartening. She basically describes women having no choices as a good thing that changed history. 
5. Finally, there were so many issues that this book could have touched on that it didn't including: colonialism, socioeconomic status, autonomy, cultural transfer, education, and the meaning of indoctrination. I know that this book technically discussed class, but it was done in such a way that it didn't explicitly critique how wealth is hoarded and maintained by taking from other people.

Anyways, don't read this. There are better dark academia books out there.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault, Suicide, Sexual violence, Sexism, Rape, Racism, Pedophilia, Misogyny, Homophobia, Confinement, Child abuse, and Adult/minor relationship

Moderate: Abortion, Mental illness, Gaslighting, and Chronic illness

frecca95's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious 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? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.75

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Abortion, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Homophobia, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexism, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, and Trafficking

issiwerro's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• 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

Wow, this book really packed a punch! Gloomy boarding school in Scotland, classes on mythology and peculiar happenings, this was everything I love and more. I was intrigued from the beginning and delighted when plot twists didn't go the way I thought they would. A really clever story, I sincerely hope there is a sequel.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abortion

Moderate: Suicide, Rape, Sexual harassment, Sexual assault, and Sexism