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whatjackiereads 's review for:
The Seven or Eight Deaths of Stella Fortuna
by Juliet Grames
4.5/5 stars: ★★★★1/2
"History marches on, and names and destinations change, but not the injustices we let one another suffer."
This is the story of Stella Fortuna, who died seven, or maybe eight (depending on how you count them) times. The story is essentially the tale of 4 generations of Italian women with Stella at the center, beginning in Italy and continuing on in the United States. Their lives are hard, the men and world around them is cruel, and sometimes they are even cruel to each other. Stella is a testament to all of these things as we watch her life in beautiful, but also often painful, detail. Whether she was cursed, haunted, or just unlucky, Stella spent her entire 100 years dying and living the consequences. I'll let you readers decide what that means.
This is beautifully-written and so well-researched that it felt like a real story of a real woman rather than fiction. The only thing I didn't enjoy was just how sad it was. TW for rape, sexual abuse, physical abuse, emotional abuse, mental illness, alcoholism, depression, death....the list could go on. This was hard to read at times, but it was so gorgeous and made me appreciate the life I have been given and the people around me who believe and respect me and my choices. Stella and women like her may not have had many choices, but they paved the way for many of us, men and women alike, who have so much more power to live without, or despite, abuse, and proudly be who we are.
"History marches on, and names and destinations change, but not the injustices we let one another suffer."
This is the story of Stella Fortuna, who died seven, or maybe eight (depending on how you count them) times. The story is essentially the tale of 4 generations of Italian women with Stella at the center, beginning in Italy and continuing on in the United States. Their lives are hard, the men and world around them is cruel, and sometimes they are even cruel to each other. Stella is a testament to all of these things as we watch her life in beautiful, but also often painful, detail. Whether she was cursed, haunted, or just unlucky, Stella spent her entire 100 years dying and living the consequences. I'll let you readers decide what that means.
This is beautifully-written and so well-researched that it felt like a real story of a real woman rather than fiction. The only thing I didn't enjoy was just how sad it was. TW for rape, sexual abuse, physical abuse, emotional abuse, mental illness, alcoholism, depression, death....the list could go on. This was hard to read at times, but it was so gorgeous and made me appreciate the life I have been given and the people around me who believe and respect me and my choices. Stella and women like her may not have had many choices, but they paved the way for many of us, men and women alike, who have so much more power to live without, or despite, abuse, and proudly be who we are.