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A review by ciwanski
When Women Were Dragons by Kelly Barnhill
adventurous
challenging
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
mysterious
reflective
medium-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
3.75
I enjoyed this book, but I didn’t love it. It was a very interesting concept but it kind of fell flat for me. The story follows the path of the main character’s refusal to acknowledge the truths about the world in front of her, and I felt like it took a bit too long to get to her turning point. I also felt like the timing was just a little off throughout the whole book.
I also thought that knots being magical would come more to the forefront with there being such a big importance of them through her mom’s eye. That was dropped pretty suddenly and only vaguely referred to in the second half of the book.
Vague is how I’d describe a lot of the concepts in this book. We were introduced to the idea of women turning into dragons in the way of this novel being a sort of field notes where we’d get the answer in the end, but all the answers were vague. When the main character explained that she finally understood, I, as the reader, only vaguely did. Maybe that’s on me for not being more intuitive, but it all just felt a little too abstract when I needed just a piece of something concrete. Maybe that’s the point, though, and it’s a big ol point about science and exploration and discoveries and the fact of never truly being sure of anything in this world. Hm.
Overall though, this was an excellent depiction of girlhood and womanhood (in my opinion). I thought the language was stunning, and I would definitely read more of Barnhill’s work!
Here are some quotes I enjoyed:
“You make yourselves fools when you try to classify the quest for understanding as obscene. The only thing more patently obscene than ignorance is willful ignorance.”
“We looked out for one another. Even when we weren’t particularly good friends. We all learned that this was the sort of thing that superseded friendship—it was deeper, and older, and more important.”
“Who benefits, my dear, when you force yourself to not feel angry? Clearly not you.”
“I contend that it was not the loss that hurt the culture, but the pressure to ignore that loss. The pressure to forget.”
I also thought that knots being magical would come more to the forefront with there being such a big importance of them through her mom’s eye. That was dropped pretty suddenly and only vaguely referred to in the second half of the book.
Vague is how I’d describe a lot of the concepts in this book. We were introduced to the idea of women turning into dragons in the way of this novel being a sort of field notes where we’d get the answer in the end, but all the answers were vague. When the main character explained that she finally understood, I, as the reader, only vaguely did. Maybe that’s on me for not being more intuitive, but it all just felt a little too abstract when I needed just a piece of something concrete. Maybe that’s the point, though, and it’s a big ol point about science and exploration and discoveries and the fact of never truly being sure of anything in this world. Hm.
Overall though, this was an excellent depiction of girlhood and womanhood (in my opinion). I thought the language was stunning, and I would definitely read more of Barnhill’s work!
Here are some quotes I enjoyed:
“You make yourselves fools when you try to classify the quest for understanding as obscene. The only thing more patently obscene than ignorance is willful ignorance.”
“We looked out for one another. Even when we weren’t particularly good friends. We all learned that this was the sort of thing that superseded friendship—it was deeper, and older, and more important.”
“Who benefits, my dear, when you force yourself to not feel angry? Clearly not you.”
“I contend that it was not the loss that hurt the culture, but the pressure to ignore that loss. The pressure to forget.”
Content Warnings
Graphic: Abandonment, Homophobia, Death of parent, Misogyny, and Sexism
Moderate: Homophobia