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A review by rosa_lina96
When Women Were Dragons by Kelly Barnhill
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.25
I truly don't really know how to feel about this book.
The premise itself is interesting- women spontaneously turning into dragons, sometimes ridding themselves of the awful men in their lives in the process, and then flying away to seek greener pastures- but I felt that the concept of "dragoning" was a bit under-utilized. How can you have an entire book built around this concept and really only make vague mentions to it throughout the narrative? And why is it never truly explained why everybody just agrees to cover it up and go along with their lives when, uh, oh yeah, there's a bunch of women spontaneously turning into dragons, which you would think would be pretty darn noticeable? Why did the author choose to make the dragons out to be mindless beasts at first before doing a complete 180 and saying that they have human intelligence, actually, and can even sometimes wear silly hats and such? There just seemed like far too many holes poked in the narrative for it to be worthwhile to me, way too many dangling loose ends left over at the end.
The narrator also came across as a bit insufferable, in my eyes. I did empathize with her struggles to some degree, but after a certain point it really seemed like she was just choosing to be angry at the world for no real reason, like the author decided "hmm okay what this girl really needs is a healthy dose of teenage angst" and decided to cram it into the narrative at the last second. Okay, yes, I get it, on some level your teenage years are a lot of just being angry at the world in general, but at some point you have to let up on it.
That being said, I did love the themes of feminism and independence and struggling with suddenly being thrust into adulthood far too early throughout, even if it seemed rather clumsily executed even at the best of times. I second the opinion that this really would have been better off as a collection of short stories or something, instead of the author trying to stretch the narrative out to a novel format in a way that just made it seem rather hollow as a result.
The premise itself is interesting- women spontaneously turning into dragons, sometimes ridding themselves of the awful men in their lives in the process, and then flying away to seek greener pastures- but I felt that the concept of "dragoning" was a bit under-utilized. How can you have an entire book built around this concept and really only make vague mentions to it throughout the narrative? And why is it never truly explained why everybody just agrees to cover it up and go along with their lives when, uh, oh yeah, there's a bunch of women spontaneously turning into dragons, which you would think would be pretty darn noticeable? Why did the author choose to make the dragons out to be mindless beasts at first before doing a complete 180 and saying that they have human intelligence, actually, and can even sometimes wear silly hats and such? There just seemed like far too many holes poked in the narrative for it to be worthwhile to me, way too many dangling loose ends left over at the end.
The narrator also came across as a bit insufferable, in my eyes. I did empathize with her struggles to some degree, but after a certain point it really seemed like she was just choosing to be angry at the world for no real reason, like the author decided "hmm okay what this girl really needs is a healthy dose of teenage angst" and decided to cram it into the narrative at the last second. Okay, yes, I get it, on some level your teenage years are a lot of just being angry at the world in general, but at some point you have to let up on it.
That being said, I did love the themes of feminism and independence and struggling with suddenly being thrust into adulthood far too early throughout, even if it seemed rather clumsily executed even at the best of times. I second the opinion that this really would have been better off as a collection of short stories or something, instead of the author trying to stretch the narrative out to a novel format in a way that just made it seem rather hollow as a result.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Abandonment, Death of parent, and Sexism
Moderate: Injury/Injury detail, Misogyny, Cancer, and Homophobia