@charlie_coward_2894
Charlie CowardGirly really needs to hold onto her stomach because it truly is falling out everywhere. I have dichotomous feelings about this book. The first half of the book is set in 1824, while women in Edinburgh are being hanged for the accusation of being witches, and Nellie, our main character, obviously is in fear that she's going to be the next to be hanged. I LOVED this half of the book. It has a great introduction to Scottish history and folklore, it's well-written (the entirety of the book is), and I found myself really loving the relationship between Jean and Nellie. This half of the book is at least 4 stars, if not 4.5. After a pretty pivotal scene, Nellie flees Edinburgh, and the book decides to do a time skip to 2022, so 200 years from where the story has started, and it seems Nellie has not changed at all in the 200 years she's had to live. At times, the point that the book was trying to drive home was way too heavy-handed, even though I agreed with what it was trying to say. Yes, women are still under attack even 'til this day, yes, unfortunately most women and trans/GNC people have unfortunate stories of sexual assault and violence against them, which is especially compounded if they are POC, but at times it felt that the author was beating me over the head with it, as if I couldn't surmise what she was trying to say if she didn't write it into every sentence. You can 100% assume your reader is smarter than this and will get the imagery that you're putting forth. This half of the book for me is probably around 1.5, maybe 2 stars. And so it sits at 3 stars, I guess? I definitely appreciated the diversity of characters and the commentary on patriarchy and intersectionality, but I think there are better ways it could have been done. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the audiobook in exchange for an honest review.
Charlie CowardThe first thing I did after reading this book is bought a physical copy of it and Rosie Hewlett's other book, Medusa, because there is no way in hell this is the last book by Hewlett that I'm going to read. When you're in the Greek mythos space, the people that are typically brought up are reliably Miller and Saint, and if I had it my way, I would replace Saint with Hewlett. What a BOOK, it actually made me feel the same rage for Medea at certain parts, and even though by the end I did not agree with what she was doing fully, Hewlett does such a good job of explaining her rationale in a way that almost makes me understand it and not fight against what she's doing as a caricature of rage. Not only the titular character, Medea, is wonderfully written, but Hewlett spends some time with Atalanta and Circe, who are both well-written characters and made me excited to re-read Circe this month for my book club. A perfect duo in the Greek myth space. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.
Charlie Coward**3.5, rounded up My first Eowyn Ivey book, and it likely will not be the last. The prose in this book is incredible, it's authentic, and it's hard not to love. Overall, I did like the story, although the ending got way darker than I expected it to and there were a couple of questions that I wanted answers that I never got, although I can suspend my disbelief on some things because of the genre. This book, however, took me FOREVER to finish. I guess I just found that I was never really that invested in what happened to anyone in the story, and I didn't really feel the urge to continue once I put it down. I understand the full cycle of having Emaleen come back to the cabin when she graduated college, but the ending didn't really feel fulfilling to me. Still, I did enjoy it, and I probably will read another book by Ivey in the future. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.