Reviews

The Mad Women's Ball by Victoria Mas

wondarlice's review against another edition

4.0

Beaucoup aimé cette histoire, avec toutes ces voix de femmes qu'on entend jamais. Un peu trop romancé à mon goût mais ça m'a quand même plu.

cat77's review against another edition

dark

3.0

chelseajadee's review against another edition

4.0

Eye opening and infuriating, I felt every emotion reading this and loved it

rimbea's review against another edition

challenging dark informative inspiring reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

sarawattae's review against another edition

dark tense medium-paced

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

4.5

Hace mucho no leía un libro tan sencillo que me causara tanta impresión. Leer que es la primera novela de esta autora realmente me sorprendió muchísimo más.

caitsidhe's review

dark emotional sad fast-paced

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

1.5

Is it me? I don't at all understand why this is a bestseller and why other people love it so much. It's maudlin, trite, and boring. The characters are stock cliches. It has the undertone that is common with stories about the psychiatric abuses of the past - that it's bad this is happening to the main characters, because they are not actually crazy! Which suggests it WOULD be ok if they were. I found the writing clunky, but possibly that was the translation.

emilymai's review against another edition

dark fast-paced

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

3.0

I feel like this book wanted to tackle so much but barely skimmed the surface. It really needed to be about 100 pages longer for any of the arcs to feel satisfying, instead they felt rushed and unsubstantial, and that’s a shame! 

_golddustreader's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

This book delves deep into the life of women in France back in the 19th century particularly madwomen and how they end up in asylums for no good reason. Women were seen as specimens by male doctors. Mostly an outcast to the society -- invaluable, shameful, and hopeless. But the madness has its roots too and in the end you begin to ask: what does it mean to be sane? is doubt a gift?

 "The people who judged her, the people who have judged me... their judgement stems from their own beliefs. Unswerving faith in any idea inevitably leads to prejudice. Have I told you how calm I feel since I began to doubt? What is important is not to have beliefs, but to be able to doubt, to question anything, everything, even oneself. To doubt." (ONE OF MY FAVE QUOTES)

sshaunaellis's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional informative inspiring sad medium-paced

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

5.0

rainberrymyg's review against another edition

fast-paced

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

2.0