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kylosten's review against another edition
fast-paced
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
rereader33's review against another edition
5.0
This is a bold statement to make so early in the year, but I'm gonna make it anyway-if this novel does not end up being my favorite book of 2019, I am genuinely curious what will be. Holy crap, this book was amazing, but I knew from the beginning it wasn't going to be for everyone. That's fine, because it was everything and more that I could ask for.
As for why this won't appeal to most people, the main reasons I can think of are the main character, Mildred, the writing, and the magical realism.
Mildred is a character that I related to way too closely, mostly due to her complicated feelings towards men/love as well as her uncomfortable need to feel important. Mildred is treated pretty poorly by her family (more on them later) and the people around her have considered her crazy because of her visions. Mildred adores her powers because they give her power, something she clearly doesn't have a lot of, especially as a woman in 1944. Many readers, I'm sure, will grow tired of her hypocritical personality, her neediness, and her contradictory statements regarding men. I, however, adored this part of her because it made her so human. Humans are hypocritical by nature, and tend to say/do hypocritical things. It's easy to fault someone for being hypocritical and by all means sometimes people should be called out for their hypocrisy, but humans are inherently like that. I feel that authors don't want their main characters to act like that unless it's to prove a point, but realistically people are hypocritical it's just a matter of how and why. For Mildred, it tends to be towards men because how women should view men is contradictory, unhealthy, and incredibly confusing, especially in the 1940's. Women are supposed to desire men, but need to be careful around them lest men hurt them, but men are encouraged to be persistent in getting a woman's attention, and if a woman is persistent she's a tart, but if she's assaulted by a man it's her fault for leading him on in some way, etc. Even though some of Mildred's actions and thoughts annoyed me, I understand where they're coming from and why should would feel that way. Mildred herself goes through I horrid transformation by the end of the novel and without spoiling anything, it's pretty heartbreaking. Readers see what the world has done to her and what she has done to herself and the world doesn't really care. It's so sad and disturbing, but not unrealistic. The only people who turn out to truly care about her are her family, which was a twist I really didn't see coming (that's not a spoiler, really!). I enjoyed seeing the evolution of her relationship with her family and how they come to the conclusion that they may hate each other, but it's better than being apart. Now that I've ranted about Mildred, onto the writing.
The writing. Oh my gosh, the writing. I absolutely LOVE the writing in this novel. I love how Mildred's thoughts adapted based off of her circumstances, how her language became more course the more she went through, the brilliant, detailed, horrifying descriptions of the visions, the dialogue, everything! This writing is up their with Carmen Maria Machado, the author of one of my favorite novels of all time, Her Body and Other Parties. I want to marry this writing, I love it so much. Now, we must talk about the magical realism.
Truthfully, the magical realism (aka the visions) are a little hard to follow sometimes. Not that I couldn't follow what the vision is trying to say, but I couldn't follow whether people were aware of the visions or not. Sometimes people reacted to something Mildred saw, for example she vomits a black substance on someone and they think it burns them, but then the person in question says they weren't burned, but know Mildred threw up. I can't tell whether this is supposed to show her visions melding with reality or something along those lines, but these instances occur so infrequently it's hard to tell. Anyway, still love the writing despite the confusion. Now I want to talk about miscellaneous stuff.
What broke my heart about this novel is that, for the majority of the novel, no one is truly their for Mildred because she appears crazy. People either mistreat her or drown her in pity, neither of which are helpful to her. It puts readers in an uncomfortable position because you know that she's telling the truth because you know she's been proven right, but you also can't really blame others for not believing her. It doesn't mean they should belittle her, but their disbelief is at least understandable. I think what breaks my heart about no one being their for Mildred is that, in the grand scheme of things, it's not like her existence is necessary. So many times throughout the novel I thought to myself, "the sad part is that if she died, nothing would change. No one would really care and nothing big will come of it." Of course, getting to the end I discovered that some people would care, but nothing would change. It's heartbreaking to see someone go through so much trauma but know that their death would have no meaning.
Another thing that I want to discuss, which is going to be controversial, is how even the women in this story don't have each others' backs. Despite Beth wanting to protect Mildred, when Mildred reveals a truth to her, Beth immediately dismisses it due to her perceived insanity. Kathy only becomes open and slightly encouraging to Mildred after an incident, but pretty much bullies her throughout the novel. Even her mother and sister Martha are not kind and generous people towards her, although they show some love towards the end. I don't want to say that this novel is promoting the idea that women are cruel and uncaring towards each other, but rather explaining how women could have acted during that time period based off of the situations presented. As much as I love stories about women having each others' backs even in the worst of times, that's not wholly realistic. Some women are not going to be their for each other, even after a tragedy. That's not something to be ashamed of or to shame others for, but it's important for authors writing about women to stay grounded while writing them. I appreciate Shields putting a darker spin on female camaraderie, as sad as it is.
There's so much more that I want to discuss, but unfortunately they all contain spoilers and I'd easily be here all week. Suffice to say, I love this book, I will recommend but with the catch that it might not be for everyone. I can't express enough how amazing this book is, but I hope this review got some of my feelings across.
As for why this won't appeal to most people, the main reasons I can think of are the main character, Mildred, the writing, and the magical realism.
Mildred is a character that I related to way too closely, mostly due to her complicated feelings towards men/love as well as her uncomfortable need to feel important. Mildred is treated pretty poorly by her family (more on them later) and the people around her have considered her crazy because of her visions. Mildred adores her powers because they give her power, something she clearly doesn't have a lot of, especially as a woman in 1944. Many readers, I'm sure, will grow tired of her hypocritical personality, her neediness, and her contradictory statements regarding men. I, however, adored this part of her because it made her so human. Humans are hypocritical by nature, and tend to say/do hypocritical things. It's easy to fault someone for being hypocritical and by all means sometimes people should be called out for their hypocrisy, but humans are inherently like that. I feel that authors don't want their main characters to act like that unless it's to prove a point, but realistically people are hypocritical it's just a matter of how and why. For Mildred, it tends to be towards men because how women should view men is contradictory, unhealthy, and incredibly confusing, especially in the 1940's. Women are supposed to desire men, but need to be careful around them lest men hurt them, but men are encouraged to be persistent in getting a woman's attention, and if a woman is persistent she's a tart, but if she's assaulted by a man it's her fault for leading him on in some way, etc. Even though some of Mildred's actions and thoughts annoyed me, I understand where they're coming from and why should would feel that way. Mildred herself goes through I horrid transformation by the end of the novel and without spoiling anything, it's pretty heartbreaking. Readers see what the world has done to her and what she has done to herself and the world doesn't really care. It's so sad and disturbing, but not unrealistic. The only people who turn out to truly care about her are her family, which was a twist I really didn't see coming (that's not a spoiler, really!). I enjoyed seeing the evolution of her relationship with her family and how they come to the conclusion that they may hate each other, but it's better than being apart. Now that I've ranted about Mildred, onto the writing.
The writing. Oh my gosh, the writing. I absolutely LOVE the writing in this novel. I love how Mildred's thoughts adapted based off of her circumstances, how her language became more course the more she went through, the brilliant, detailed, horrifying descriptions of the visions, the dialogue, everything! This writing is up their with Carmen Maria Machado, the author of one of my favorite novels of all time, Her Body and Other Parties. I want to marry this writing, I love it so much. Now, we must talk about the magical realism.
Truthfully, the magical realism (aka the visions) are a little hard to follow sometimes. Not that I couldn't follow what the vision is trying to say, but I couldn't follow whether people were aware of the visions or not. Sometimes people reacted to something Mildred saw, for example she vomits a black substance on someone and they think it burns them, but then the person in question says they weren't burned, but know Mildred threw up. I can't tell whether this is supposed to show her visions melding with reality or something along those lines, but these instances occur so infrequently it's hard to tell. Anyway, still love the writing despite the confusion. Now I want to talk about miscellaneous stuff.
What broke my heart about this novel is that, for the majority of the novel, no one is truly their for Mildred because she appears crazy. People either mistreat her or drown her in pity, neither of which are helpful to her. It puts readers in an uncomfortable position because you know that she's telling the truth because you know she's been proven right, but you also can't really blame others for not believing her. It doesn't mean they should belittle her, but their disbelief is at least understandable. I think what breaks my heart about no one being their for Mildred is that, in the grand scheme of things, it's not like her existence is necessary. So many times throughout the novel I thought to myself, "the sad part is that if she died, nothing would change. No one would really care and nothing big will come of it." Of course, getting to the end I discovered that some people would care, but nothing would change. It's heartbreaking to see someone go through so much trauma but know that their death would have no meaning.
Another thing that I want to discuss, which is going to be controversial, is how even the women in this story don't have each others' backs. Despite Beth wanting to protect Mildred, when Mildred reveals a truth to her, Beth immediately dismisses it due to her perceived insanity. Kathy only becomes open and slightly encouraging to Mildred after an incident, but pretty much bullies her throughout the novel. Even her mother and sister Martha are not kind and generous people towards her, although they show some love towards the end. I don't want to say that this novel is promoting the idea that women are cruel and uncaring towards each other, but rather explaining how women could have acted during that time period based off of the situations presented. As much as I love stories about women having each others' backs even in the worst of times, that's not wholly realistic. Some women are not going to be their for each other, even after a tragedy. That's not something to be ashamed of or to shame others for, but it's important for authors writing about women to stay grounded while writing them. I appreciate Shields putting a darker spin on female camaraderie, as sad as it is.
There's so much more that I want to discuss, but unfortunately they all contain spoilers and I'd easily be here all week. Suffice to say, I love this book, I will recommend but with the catch that it might not be for everyone. I can't express enough how amazing this book is, but I hope this review got some of my feelings across.
gabalodon's review against another edition
1.0
DNF @ about 50%, skimmed the rest. This book was definitely not what I was hoping for or expecting, and maybe that's on me for my expectations. I was hoping for some sort of Agent Carter + Hidden Figures + Greek myth retelling + alternate history type thing, but that is no where near what it is. None of the characters were particularly likeable or relatable, including the MC. The MC had no agency and in most cases didn't even express any particular desire for that agency. She spends the whole book immersed and largely complicit in the rampant misogyny, racism, and homophobia of the 40s. It was dark and violent and uncomfortable. Some of the descriptions of her visions and interactions with the landscape were vibrant and visceral and in a lot of ways reminded me of the Wood Wife by Terri Windling, but everything else falls flat. It was less of a story and more of an exploration of different character archetypes that happen to be placed in an interesting and troublesome point in our history. No one grows, she doesn't do anything with her powers, nothing really happens, and the reader is just left watching terrible 40s misogyny, racism, and homophobia play out in painful detail while in the background everyone make all the horrific choices (when they're able to make any choices at all) that the reader knows lead to the atomic bombs.
jenni3penny's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
informative
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
h0ck3ygirl's review against another edition
challenging
dark
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
sarah_reading_party's review against another edition
4.0
well, while i wasn't familiar with the Cassandra myth until after i read this book, i found this weird little book fascinating. i love exploring WWII through new lenses and this book does just that! it was a smart read.
kathleenww's review against another edition
4.0
I really enjoyed reading this novel. Shields takes the mythology of Cassandra and overlays it onto American history, giving an awkward and discontent woman the lead role. I dove into this eagerly and enjoyed every chapter. Shields is a true wordsmith, and the fantastical scenes she is able to create were stunning to me. This novel plays with Greek mythology, a dash of magical realism, and the ethical and moral questions of the US towards the end of WW2. Clever and engaging. Recommend.
vandelay's review against another edition
dark
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
1.25
librarianguish's review against another edition
challenging
dark
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5