Reviews with content warning for Classism - A Study in Drowning

Reviews tagging 'Classism'

A Study in Drowning by Ava Reid

47 reviews

s_wandering's review

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dark mysterious reflective slow-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

1.5

awfully boring and terribly uninspiring

Pros:

the writing style from Reid has always been great
the general plot was interesting
the first 50 pages were intriguing
the main characters Effy and Preston (outside of their romantic plot)
the connection of
Euphemia's trauma to drowning / the event that happened in the south
really was done exceptionally well

Cons:

at the beginning its said "this is a love story" and with that in mind it felt in the haste to get these characters to fall in love it was forgotten that us as readers were just now meeting them for the first time. Their love story felt rushed, held no real weight and we could've done without it all-together
the plot became unclear, untidy, drawn out and though
the drowning was interesting- it became clear after some time it would only ever really be explored as a metaphor
I don't mind unreliable narrators but Effy was unreliable to an unforgivable point, I think this would've benefited being told by Preston's POV or at-least dual POV
so many things were introduced to set the scenery (war, timeline, characters) but never expanded on to actually provide proper world building and after 300+ pages I feel like I spent time in a world I could not identify in a line up
for a book about academia, the characters aren't that smart

to sum up the reading experience from my book club "a bit bored but intrigued"

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hello_kara's review against another edition

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dark mysterious sad medium-paced

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

0.25

This is the longest review I have ever written, mostly driven by rage as I hated this book and the more I think about it the more I dislike it.

“Midnight was a fairytale thing. She didn’t know if Preston had been thinking about that when he promised it. But Effy was remembering all of the curses that turned princesses back to peasant girls as soon as the bells struck twelve. Why was it always girls whose forms could not be trusted? Everything could be taken away from them in an instant.”

“I suppose that’s partly why I don’t have much faith in the notion of permanence. Anything can be taken from you, at any moment. Even the past isn’t guaranteed. You can lose that too, slowly, like water eating away at stone.”

I liked those quotes, that’s about it.

World building was a bit confusing, and it was difficult for me to pin down a time-setting. Advertised as “Part historical fantasy, part rivals-to-lovers romance, part Gothic mystery.” It’s set in a fantasy UK inspired world, maybe from the 60s? 🤷🏼‍♀️ There’s trains, cars, universities, tanks and guns, CT scanners, phones, but also folk magic and changelings. Their country in the South is at war with the one in the North, for unknown reasons. Universities admit women, but they really only go to get husbands and aren’t allowed entry into the one discipline reversed above all others that Effy actually wants to study: Literature. Her scores were so good she should have gotten in, but because of misogyny she wasn’t admitted. She goes and studies Architecture instead (apparently the second most prestigious discipline.) As it so happens she is the ONLY woman in that college.

Effy has a woman roommate, who attends the music college and has a girlfriend, which is never addressed again after the first chapter. But also there’s major purity culture. Effy is always being hit on by the men at college, who are simultaneously aroused and disgusted by her, calling her whore. Why? Oh the Dean of her college has sexually assaulted her, so obviously she must’ve slept her way in to the college.

It’s not all bad though! (🙄)She sees a poster for a competition to design a remodel of her (late) favorite author’s home. The author in question is now instated as a Sleeper, one of seven revered national storytellers believed to have magic that protects their country. There’s a museum with the corpses of the Sleepers on display, which is the countries biggest tourist attraction, (and yet belief in Sleeper magic is 50/50? Is it real or not?! If it’s just an old wives tale then why do the bodies not rot, why would they induct a new dead guy onto the roster?)

But I digress, Effy goes to the university library to do some research on the author (even though she knows his works ‘better than anyone’) and finds that all the books have been checked out by a Literature student. She’s pissed, and very jealous. He has a “Northern” name, and she wonders why he gets to study her Southern hero author and not her. Thus begins the “rivalry.” She also thinks to herself that none of the other architecture students would be worthy of winning, because she’s the only one who truly loves that author’s works, despite him being a national treasure.

And suddenly she wins! A first year student who’s failing half her classes and hates architecture! Her roommate calls her out on this and says don’t you think that’s kind of weird? Nope! She’s like 18/19 years old, with no support from family (her mom like actually hates her and basically tells her to never call again), and decides what could possibly go wrong?! She gets approval to take time off of school to go to the end of the world to work on designs for this house (but wait, I thought you had to submit your design plan for the competition??) Once she gets to the house ~SURPRISE~ she meets the Lit student who borrowed all those books! Preston. So she hates him right away and is downright mean to him. The homeowner/son of dead author starts talking to her about the plans and construction etc.(SHES NOT A FUCKING GENERAL CONTRACTOR) He’s really weird about her being around Preston, but also makes suggestive remarks towards her.

If the book wanted me to think “men are trash,” it succeeded. It was so misogynistic. Effy is not allowed to study literature on account of women’s feeble and trivial little brains. Annoyingly, just about every man Effy comes into contact with tries to make a move on her because she’s just so ‘otherworldly beautiful,’ but in the same breath call her whore. Preston is the love interest, but he gives major “I’m just brutally honest!” vibes. He gets brownie points from Effy because he didn’t immediately come on to her (ladies, the bar is SUBTERRANEAN.) But at one point even Preston was basically like ‘yeah I totally would’ve ducked you already if I didn’t actually like you’ (wtf?)

There was a definite creepy vibe, with the setting being a decrepit manor that was falling apart and into the sea. And yet… Water had overtaken the foundation, but it’s also up on the cliffs? So that was confusing. And the whole architecture competition, but she didn’t have designs drafted or finished? How did she win? Oh never mind, it doesn’t matter because it was all a plot by the Fairy King to claim her.

I read a lot of fantasy, so I can generally adjust my sense of realism accordingly. But this one just didn’t land for me, the inconsistency in whether or not magic of any kind was real in this world really bothered me. For a while I thought we were going to get to the end and find out she had hallucinated the whole thing!

Effy has been on meds for most of her life, due to nightmares and visions of the Fairy King. She is a changeling, her mother left her for dead by the river, and the Fairy King came to claim her. But her mother came back a took her before she could fully be claimed. In the process she lost her ring finger from fairy magic. So she found comfort in the fairy tale, feeling ‘not like the other girls.’ She knew the story in and out, loved it, saw herself in it. It was her entire personality.

But why is this story the country’s national treasure? This fairy tale about a woman who is stolen away by the Fairy King and forced to marry him, written from a woman’s POV? This story that got the male author credited with writing it into like the National Hall of Fame of a country that won’t allow women to study literature because it is ‘beyond their capacity to comprehend.’

~spoilers~ it was written by a woman. A hidden truth that would never have been uncovered if it were not for Effy. She and Preston write up their findings to present to the college. She gets into the college of Literature for her contribution, and simultaneously gets her former Dean fired.

Effy sees the true author of the story. She asks her to autograph her well worn copy of the book, they smile, triumphant. The end.

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cyoussi's review

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2.5

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micaelamariem's review

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dark emotional inspiring reflective medium-paced

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

5.0

I loved this book! The writing and word choice was beautiful. The character development impressive. The worldbuilding involves creating whole new myths and stories and studies which I always find impressive. I’m in love with Preston. But above all, I love the extended metaphor of what it’s like to be a trauma survivor and what is required to survive; especially for women who survive violence against them at the hands of men. This was absolutely beautiful. Full review on my blog to come tomorrow.

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stina_gates's review

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dark mysterious medium-paced

Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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erwikka's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional hopeful sad tense slow-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

I loved it. This book rewired my brain chemistry . I feel like it was written for me and Effy is my whole heart. There were lines and thoughts that Effy had that just made me feel so seen I cried. This book means so much to me.

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chelbawamba's review

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dark emotional mysterious reflective 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? It's complicated

2.75

This is my second attempt with this author and sadly I don’t think I can be convinced to try again. Ava Reid relies heavily on simile and metaphor, to a point of excessiveness, does a lot of telling instead of showing, and everything happens to this main character “suddenly” or “for some reason.” Even when the reason was obvious to me as a reader, it happened “for some reason.”

Overall, the concept of the story was interesting, but the way it was executed was extremely predictable. I knew early on what most of the reveals at the end were going to be. In my opinion, there is a fine line between good foreshadowing and offering too much too early on.

A personal pet peeve of mine is when characters speak about each other as if they’ve known each other for a long time when it’s only been a few days, for example: saying things like “he’s always been kind to me,” or “I had never seen him this flustered” when the character only knew the other person for maybe a collective three hours. This happened frequently in the first half of the book.

I didn’t not enjoy it, but I also didn’t enjoy it. Would not necessarily recommend it, but it had its moments and kept me engaged through the end.

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