Reviews with content warning for Sexual content - Learned by Heart

Reviews tagging 'Sexual content'

Learned by Heart by Emma Donoghue

20 reviews

slinkmalink's review against another edition

emotional reflective slow-paced

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

4.0

An interpretation of the real relationship between Anne Lister and Eliza Raine while they were at school, I found this really tender and romantic and emotional.
I loved Eliza saying she felt that they 'invented' love and sex, and all the passion and conviction of teenagers, and I thought the flashes of Anne being harsher and her ambition flaring up were good, and worked well with the letters looking back
I also thought Eliza's being mixed race was explored well, especially with her feelings about being taken away from India and not remembering her home, and taught to be English and then being told she wasn't going to fit in anyway

'with this diamond I cut glass, with this face I kissed a lass' does not rhyme in the audiobook :(

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jasmineehare's review

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emotional funny informative mysterious reflective sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated

4.75

I loved this book; I knew very little about Anne Lister beyond her being queer, and I couldn’t wait to get to the author’s note at the end to find out more about the history of these characters (people!). This reminded me of A Great and Terrible Beauty by Libby Bray but without the magic and much more explicit. I liked that the writing didn’t feel modern; I felt that I was thinking of things in the way that a girl in 1805 would, as much as possible.

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kers_tin's review against another edition

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dark emotional funny hopeful informative reflective 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? It's complicated

5.0

This was so good! Historical fiction my beloved. Eliza deserved so much better 💔

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arayo's review

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funny slow-paced

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

2.75

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hmatt's review against another edition

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challenging emotional reflective sad slow-paced

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

3.5

I'm not generally one for slow, introspective fiction, but Donoghue does it well and I was intrigued by the premise of this one. I feel as though the story lulls midway through, though, and I didn't get much from it after that... I'm also not sure that I like the framing of the letters from the future. That didn't work for me, although I suppose I see why the author wrote it that way.

I think I would have preferred a bit of a mystery fade-to-black situation after Lister leaves with her broken leg. The end as it is felt a bit tacked-on and really jolted me as a reader out of the atmosphere the rest of the novel created.

I do think others will enjoy this more deeply, it just wasn't the right pace and vibe for me.

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ruthlessreads's review against another edition

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challenging funny informative reflective sad slow-paced

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

4.0

This wonderfully researched historical fiction based on a true story explores the budding relationship of two young girls at boarding school in 19th century England--Eliza Raine & Anne Lister. It's a beautiful & heart breaking love story but I do think it's quite a slow read. If you aren't interested in character studies, especially if they're delivered with historical minutiae & strict attention to detail, then this might not be the book for you.

As someone who really enjoys reading about this time period and about historical queer people, I loved this book. It was carefully researched and I can tell that Donoghue took a lot of care in her characterization of both Lister & Raine. Be warned that this is not a story that ends happily so I don't recommend going into this if you're looking for a soft, happy romance.

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breanneporter's review against another edition

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emotional sad slow-paced

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

4.0

I struggled through the first half, which I found very tedious and dull, but I’m really glad I persevered, as I really liked the second half. This is the fictionalized account of Eliza Raine and Anne Lister, who met and fell in love in English boarding school when they were only 14. It made me want to try to watch gentleman jack again (I watched one season but there was so much about her coal business and not enough lesbian fuckboy shenanigans, which is obvs why I was there). It’s tragic but beautiful, as are most tales of lesbian love before modern times, and If you can suffer through the tedium of the schoolgirls’ daily schedules and family lineages that make up the bulk of the first half, you’re in for a beautiful and emotional story of the intensity of first love.

I’m still thinking about

how Raine didn’t want to think there were other sapphic couplings (like I thought she would have) and instead described their love as their own invention - I just love that positive reframing of the fact that lesbian love was so unseen and undiscussed (and criminalized), to believe they had discovered, for the first time maybe, something so beautiful and life altering.

I think I’ll be thinking of that, and Anne and Eliza in general, for a while longer.

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liesbethvv's review against another edition

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emotional reflective slow-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? No

4.0

I'm pretty sure the fact that I read this with a bookclub helped tremendously in the rating. I went into it blindly, without knowing anything about the main characters, so I just enjoyed the story for what it was: a coming of age story with a historical background and a teenage discovery of love and sex, where a tomboy falls for a dainty Indian 'princess' at boarding school. I admire Emma Donoghue's writing talent, as I was fully immersed in the boarding school setting and was actively wishing the story along. It could have been a tad quicker for me and the letters did little for my enjoyment, as they made me read the boarding school story less innocently (except for

the angry one

, loved that one). I did really love the repetition of bits of prose from classes, literature,... All in all, a highly recommended bookclub read!

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hanz's review against another edition

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emotional reflective slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No

3.0

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thesupermassive's review against another edition

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emotional medium-paced

4.5

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