Reviews with content warning for Toxic relationship - When Women Were Dragons

Reviews tagging 'Toxic relationship'

When Women Were Dragons by Kelly Barnhill

16 reviews

bb_11's review

emotional reflective medium-paced

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

2.25

"Is it possible for a book to say feminist things yet not be feminist?", was possibly my book clubs best discussion topic after reading this book. Ultimately, we decided yes it is possible and we have "When Women were Dragons" to thank for it. This book was all over the place narratively and thematically. Any single issue the author was willing to tackle was burdened by her attempt to tackle 15 other things all at once. This led to a strangely paced, contradictory, and emotionally whiplashing plot.

Another sentiment my bookclub shared: we couldn't wait for the first half of the novel to be over, but then the second half made us miss the first half! The end of book "climax" completely invalidates the main character's development and obliterates the stakes all at once.

Would recommend if you want to challenge yourself to critically deconstruct feminish literature and uncover evidence as to why a novel needs more than women>men to say something powerful.

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eliya's review against another edition

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adventurous inspiring mysterious tense slow-paced

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

2.5

This was a promising read at first, I was so in to the concept and the analogy, but it got lost along the way. I wasn’t sure if dragoning / dragons were supposed to be feminine anger / female rage, or transness, or lesbianism, or just non-conformity in general? I think it may have been a combination of everything.

I wanted to DNF a few times, listened to it on 2.0x just to get through lol.

One thing that really threw me off, and this might be a little mean, was the voice actor. She read with a sorrowful whine that made me angry to listen to the whole time and was quite unpleasant. TBH that was also the way it was written, the main character’s POV was dull and repetitive. Alex’s attitude the whole times was “hear all these terrible things that have happened to me? :( feel so bad for me :(“ and “gotta remember this lie! do you remember it, audience?” and it make a caricature of women and girls who through this period went through similar stuff or worse.

i believe this book would have been much more impactful if it had
-been written from a POV of one of the women who had dragonned,
-included more intersectionality instead of the brief like “people of color exist too! trans people AND black people dragoned” one offs here and there
-wrapped up to more modern take on how this history of misogyny has effected us today. the conclusion winds up being “we did it!! boy we suffered but now we don’t have to suffer anymore” when - um no - the work is not done people are still suffering in the same and different ways than in the 1950s.

Its approach is very like “women sure did suffer in the 1950s” when it wasn’t just middle class housewives and their children who suffered, there were so many other people and cultures who sufferered more?? and the suffering is still happening??

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savshanae's review

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challenging emotional hopeful inspiring reflective sad tense slow-paced

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

4.0

If “Labour” by Paris Paloma was a book, this would be it. To be frank, I was enraged for most of it. I don’t even know if I would really recommend this book to someone, unless they were looking to be so full of feminine outrage they wanted to burst into flames. But if that is what you want, this book is it.
The writing was emotional and painted vivid pictures (it was also wordy). Sometimes repetitive, but I think it adds to the story by the end.
The self-expression and ideas that it inspired are challenging and thought provoking, and I really enjoyed that it is written to feel like you are being TOLD a story, someone’s thoughts and life experiences.
This book made me very angry, made me cry (lots), made me want to stop reading it. But it’s definitely worth the read and the rage.

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scarlett_f's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious sad slow-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? No

3.5

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tiernanalexandria's review

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adventurous challenging emotional reflective sad medium-paced

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

4.0

I think everyone can find something within the struggles of Alex, the main character, that they resonate with. It all felt very real and believable.

A couple of times the book had me staring out of a window, wishing I too could become a dragon.
The weight of chores on my shoulders become an aching for wings, the heat of the oven feeling like dragon warmth on my skin, and just wishing that I felt like something bigger than I actually am.

I think women who deal with the social stigma and weight of societies pressures would enjoy this book the most, but it truly is for everyone.
The weight of generational grievances is heavy, it’s almost like you hear your ancestors calling you to join them as a dragon too…..

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