Reviews tagging 'Toxic friendship'

Circe by Madeline Miller

24 reviews

abookwormspov's review against another edition

adventurous 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? Yes

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Murder, Pregnancy, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Sexual harassment, War, and Injury/Injury detail

margaritium's review against another edition

adventurous emotional hopeful informative inspiring mysterious sad tense 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? It's complicated

4.5

One sentence. All men are pigs in their true form. 
Circe was led down by her own family but she made one for herself with her glory. Love the character development.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Death, Emotional abuse, Incest, Misogyny, Sexism, Blood, Grief, and Classism

Moderate: Sexual violence, Violence, Pregnancy, Toxic friendship, Sexual harassment, and War

luminifera's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional hopeful inspiring reflective sad slow-paced

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

5.0

I absolutely loved it. What a beautiful retelling of the myth. So many details!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gore, Misogyny, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Cannibalism, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Incest, Infidelity, Pedophilia, Self harm, Xenophobia, Kidnapping, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Abandonment, Alcohol, and War

It's a heavy book. However, very much worth the read, and

it has a happy ending!

jadehusdanhicks's review

adventurous challenging 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 missed when this was massively trending back during covid but as much as it wasn’t an all time favourite I can admit the hype was for a reason. 

This tale follows the tale of Circe and essentially the stories of her life and the people she meets.  Which is shockingly a lot considering early in the book she gets herself exiled for life to an island.   

Weirdly poetic at times it had some beautiful quotes. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body shaming, Bullying, Confinement, Death, Incest, Infidelity, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Toxic friendship, and Alcohol

jghedyiu23g89i3's review against another edition

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? Yes

4.25

The book was lovely. I flew through it on bus trips and it made the time more enjoyable. I won't spoil the ending, but it made me tear up a bit. I gave it 4.25 stars; it was so beautifully written and I adored the characters.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death, Physical abuse, Toxic relationship, Toxic friendship, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Animal death, Death, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexism, and War

siennakt30's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious reflective relaxing slow-paced

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

3.25

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Child death, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Incest, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Violence, Blood, Murder, Pregnancy, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, War, and Injury/Injury detail

miraiyo's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional hopeful inspiring reflective medium-paced

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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Bullying, Death, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gore, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Murder, Pregnancy, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Sexual harassment, War, and Injury/Injury detail

bellebooks's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional medium-paced

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

5.0

Instant classic.  It's a narrative re-analysis of Circe under a more feminist lens.  Much of Greek and Roman mythology was written by men for men, and in a misogynic society, many of those themes develop:

• The perfect woman cannot exist.  She must suffer and/or die.
• When women have power, especially goddesses, they are monstrous and destructive.
• Praised women take on the name of their male representative (husband, son, father).  Shamed women have their own name.

These themes weave the mythologies together, and it reinforces the notions within the society.

This masterpiece, however, re-examines this myth in particular, looks back at the text with a more careful eye and develops motive.  Many of the mythologies leave this out, highlighting motives based on selfishness and corruption.  However, it ignores or minimizes where those desires come from, how the society itself really is the true villain of every goddess origin story.

This isn't to excuse all of Circe's actions nor any and all women in this book.  It's wonderfully messy and complicated, all shades of gray area.  Miller skillfully shows that the black and white that was so hard pressed in Antiquity is much more muddy than people want to realize, especially as the myths do not exist in a vacuum.

I do hope that this appears as part of the summer reading list for high schoolers.  I would have loved to read this instead of The Great Gatsby, The Scarlet Letter, Oedipus Trilogy, all of which highlight women that are marginalized and victimized because of the society they live in (I have less sympathy for Daisy Buchannan, but that's beside the point).  This book deserves to join the ranks, and I most certainly plan to wear out my copy one reread at a time.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Misogyny, Grief, and Abandonment

Moderate: Bullying, Toxic relationship, Pregnancy, and Toxic friendship

Minor: Death and War

ambdocksey22's review against another edition

adventurous emotional mysterious tense 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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Child death, Chronic illness, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gore, Incest, Infertility, Infidelity, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Racism, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Grief, Cannibalism, Religious bigotry, Abortion, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, Colonisation, War, and Injury/Injury detail

bedtimesandbooks's review against another edition

adventurous dark 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? Yes

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Grief, Cannibalism, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Sexual harassment, War, and Injury/Injury detail