Reviews tagging 'Toxic relationship'

Clytemnestra by Costanza Casati

36 reviews

inkdrinker6259's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective tense medium-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Minor: Child abuse, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Toxic relationship, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

libbyys16's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-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: Child death, Misogyny, Sexual assault, Toxic relationship, Violence, Grief, Murder, and War

catie_cat's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense 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

5.0

I love the stories of the Ancient Greeks. The mythology the inspired heroes and tragedies alike. This creative adaptation of Clytemnestra pulled at my heart from beginning to end. I knew her story was tragic, but this took her to a whole new level. One of my favorite reads for 2024!

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Child death, Death, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Violence, Death of parent, Murder, and Pregnancy

This story did contain more serious topics. It was tragic and showed how a world of violence had a cycle in many of the people’s lives. Women were not necessarily sheltered from these things either.

audreading's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.25

All my homies hate Agamemnon!

Book is beautifully written. It’s a challenge to write this time period in a way that’s still easy to consume but this book definitely accomplishes that. It’s also super difficult for me to keep up with a lot of characters, but the descriptions and callbacks were so good that I rarely had to look back at the character list (which is also helpful)! I do feel like some scenes and details could be cut. While the book wasn’t especially long, it took me longer to get through than I expected. Overall I would recommend this to anyone interested in Greek mythology and/or female rage, with the caveat that you should definitely read the content warnings first.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Slavery, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, and Gaslighting

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Bullying, Confinement, Homophobia, Incest, Infidelity, Grief, Lesbophobia, Outing, and War

Minor: Bullying, Kidnapping, Religious bigotry, and Classism

I listed a ton of content warnings, yes, but most of them overlap for the same scenes and passages. The book is pretty honest about the treatment of people in this time, particularly women, so there are a lot of traumatic topics. I struggled with the amount of SA occurrences, but not so much that the book wasn’t worth it. Much of the book is dark, but moves on quickly and the end leaves you with some spark of retribution.

sarah_speaks's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad tense 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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Infidelity, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Violence, Blood, Grief, Murder, and Pregnancy

Moderate: Animal death, Toxic relationship, and Death of parent

Minor: Incest, Slavery, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Lesbophobia, and War

artcish's review against another edition

adventurous dark reflective tense medium-paced

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

4.0

As someone who enjoys Greek and Roman mythology, this book was an interesting read. Not just interesting as it is from a woman’s perspective but also the  various events and mindsets that shaped the mythology. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Cursing, Domestic abuse, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Violence, Murder, and War

Minor: Child death, Death, Kidnapping, and Alcohol

elizcorgi's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious tense fast-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? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexism, Toxic relationship, Violence, and Murder

Minor: Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Slavery, Sexual harassment, and War

garnethalo's review against another edition

dark emotional tense medium-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

4.75

In Jennifer Saint's Elektra, I understood the daughter. Now in Costanza Casati's book, I understand the mother, Clytemnestra. A wonderful read that had me turning the next page with both anticipation and wariness.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Infidelity, Misogyny, Grief, and Murder

Moderate: Animal death, Bullying, Slavery, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Death of parent, and Classism

Minor: Death, Gore, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Torture, Alcohol, War, and Injury/Injury detail

A Greek myth retold. Surrounding the Trojan war. It is a Greek tragedy! Comes with the usual Greek tragedy warnings.

yilliun's review

dark emotional sad tense slow-paced

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

4.25

I have seen the Oresteia play performed before, so this was a very interesting re-examination of the Greek classic for me. I think my main criticism stems from

Casati leaving out WHY Agamemnon offended the God’s and sacrificed Iphigenia. I think adding this narrative element would have made Clytemnestra’s rage EVEN MORE valid.

I think at some points Clytemnestra ends up reading as a cartoonish villain in her quest for vengeance. I do have to respect that she really played the long game in waiting to

murder her husband

. Overall, if you want a story about female rage and refusing to break for the men who believe women are weak, this is a good choice.

I found the family tree extremely helpful considering how entangled these families are. I frequently referenced it even as I got close to finishing the book, I still got confused lol

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Domestic abuse, Rape, Violence, and Murder

Moderate: Death, Misogyny, Suicidal thoughts, and Toxic relationship

It’s an adaptation of a Greek myth. These are all (unfortunately) standards for the genre, even if the version is done from a woman’s perspective.

raebae's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense fast-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Homophobia, Incest, Infidelity, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Grief, Cannibalism, Religious bigotry, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Lesbophobia, Gaslighting, Abandonment, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Pandemic/Epidemic