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shoham's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
1.25
Graphic: Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Pedophilia, Sexism, Toxic relationship, Police brutality, Murder, and Fire/Fire injury
Moderate: Animal death, Body shaming, Misogyny, Self harm, Slavery, Transphobia, Grief, Religious bigotry, and Sexual harassment
Minor: Alcoholism, Child death, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Physical abuse, Death of parent, and Alcohol
justagir1's review against another edition
- 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? No
3.0
Graphic: Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child abuse, Death, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Hate crime, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Slavery, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Police brutality, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, and Classism
joensign's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
1.0
Graphic: Animal death, Body shaming, Child abuse, Confinement, Emotional abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, and Fire/Fire injury
Moderate: Alcoholism, Body horror, Pedophilia, Forced institutionalization, Police brutality, Gaslighting, and Classism
Minor: Drug use, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, and Murder
livlostinstereo's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.5
What a fantastic book. I struggled to put it down. Once again, Alice Hoffman delivers a masterclass on writing characters that feel so vividly real. Coralie and Eddie are wonderfully well-rounded characters.
The ONLY reason this isn't a 5 from me is because the ending felt slightly rushed. That's not to say it wasn't good - it just felt a bit rushed in comparison to the pace of the rest of the book.
But nothing will stop me from rereading this with the same love I have reread The Rules of Magic with time and time again.
The historical fiction of this story is truly immersive and just makes you want to read and learn more about the various events referenced.
If you read anything this winter, please let it be this.
Graphic: Animal death, Child abuse, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Violence, Medical content, Fire/Fire injury, and Gaslighting
Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Torture, Police brutality, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Drug abuse, Forced institutionalization, and Grief
meg_elyse's review against another edition
- 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
3.0
Graphic: Ableism, Animal death, Body horror, Body shaming, Death, Emotional abuse, Misogyny, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Xenophobia, Blood, Police brutality, Medical content, Suicide attempt, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Sexual harassment, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism
Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Bullying, Child death, Confinement, Domestic abuse, Genocide, Antisemitism, and Alcohol
Minor: Pedophilia, Kidnapping, and Murder
michelle_leitheoir's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
That being said, I'm not sure this book is exactly what I expected it to be, which started off really disappointing - since Practical Magic was very firmly magical realism, I was hoping this would be as well. How cool would it be to have a sideshow attraction on Coney Island where the sideshows were ACTUALLY mermaids, wolfmen, butterfly girls, etc.? When I realized this was firmly historical fiction with no magical realism whatsoever, it was kind of a bitter pill to swallow, one that took me most of the book to get past. But once I did, I became very attached to all our main players. Even Eddie, who for most of the book struck me as the type of callused bitter jerk I don't care about at all.
A fair amount of world building has to go into writing good historical fiction. Not the same type of world building fantasy authors do, but crafting history in such a way that it becomes as alive and realistic and immersive as the times your modern audience is living in. Hoffman clearly has a talent for that, which made connecting to it as a modern audience SUPER easy. It even sent me to do some searching on the historicity behind some of the events in the book, which is proof that it engaged my mind. And isn't that what great fiction is supposed to do?
So if you like thoroughly researched historical fiction with characters that you truly feel for, this is a great read. It's dark and hard to read sometimes. There is a lot of various kinds of abuse. But it's a beautiful story.
Moderate: Emotional abuse