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astronautin'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? Yes
3.75
Graphic: Slavery
stellahadz's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.5
Graphic: Racial slurs, Racism, and Slavery
Moderate: Death, Grief, Colonisation, and Classism
Minor: Child death and Abandonment
helsbelles's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
4.0
Graphic: Racial slurs and Slavery
Moderate: Violence
marmoo'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
4.25
In situating much of the action in a bizarre 19th century court case, Smith seems far less interested in the titular fraud (one of them, anyway) than about what others see when they look at him. How can such an obvious charlatan be the receptacle of the pride of the downtrodden?
You don’t have to stretch very far to see the echoes to our own faux-populists of today. At one point, the protagonist tries to “remind herself that what she was witnessing was a sincere mass emotion—dispossession—being twisted and manipulated for ulterior purposes. Still, they frightened her. Were these ‘the people’? Were these her people?”
In her reconstruction of Victorian England, Smith evokes the familiar sense of disorientation you feel when talking to someone living in a different ideological reality hasn’t changed all that much these past couple of centuries. Take the aftermath of court testimony that the protagonist considered self-evidently damning—but that only hardened her cousin-in-law’s allegiance:
Eliza reminded herself to be a good Christian. She would not crow or appear too pleased with herself. She would be gentle and mindful of Sarah’s hurt feelings, always remembering that false beliefs are precisely the ones we tend to cling to most strongly.
Before she could speak, however, Sarah erupted in enthusiasm: ‘Ain’t it a marvel how he ties all them stuffed shirts up in knots! The more them lawyers talk, the more he proves himself!’
It’s a scene that hits close to home in this turbulent election season, if not, as this novel argues, a particularly new phenomenon.
Moderate: Slavery
anniesher23'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
4.0
It was a little hard to follow via audiobook, especially because I kept having to stop for a few weeks while I waited to borrow again.
Graphic: Racism and Slavery
Moderate: Child death and Sexism
jeyjeyyy'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? Yes
4.5
Graphic: Death, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexual content, Slavery, Violence, Abandonment, and Colonisation
maryhungerford's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
Graphic: Slavery
miaaa_lenaaa's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
No, no i would not.
‘The world was sunk in madness. It covered everything like weather.’
‘Who can give to me what was never theirs to possess?’
Graphic: Child death, Death, Misogyny, Racism, Slavery, Kidnapping, and Grief
mabe_l'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? Yes
4.25
Graphic: Slavery
phoevincent'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? Yes
5.0
Graphic: Slavery