Reviews tagging 'Suicide'

The Witches of Vardø by Anya Bergman

33 reviews

ninamanon's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad tense slow-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

4.25

A harrowing feminist tale about sisterhood, power, and justice. I loved Ingeborg and Maren instantly; they drew me into the story. I had a more difficult time getting through Fru Anna’s chapters, as she reads as haughty and annoyingly delusional, a sort of pick me girl. She irritated me greatly in the beginning, but the strength of the book was that the further you got into her story, the more you understood how she became the way she was, and in the end I couldn’t fault her and merely felt sorry for her, as I did for every other woman in the book. As for the ending,

I loved it: I loved how the conflict was resolved, how it ended with a shimmer of hope, how every single girl and woman was liberated in one way or another. I especially loved Maren and Elisa’s future: it is so beautiful to find a queer historical story that doesn’t end in misery. I will think of them often.

The prose was beautiful; I did have to get used to the first person narrative, and I struggled a bit at around the 30% mark, as Anna was boring me a bit with her tedious stories of her past lover, but as I said, I now understand their purpose. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Infertility, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racism, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicide, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Excrement, Vomit, Grief, Religious bigotry, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, Injury/Injury detail, and Pandemic/Epidemic

Minor: Adult/minor relationship

ehs1989's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense slow-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Misogyny, Rape, Sexual violence, Suicide, Torture, and Violence

contemporarymeepsie's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful informative tense medium-paced

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

3.5

The Witches of Vardo is a retelling of the true witch hunre that happened in Noway between 1662 and 1663. It follows 2 main characters: Anna Rhodius, an outspoken physician sent as a prisoner to Vardohus by the King of Denmark and Ingeborg Iversdatter, a teenage fisherman's daughter caught up in her mother's witch trial.
I enjoyed this book and the story it told. I found the historical side of it very interesting. Anya Bergman does a fantastic job of describing the desolate island of Vardo where the main portion of the story take place. I found the pacing steady and the novel easy to read despite some of the more difficult portions. My only issue with the whole thing is that Maren at the end *spoilers* is described as having true magical powers and that didnt sit right with me. The thing I like about this kind of book is how superstition and religion can taint the appearance of actual events to be 'like magic'. Therefore giving Maren the ability to summon birds or rats makes the whole thing too unrealistic for me. I know it's historical 'fiction' but that can be done without magical realism, in my mind. Just a little gripe, but overall the story was enjoyable and I would recommend it to someone interested in witch trials, historical fiction or magical realism.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Torture, Violence, and Death of parent

Moderate: Child abuse, Racism, Rape, and Pregnancy

Minor: Child death, Infertility, and Suicide

bookwyrmdancer's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense slow-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Blood, Murder, and Pregnancy

anapthine's review

dark emotional inspiring reflective 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? No

4.5

 

Thank you NetGalley and Bonnier UK Audio for giving me an ARC in exchange for an honest review. 

Oh my word, this was amazing. It was gripping from start to finish. The stories of the women were full of emotion, vulnerability and strength - the characters were so well written. The narrator really added to this already great novel.

 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Infertility, Miscarriage, Rape, Sexual assault, Suicide, and Violence

Moderate: Death of parent

Minor: Infidelity

geobp's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad slow-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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Suicide, Torture, Vomit, Religious bigotry, and Pregnancy

bookchatwithbeth's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective tense medium-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death, Gore, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Suicide, Torture, Forced institutionalization, Grief, Murder, and Pregnancy

arayo's review

dark tense medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Misogyny, Rape, and Violence

Moderate: Child death, Confinement, Gun violence, Infertility, Infidelity, Miscarriage, Suicide, Torture, Blood, Pregnancy, and Fire/Fire injury

Minor: Child abuse, Excrement, Grief, and Death of parent

prettyflyforascienceguy's review

4.25

 This book is like The Crucible meets Norse Mythology. Based on the real and devastating events of the Norwegian witch hunts, Bergman does a beautiful job honoring the innocent victims that lost their lives while still writing a beautiful piece of literature.  What I loved most about this book (besides the nearly poetic prose) was how immersed I felt. One of my pet peeves is when historical fiction feels too modern or uses modern speech patterns. Everything about this story felt like a folktale and I was completely captivated. The middle got a little slow for me, pacing-wise, but that was my only complaint. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death

Moderate: Miscarriage, Suicide, and Fire/Fire injury

ronjaorsomething's review against another edition

dark emotional sad medium-paced

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

5.0

It was so interesting reading about Scandinavian history and the witch trials there. You could tell that the author did a lot of research and that's one thing I love in historical fiction.

I like how the ending first broke your heart but then we got some wholesome stuff to make up for it so you still went out feeling nice.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Rape and Suicide

Minor: Torture