Reviews tagging 'Body shaming'

Galatea by Madeline Miller

97 reviews

nlemon55's review against another edition

dark sad fast-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Body shaming, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Forced institutionalization, Medical trauma, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Sexual content, Abortion, and Pregnancy

whentheresteeth's review against another edition

dark emotional tense fast-paced

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

5.0

I really enjoyed listening to this, I would even say it felt sort of perfect in many ways. Miller's retelling of myth is always fascinating to me and my lack of loads of knowledge for this particular one almost made it easier to read without thinking of what could be done differently.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body shaming, Child abuse, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, and Forced institutionalization

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Death, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Medical content, Abortion, and Gaslighting

eedle_cacleberry's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad fast-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

3.5

Only reason this isn’t five stars is it could’ve been at least fifty pages longer. While I love and appropriate a good short story, it would’ve had more emotional impact if we had more details and descriptions. I would’ve loved getting to know Paphos more and their relationship, as well as really understanding what it was like living in the “hospital”. Also the relationship between Galatea and Pygmalion and how it led up to her trying to escape. But still such a beautiful story, and how much was fit it is very impressive.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Domestic abuse, Misogyny, Suicide, Abortion, and Murder

Moderate: Rape and Sexual assault

Minor: Body shaming, Pedophilia, and Pregnancy

mayareads4fun's review against another edition

dark reflective tense fast-paced

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

4.0

I’ve read the origin story as well as Pygmalion so I knew this was a quick read I wanted to pick up. Really makes you hate men. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse and Misogyny

Moderate: Sexism, Toxic relationship, and Abortion

Minor: Body shaming

cayliehausman's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced

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

4.5

An intense continuation of Pygmalion with a not so happy end. A mix of 50s ”women are hysterical” culture with Greek mythology to create an interesting view of the inequality of women and men, and the abuse that sometimes happens within those controlled relationships. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body shaming, Confinement, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Toxic relationship, and Forced institutionalization

Moderate: Rape and Violence

Minor: Death

brittanylee0302's review against another edition

sad fast-paced

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

4.0

As someone who isn't very familiar with Greek mythology, I always find Miller's books hard to get into. However, once I get into them a little I always end up lovin them. This was a tragic but empowering story & I really enjoyed it. I liked how at the end, Miller gave more context on the background of Galatea. It helped me understand the short story more. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Body shaming and Suicide

Minor: Death, Pedophilia, Abortion, and Pregnancy

mgiegerl's review against another edition

dark emotional sad fast-paced

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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body shaming, Domestic abuse, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Sexism, Sexual assault, Toxic relationship, and Abortion

plathandthebelljar's review against another edition

challenging dark hopeful inspiring sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• 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: Body shaming, Bullying, and Abortion

Moderate: Confinement, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Forced institutionalization, and Abandonment

Minor: Death, Sexual content, Forced institutionalization, and Death of parent

lauren_shilling's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad fast-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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Misogyny, and Rape

Moderate: Sexual assault, Suicide, and Abortion

Minor: Body shaming, Pedophilia, and Pregnancy

occasionalyarnie's review against another edition

dark sad fast-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

2.0

While I usually enjoy Madeline Miller's work, this was just a miss for me. I think it boils down to two things: I don't really care for short stories and I'm unfamiliar with the myth this one is based on. Ultimately, the story was too short to flesh out the context of the story as intricately as I would have liked, which meant I wasn't really invested in the characters or what happened to them. It looks like this was written for an anthology, so the length makes sense; it would have been really interesting to see what she could have done with it with more page space (I think it would have worked much better as a novella).

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse and Forced institutionalization

Moderate: Abortion and Pregnancy

Minor: Body shaming

While I wouldn't say any topics in the content warnings are extreme cases, it feels a bit dark because the story is so short. There are also several fade-to-black/off-page sexual references or encounters, and (to me) it was unclear whether these encounters were consensual; if you're sensitive to dub- or non-con, it might be best to avoid this one.