Reviews tagging 'Classism'

Hester by Laurie Lico Albanese

13 reviews

kimveach's review against another edition

adventurous emotional hopeful 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? Yes

4.0

I enjoyed this fictionalized version of the writing of The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne.  Even without the ties to the classic book, it was a wonderful historical novel set in Salem in the 1600s.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Blood, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Misogyny, Suicidal thoughts, Death of parent, Forced institutionalization, Medical content, Physical abuse, Classism, Colonisation, Death, Grief, Infidelity, Medical trauma, Pregnancy, Racism, Vomit, Violence, Toxic relationship, and Slavery

Moderate: Sexual content

laurenlee2158's review against another edition

emotional informative reflective medium-paced

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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Minor: Drug abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Misogyny, Grief, Domestic abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Xenophobia, Addiction, Alcoholism, Classism, Suicide, Violence, Adult/minor relationship, Blood, Miscarriage, Abortion, Colonisation, Death, Murder, Pregnancy, Racism, Rape, Slavery, Sexual assault, Ableism, and Sexual content

spineofthesaurus's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Classism, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Racism, Self harm, Xenophobia, Pregnancy, Infidelity, Physical abuse, Drug abuse, Domestic abuse, Sexual assault, Adult/minor relationship, Rape, Alcoholism, Child death, Sexual violence, Suicide attempt, Toxic relationship, Addiction, Colonisation, and Emotional abuse

Moderate: Racial slurs, Abandonment, Death of parent, Confinement, Kidnapping, Religious bigotry, Blood, Injury/Injury detail, Forced institutionalization, Gaslighting, Terminal illness, Abortion, Grief, Suicidal thoughts, Trafficking, Slavery, and Sexual content

Minor: Medical content, Incest, Vomit, Gun violence, and Excrement

captainmarcy's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional hopeful sad medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Alcoholism, Classism, Drug use, Colonisation, Death of parent, and Slavery

phantomgecko's review against another edition

emotional hopeful 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

5.0

Big fan.

A novel that takes embroidery and sewing and portrays it as the legitimate art medium it is. Her needlework is not a weak female stereotype. It quite literally empowers her to be her own woman in a time when that's not easy.

Isobel is a fun character too. She's kind and clever but also naive and makes frustrating mistakes.

Also, hadn't thought much about xenophobia in New England. Like, here's a literate white woman in Massachusetts but oops, she's from ScOtLanD which means she's an imMiGraNt and uNtrUstwOrthY.

As a whole though, this was a great novel with great historical influence and creative speculation.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Xenophobia, Classism, Alcoholism, Misogyny, Racism, Sexism, Toxic relationship, Death, and Slavery

rachelwhicker06's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional hopeful inspiring tense medium-paced

• 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug abuse, Drug use, and Addiction

Moderate: Blood, Domestic abuse, Racism, Sexual violence, Classism, Suicidal thoughts, Slavery, and Terminal illness

Minor: Abortion and Forced institutionalization

atamano's review against another edition

dark reflective medium-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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug abuse, Infidelity, Classism, Misogyny, and Racism

Moderate: Abandonment, Blood, Pregnancy, Slavery, and Toxic relationship

Minor: Death of parent, Sexual content, and Vomit

laheath's review against another edition

dark emotional 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? Yes

4.0

Although I had fantastic English teachers in high school, I remember the study of The Scarlet Letter being dry though the story was pretty good overall.  This book imagines the origin of Hawthorne's inspiration for that book.  With the inclusion of such details as strong female characters, references to the Salem witch trials and the Underground Railroad, and issues such as classism, equality, and freedom, this is a very interesting story of a woman making her way in the world with her own gifts.

Unfortunately, once again, the audiobook does not include the author's notes, which I've been told detail her research.  These should never be left out of audiobooks!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Infidelity

Moderate: Sexism, Slavery, Pregnancy, Religious bigotry, Self harm, Racism, and Abortion

Minor: Sexual content, Drug use, and Classism

micaelamariem's review against another edition

dark emotional inspiring mysterious reflective tense 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? It's complicated

3.0

This book had really good writing but the plot didn’t get too interesting until the last third. I’m sorry but I don’t find things about stitching and dressmaking interesting. Of course there was a lot more to it than that but that seemed to have the majority of the descriptions 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Blood, Classism, Colonisation, Death of parent, Drug abuse, Chronic illness, Death, Racism, Sexual content, Vomit, Drug use, Toxic relationship, Violence, Infidelity, Racial slurs, Abandonment, Alcoholism, Sexism, and Slavery

bookswithbront's review against another edition

emotional hopeful sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

This book tried to do a few too many things and didn’t develop some of its ideas as fully as I’d like. But I still really enjoyed my time with the story. And I have a feeling that Isobel’s colors and the way the women came together to help each other survive are going to stick with me for a long time.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abortion, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, Racism, Domestic abuse, Infidelity, Slavery, Trafficking, Death of parent, Misogyny, and Sexism

Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Classism, and Adult/minor relationship

Minor: Forced institutionalization and Miscarriage