thewritebooks's review against another edition
emotional
hopeful
informative
reflective
slow-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
This read like a quiet masterpiece.
Immediately after finishing this, having cried through the last 15 pages, all I could think about was the beautiful way that all of the themes came together at the end to tell a story of life and loss. We travelled through the role of medieval women in the church, female solidarity and sisterhood, sapphic love and desire, the cycles of the seasons and the catholic calendar, power and greed and the sin of creation, followed by the moral weighting of these sins against these women's souls.
The prose was never dramatic, and by avoiding direct speech throughout, the author adds to the feeling of being another witness to the years marching onwards at the Abbey. The messages in this book were very close to my heart and I would be interested in going back with tabs to track and analyse those themes a bit more, having the hindsight now to see how well they were laid out.
Immediately after finishing this, having cried through the last 15 pages, all I could think about was the beautiful way that all of the themes came together at the end to tell a story of life and loss. We travelled through the role of medieval women in the church, female solidarity and sisterhood, sapphic love and desire, the cycles of the seasons and the catholic calendar, power and greed and the sin of creation, followed by the moral weighting of these sins against these women's souls.
The prose was never dramatic, and by avoiding direct speech throughout, the author adds to the feeling of being another witness to the years marching onwards at the Abbey. The messages in this book were very close to my heart and I would be interested in going back with tabs to track and analyse those themes a bit more, having the hindsight now to see how well they were laid out.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death and Grief
Moderate: Bullying, Terminal illness, Abandonment, Child death, Pregnancy, Sexism, Sexual content, Rape, Violence, and Animal death
Minor: Classism, Excrement, Death of parent, and Dementia
yikeslou's review against another edition
emotional
inspiring
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
French mystic lesbian crusader warrior nun is a main character made SO specifically for me, a lesbian who studied the lais of Marie de France, female mysticism, Eleanor of Aquitaine, and Anglo-French religious history in uni. My god this book slapped. I finished it in two marathon readings because I couldn't put it down.
Spoiler
also I wanted Nest and Marie to end up together so bad once Marie had settled her pride later in life but ahhh it's fine
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood and Grief
Moderate: Animal death, Child death, and Death
Minor: Rape, Pedophilia, and Sexual assault
water_and_shade's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
reflective
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
A beautiful study on ambitious women, female friendship and love. The prose was stunning - several passages I went back and re-read because they were so lovely, lyrical and evocative without being abstract. Some of the religious content went over my head but it was nicely balanced and contextual, I enjoyed learning about this period of history as I know very little about it. The inhabitants of the Abbey were sensitively portrayed and I loved learning their quirks. Marie was a great protagonist - strong, ambitious, loving and flawed. Overall I enjoyed this a lot more than Fates and Furies, and would be keen to read more of Groff's work.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Child death and Death
Minor: Rape, Sexual assault, Pregnancy, Blood, and Animal death
leneliest's review against another edition
adventurous
mysterious
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death and Death
Moderate: Animal death and Death of parent
adymae11's review against another edition
emotional
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? Yes
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Miscarriage, and Toxic relationship
Moderate: Death of parent, Misogyny, Child death, and Physical abuse
Minor: Mental illness, Grief, Dementia, Violence, Sexual content, Sexual assault, Religious bigotry, Cancer, and Animal death
alixgb's review against another edition
dark
emotional
hopeful
mysterious
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? Yes
4.0
I could not put this but book down. Groff doesn't use quotation marks in her writing and something about the style makes it feel like everything is coming in a rush. Something just shy of stream of consciousness. I love her writing and I loves this book, despite almost avoiding reading it because of my own disinterest in the setting.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death
Moderate: Rape
Due to the time period it's set in, there are frequent deaths and injuries in the book.honeyvoiced's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
3.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death
Moderate: Pregnancy, Rape, and Sexual content
bookish_hollyx's review against another edition
challenging
dark
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.5
I really wanted to like this book as the premise sounded so interesting! Unfortunately I just found it really boring and a bit of a slog to get through ☹️
Content Warnings
Moderate: Gore
Minor: Animal death, Death, and Child death
heydebigale's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
funny
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
4.75
I wasn’t expecting to enjoy a novel about 12 century nuns, but this was really interesting.
CW: fairly graphic childbirth scene & death & child death
I especially loved the exploration of friendship between women, the comfort of the idea of creating a space without men, and the discussion of morality of sapphic relationships in the 12th century.
This idea that sapphic pleasure was below the notice of the church that there was nothing explicitly written about it? So of course Marie concluded that she does nothing “sinful” or “wrong” by receiving cunnilingus.
Also this idea that nuns are similar to witches… I really loved that.
CW: fairly graphic childbirth scene & death & child death
I especially loved the exploration of friendship between women, the comfort of the idea of creating a space without men, and the discussion of morality of sapphic relationships in the 12th century.
This idea that sapphic pleasure was below the notice of the church that there was nothing explicitly written about it? So of course Marie concluded that she does nothing “sinful” or “wrong” by receiving cunnilingus.
Also this idea that nuns are similar to witches… I really loved that.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death, Death, and Pregnancy
Graphic childbirth scene that results in the death of both the child and mothercareinthelibrary's review against another edition
emotional
informative
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Dementia, Religious bigotry, Sexism, Homophobia, Lesbophobia, Miscarriage, Animal death, Pregnancy, Child death, Death, Sexual content, and Sexual violence
Moderate: Cancer, Body shaming, Mental illness, Misogyny, Injury/Injury detail, War, Islamophobia, and Terminal illness