Reviews tagging 'War'

The Personal Librarian by Marie Benedict, Victoria Christopher Murray

19 reviews

bel017's review against another edition

slow-paced

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

Slow but good. I'm happy to have learnt about Belle, and I appreciated how the book shines a light on some of the atrocities committed in the US in the early 1900s, but from the safe distance of the wealthy, white, elite.

Writing from a first person perspective when the character was a real person is tricky, and I have no idea why I found it more difficult in this book compared to *Half Life* (Marie Curie, where the author imagines both her actual life and an entirely fictional life) or *Z: A novel of Zelda Fitzgerald*. Still, an interesting subject and a fascinating life.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism and Antisemitism

Moderate: Slavery and Abortion

Minor: Violence, Vomit, and War

karyan1's review

reflective slow-paced

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

2.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism

Moderate: Homophobia, Infidelity, Misogyny, Sexism, Sexual content, Antisemitism, Abortion, Death of parent, Lesbophobia, War, and Classism

readsbyrach's review against another edition

informative inspiring reflective relaxing 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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Racism, Slavery, Antisemitism, and Lesbophobia

Minor: Abortion, Alcohol, and War

readbycarina's review against another edition

emotional tense fast-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? No

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Medical trauma, and Abortion

Moderate: Misogyny, Sexual content, Slavery, Antisemitism, Grief, Pregnancy, Lesbophobia, Abandonment, and Alcohol

Minor: Death of parent and War

chloemakesbooks's review against another edition

inspiring medium-paced

Pros: good work "aging" the character, interesting premise, some good characterization, book p0rn
Cons: dragged out ending, anti-climactic, suffers from historical fiction's cardinal sin, name-dropping, barely passed the Duvernay test 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abortion

Moderate: Homophobia, Infidelity, Misogyny, Racism, Abandonment, and Classism

Minor: War

bookcasey's review against another edition

adventurous emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective slow-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism

Moderate: Antisemitism, Grief, Abortion, Lesbophobia, Abandonment, and Colonisation

Minor: Bullying, Slavery, Xenophobia, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Outing, Alcohol, War, and Classism

remie's review against another edition

emotional informative inspiring tense slow-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Racism, Sexism, Medical trauma, Abortion, and Alcohol

Minor: Death, Emotional abuse, Hate crime, Homophobia, Infidelity, Racial slurs, Racism, Slavery, Antisemitism, Grief, Death of parent, Outing, Abandonment, Colonisation, and War

kalin_grace's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional tense medium-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Racism, Sexism, Slavery, Antisemitism, Grief, Abortion, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Lesbophobia, and War

plathandpoetry's review against another edition

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? Yes

3.5

This was a very fast, intriguing read about a Black woman, Belle Marion Greener, passing as a white woman and working for a white tycoon under the name Belle de Costa Greene. Belle is lovable, and three-dimensional in her debate between living life as she wants socially with a career that she wants, and the desire to be honest about her roots. Though, Belle was a real person, she destroyed all evidence of her thoughts and feelings towards her internal debate, leaving the authors to pull from personal experiences, interviews with other people, fiction, etc. I felt as though they created a well-rounder character whose feelings felt authentic. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism

Moderate: Racism, Abortion, Death of parent, Abandonment, Alcohol, and War