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Reviews tagging 'Homophobia'
The Personal Librarian by Marie Benedict, Victoria Christopher Murray
14 reviews
claudine2's review against another edition
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
4.75
I enjoyed learning about the early manuscripts and art that she helped Mr. Morgan acquire. It makes me wish I had appreciated the early books I saw at the British Museum more and also makes me want to visit NYC to see the library and its holdings.
This was my 2nd Marie Benedict and 1st Victoria Christopher Murray book. Excited to see that they also collaborated on The First Ladies!
Minor: Homophobia, Racism, Antisemitism, Grief, Abortion, Death of parent, Alcohol, and War
kbifolck's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
Graphic: Abortion
Moderate: Homophobia, Racism, and Antisemitism
leannanecdote's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Graphic: Homophobia, Infidelity, Racism, Sexual content, Xenophobia, Antisemitism, Grief, Abortion, Death of parent, Lesbophobia, Cultural appropriation, Abandonment, Alcohol, Colonisation, and Classism
Moderate: Hate crime, Sexism, Slavery, and War
notsogabbygabby's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.25
Graphic: Racism and Abortion
Moderate: Death, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Racism, Antisemitism, Death of parent, and Classism
satashii's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
I was not impressed—hence the star rating. Belle does not undergo much character growth and still comes off as a Mary Sue to the very end.
The main character, Belle, is a real person but the historical accuracy suffers from the choice of first person narrative. A quick search on her name told me a lot more about her than this book did and I don’t think the book really did her story any favors. There is more than enough primary source material to have written a much better and fuller story. The book itself is overlong, the climax happens at about the 70-75% mark and then we spend another sixty pages on stuff that really didn’t feel necessary. A more focused book on one element of Belle’s life would have been more appropriate for the word count. I’ve never read anything else by these authors but after this I’m not really inclined to.
While I was sympathetic and interested in the viewpoint of a white-passing black woman who became a femminist icon of the suffragettes… this story really didn’t go into hardly any details about that. it’s a side show to the story of Belle having cringily written romantic attachments to much older men. It’s vaguely mentioned that she pretends to be younger than she is at the very beginning by six years but I wasn’t sure if she continued this ruse in addition to her other ones. Add in the trauma she undergoes and… then what? There’s so many things stuffed in by telling the reader about them that they don’t have very much emotional impact.
Mostly, this book just made me frustrated and tired. There’s a better story to be told here than the one I just read. I would not have finished the book if my bookclub hadn’t chosen it as our monthly read.
So one star for teaching me things about Belle’s father and another star for making me very curious about Anne Morgan and her friends. It sounds like they were all very remarkable woman and I suspect Belle was as well…. I just didn’t like this version of her very much.
I think I need another palette cleanser book to read after this one.
Graphic: Infidelity, Racism, Xenophobia, and Abortion
Moderate: Homophobia, Antisemitism, and Classism
katharina90's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
3.0
I particularly dislike the glorification of JP Morgan and other members of the upper class, especially their portrayal as saviors who "preserve" art by locking it up in their private collections.
Moderate: Racism, Sexism, Antisemitism, and Classism
Minor: Homophobia
karyan1's review
- 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
Graphic: Racism
Moderate: Homophobia, Infidelity, Misogyny, Sexism, Sexual content, Antisemitism, Abortion, Death of parent, Lesbophobia, War, and Classism
meganpbennett's review against another edition
- 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
3.0
This book has all of those things, following the fictionalized life of Belle de Costa Greene, the librarian for J. P. Morgan's library. Only, Belle de Costa Greene.... was a black woman, passing for white in a world where being caught meant death. Not much is known about her, though Morgan's life is rather well documented. My hometown library did a "one book, one community" read with this book, and I thought it would be a good opportunity to read a book I would not have otherwise picked up to read. It was a very interesting read, though I found it to be rather on the slow side.
Graphic: Homophobia, Infidelity, Misogyny, Racism, Sexism, Toxic relationship, Antisemitism, and Abortion
susannah_knox's review against another edition
- 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
Moderate: Alcoholism, Death, Homophobia, Infidelity, Misogyny, Racism, Sexism, Antisemitism, Grief, Medical trauma, Abortion, and Alcohol
chloemakesbooks's review against another edition
Cons: dragged out ending, anti-climactic, suffers from historical fiction's cardinal sin, name-dropping, barely passed the Duvernay test
Graphic: Abortion
Moderate: Homophobia, Infidelity, Misogyny, Racism, Abandonment, and Classism
Minor: War