Reviews tagging 'Classism'

Clytemnestra by Costanza Casati

15 reviews

blissofalife's review against another edition

dark emotional 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? Yes

4.0

I knew nothing about the myth before starting, so I thoroughly enjoyed learning about Clytemnestra. I also loved all the cameos of mythic heroes and legends. 

She’s not obviously likeable, which was refreshing. Clystemnestra is full of rage for much of the book, and spends much of the time plotting revenge. I loved how sure of herself she was, even if I didn’t always like her actions. A very strong character.

Overall slow paced with large time jumps, but an enjoyable read.

I really loved the letters in the middle of the book, I liked the window into the lives and thoughts of her loved ones and the outside perspective it gave, I would’ve loved to see more of that.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Violence, and Murder

Moderate: Child death, Sexual assault, Slavery, Blood, War, and Classism

Minor: Domestic abuse, Incest, Sexual content, Death of parent, and Sexual harassment

audreading's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.25

All my homies hate Agamemnon!

Book is beautifully written. It’s a challenge to write this time period in a way that’s still easy to consume but this book definitely accomplishes that. It’s also super difficult for me to keep up with a lot of characters, but the descriptions and callbacks were so good that I rarely had to look back at the character list (which is also helpful)! I do feel like some scenes and details could be cut. While the book wasn’t especially long, it took me longer to get through than I expected. Overall I would recommend this to anyone interested in Greek mythology and/or female rage, with the caveat that you should definitely read the content warnings first.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Slavery, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, and Gaslighting

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Bullying, Confinement, Homophobia, Incest, Infidelity, Grief, Lesbophobia, Outing, and War

Minor: Bullying, Kidnapping, Religious bigotry, and Classism

I listed a ton of content warnings, yes, but most of them overlap for the same scenes and passages. The book is pretty honest about the treatment of people in this time, particularly women, so there are a lot of traumatic topics. I struggled with the amount of SA occurrences, but not so much that the book wasn’t worth it. Much of the book is dark, but moves on quickly and the end leaves you with some spark of retribution.

inkwellimps's review against another edition

dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Domestic abuse, Misogyny, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Violence, Murder, and Pregnancy

Moderate: Confinement, Slavery, Death of parent, and Classism

Minor: Homophobia, Incest, Suicidal thoughts, Lesbophobia, and War

garnethalo's review against another edition

dark emotional tense medium-paced

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

4.75

In Jennifer Saint's Elektra, I understood the daughter. Now in Costanza Casati's book, I understand the mother, Clytemnestra. A wonderful read that had me turning the next page with both anticipation and wariness.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Infidelity, Misogyny, Grief, and Murder

Moderate: Animal death, Bullying, Slavery, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Death of parent, and Classism

Minor: Death, Gore, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Torture, Alcohol, War, and Injury/Injury detail

A Greek myth retold. Surrounding the Trojan war. It is a Greek tragedy! Comes with the usual Greek tragedy warnings.

sherri_berri's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional medium-paced

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

4.5

Quite good overall! I enjoyed the writing style & indepth characterisations, but there were a few marrative choices that felt jarring to me (namely the pacing felt off due to the

15 year gap and the abrupt changes in POV

). Nonethless, this book certainly made me feel for Clytemnestra and the women in ancient greek mythology, and held my attention (no easy feat) during the faster paced chapters. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Child death, Domestic abuse, Sexism, Violence, Grief, and Murder

Moderate: Alcoholism, Child abuse, Rape, Death of parent, and Classism

Minor: War

josisteacup's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional inspiring reflective sad medium-paced

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

5.0

I was looking forward to this book for a while and it fulfilled all of my expectations. 
Being familiar with Greek mythology and Clytemnestras story I knew what I was going into. I've also read a few other retelling of Greek mythology so I knew there would likely be a critical discussion of societal issues, deep and complex character work and graphic descriptions of the horror of these times. 
Clytemnestra is a complex and not necessarily likeable character and the Author doesn't shy back from showing her flaws. As a "God forbid a women does anything" (sarcastic) enthusiast I love books which portray women as humans who have both positive and negative traits. 
The book is also very well written and has a nice flow. 
The side characters and their relationships with Clytemnestra are well developed.
All in all I enjoyed reading the book. It stands out amongst other retellings and I'm already looking forward to the authors next book.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Slavery, Violence, Blood, Grief, Murder, Pregnancy, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

hannahcstocks's review against another edition

dark emotional informative sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Adult/minor relationship, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gore, Incest, Infidelity, Mental illness, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Vomit, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Grief, Religious bigotry, Stalking, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Gaslighting, Abandonment, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, Colonisation, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

adayania's review against another edition

dark emotional inspiring reflective sad 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Homophobia, Incest, Infidelity, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Vomit, Kidnapping, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Gaslighting, Alcohol, War, Classism, and Pandemic/Epidemic

celery's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad tense slow-paced

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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gore, Incest, Infidelity, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Grief, Cannibalism, Religious bigotry, Stalking, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Lesbophobia, Outing, Gaslighting, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, Colonisation, War, Injury/Injury detail, Classism, and Pandemic/Epidemic

missgarceau's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense 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? It's complicated

4.25

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Hate crime, Incest, Infidelity, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Grief, Cannibalism, Religious bigotry, Stalking, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, War, Injury/Injury detail, Classism, and Deportation