Reviews with content warning for Sexual content - Matrix

Reviews tagging 'Sexual content'

Matrix by Lauren Groff

28 reviews

rednikki's review against another edition

dark sad medium-paced

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

2.0

One recommendation in fiction – both books and film – is that "and then" storytelling is kind of boring, while "but – therefore" story is very interesting. This story starts with a but-therefore...and then most of the rest of it is "and then."

I generally bounce off books where all dialogue is paraphrased, but I was very interested in the period and the setting so I gave it a go. And man, I wish I had not. Most of the characters have very little personality, and they can be identified either by a skill or a deformity. (A couple of characters have Exactly One Quirk. Someone is very rude! Or someone is insane! Or someone is always very sweet! But only a few characters have a personality trait.) As a result, I mixed up the characters a lot.

The author lingered on gruesome death a lot. I get it, "it's 1183 and we're all barbarians!" (to quote The Lion in Winter), but it kind of felt like torture porn.

There were still interesting aspects to the book, and it would probably have been a 3.5 from me if it weren't for the last five pages.

The new abbess throws the old abbess's book of visions into the fire, and then (to paraphrase, just like the author does) a little cloud of smoke goes up and it adds to climate change, which in just over a thousand years turns the land to cinders and kills everyone. This is the second litfic book I've read this year that ends with "climate change, everyone dies." And BOY did it feel tacked on when it's a book set in the 12th century.

Are publishers now mandating that sort of ending or what?

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attolis's review against another edition

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4.0

A character study of 12th century religious women that's executed well enough that the main character being an unambiguously man-hating lesbian doesn't even feel anachronistic. And also you know what, if I was in a bit of a silly goofy mood, I might even say this felt like something of a (less funny) adult spiritual successor to Catherine, Called Birdy to me.

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bookishmillennial's review against another edition

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dark emotional sad slow-paced

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

While this is a much slower paced and lyrical/poetic book than what I typically gravitate towards, I deeply appreciated the character development of the main character, Marie!

If you are interested in Lauren Groff's exploration of religion and queerness in a story about a French nun who empowers a poor nunnery in 1158, then this would be a good one to pick up but keep an open mind!

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thewritebooks's review against another edition

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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.

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yilliun's review against another edition

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adventurous reflective slow-paced

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

3.5

I have previously read the Lais written by Marie de France and I was intrigued by the premise of this book. It was tough to adjust to the dialogue not being written in quotations, but eventually I understood when a character was speaking versus not.

I think Groff chose an interesting and certainly speculative subject to write a story about. The historical record doesn’t know much about Marie’s actual life, so it was interesting to see how Groff brought her to life in a fictionalized version. At times, the pacing felt very slow and the plots just dragged. I had a hard time staying engaged when this would happen in the story. One of the main things that did keep me engaged were the relationships between each of the nuns. Female friendship is such a special and tender thing. I also enjoyed Marie realizing how the abbey gave her much more freedom in life to make a name for herself and not need to worry about societal expectations.

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eliya's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark informative mysterious reflective sad slow-paced

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

4.0

This book was a challenge for me.
It took me 15h 21m technically, with the Libby app open whether or not I was actually reading.

I’ve never read a historical fiction book for me, and the beginning was a little slow. Once it picked up, the pace ebbed and flowed, and, I began to appreciate how beautifully it is written. So many passages that I want to keep and remember forever, the word choice and the poetic cadence of Lauren’s Groff’s writing is best described by a friend of mine as “delicious.” absolutely.

I love women and I’m so glad I read this book even though this book is way smarter than I will ever be. Gonna go finish weeping now.

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