Reviews tagging 'Toxic relationship'

Clytemnestra by Costanza Casati

41 reviews

aabraham99's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional sad fast-paced

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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Incest, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Violence, and Murder

missvanillanilla's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional reflective tense medium-paced

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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Incest, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Slavery, Blood, Kidnapping, Death of parent, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Alcoholism, Animal death, Misogyny, Sexism, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Xenophobia, Blood, Sexual harassment, and War

fkshg8465's review against another edition

adventurous emotional sad tense medium-paced

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

2.75

I liked the story. I like most of the mythology. I did not love the storytelling. While I appreciated the retelling through her eyes, I spent way too much time looking up characters I couldn't remember from my Classics studies from over 30 years ago - the key motivation for what happened to Iphiginia, for example and all the other minor characters - which were historically known and which ones the author created. However, I think if the author writes a follow up of Elektra's story, I might be readier for it (hopefully, I'll remember a lot of what I researched today).

I've always hated Freud (he's a horrible misogynist), and of course I cannot help but think of him with the name Elektra. I hope Elektra's voice is claimed for herself as well in a way that lets Freud suck it.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Incest, Infidelity, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Grief, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Lesbophobia, Fire/Fire injury, Sexual harassment, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Pandemic/Epidemic

tiiiger35'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
• Diverse cast of characters? N/A
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

Poor Clytemnestra, what a tortured soul. Forced by men to live a life of loss, brutality and grief. All she is left with, is her vengeance. She is intensely brave, strong willed and loving. She fiercely loves her siblings and children. I commend her for always supporting and loving her sister Helen, to me, it seemed Helen was the catalyst to all of Clytemnestras struggles. Had Helen refused Menalus as she was asked to do, perhaps Clytemnestra would have lived happily with her own little family. 
If anything, this story reminds me how cruel life can be and that our actions, always have consequences for us & those around us.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Misogyny, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Violence, Murder, Pregnancy, Sexual harassment, and War

alexisgarcia's review against another edition

adventurous 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? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Homophobia, Infidelity, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Slavery, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, War, and Injury/Injury detail

literariumterrarium's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective tense medium-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Minor: Child abuse, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Toxic relationship, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

libbyys16's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad tense 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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Misogyny, Sexual assault, Toxic relationship, Violence, Grief, Murder, and War

catie_cat's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

I love the stories of the Ancient Greeks. The mythology the inspired heroes and tragedies alike. This creative adaptation of Clytemnestra pulled at my heart from beginning to end. I knew her story was tragic, but this took her to a whole new level. One of my favorite reads for 2024!

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Child death, Death, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Violence, Death of parent, Murder, and Pregnancy

This story did contain more serious topics. It was tragic and showed how a world of violence had a cycle in many of the people’s lives. Women were not necessarily sheltered from these things either.

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.

sarah_speaks's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad tense 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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Infidelity, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Violence, Blood, Grief, Murder, and Pregnancy

Moderate: Animal death, Toxic relationship, and Death of parent

Minor: Incest, Slavery, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Lesbophobia, and War