thewritebooks's review against another edition
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.
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.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death and Grief
Moderate: Bullying, Terminal illness, Abandonment, Child death, Pregnancy, Sexism, Sexual content, Rape, Violence, and Animal death
Minor: Classism, Excrement, Death of parent, and Dementia
yilliun's review against another edition
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.
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.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Grief and Confinement
Moderate: Sexual content
eliya's review against another edition
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.
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.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death
Moderate: Sexual content, Sexism, Religious bigotry, Child abuse, Violence, and Pregnancy
Minor: Grief, Adult/minor relationship, Injury/Injury detail, Rape, Cancer, Animal death, Torture, Body horror, Confinement, Death of parent, Lesbophobia, Sexual assault, Slavery, War, Animal cruelty, and Forced institutionalization
adymae11's review against another edition
emotional
reflective
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
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Miscarriage, and Toxic relationship
Moderate: Death of parent, Misogyny, Child death, and Physical abuse
Minor: Mental illness, Grief, Dementia, Violence, Sexual content, Sexual assault, Religious bigotry, Cancer, and Animal death
honeyvoiced's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
3.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death
Moderate: Pregnancy, Rape, and Sexual content
careinthelibrary's review against another edition
emotional
informative
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Dementia, Religious bigotry, Sexism, Homophobia, Lesbophobia, Miscarriage, Animal death, Pregnancy, Child death, Death, Sexual content, and Sexual violence
Moderate: Cancer, Body shaming, Mental illness, Misogyny, Injury/Injury detail, War, Islamophobia, and Terminal illness
msprufrock's review against another edition
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? It's complicated
3.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Sexual content
writersrelief's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
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
4.0
Following the success of her novel FATES AND FURIES, author Lauren Groff turns her attention in a surprising but not unwelcome direction. MATRIX, set in the twelfth century, follows the imagined life of the very real Marie de France. There’s not much known about Marie beyond the lais (poems) she wrote, so Groff has taken what bits we do know and constructed the rest to suit the book’s narrative.
In MATRIX, Marie is an intelligent, bold, and physically unappealing seventeen-year-old. Unsuitable for any men of the court and in love with Eleanor of Aquitaine, Marie is sent off by Eleanor to a remote royal abbey. The abbey is in a horrific state when Marie arrives and the nuns are barely surviving, but Marie sets out to change all that.
Though her dedication to the sisters and to the abbey seemingly lies more in her drive to succeed than it does to serve God, Marie’s influence and power grow steadily. The abbey flourishes under her direction and from the nuns’ hard work. But Marie doesn’t stop there: Aided by “holy” visions and her determination to build a place where women can thrive, she begins to manipulate the world of men to her advantage. Marie utilizes the way she and the sisters are overlooked as a way to outmaneuver the men who stand above them. Marie’s plans for a “female utopia” grow ever grander, culminating in the construction of a forest labyrinth around the abbey. Creating this labyrinth requires both hard labor and feats of impressive engineering not often accomplished by women in stories of these times.
But is Marie’s success due to her dedication to keeping herself and the women around her safe, or is it due to her drive for power and control? Or is it both, and is that okay? Marie herself understands the divide, noting on her deathbed that, “greatness was not the same as goodness.” But in the world she and her nuns are born into—one ruled entirely by men—does it even matter how it is that these women find their own power, strength, and safety? That’s one of the many questions you might find yourself considering when you finish this book.
As always, Groff’s prose is inventive, vivid, and gorgeous. The scenes of Marie’s visions are particularly impressive, and though the pacing feels uneven in spots, Groff’s ability to make her words feel alive on the page is ever-present. Marie is both a simple and a complex character: She overcomes nearly every obstacle without much trouble, but her motives and inner desires—as well as how these interact with her actions and the world around her—are complex. And with a distinct absence of any notable male characters, it’s hard to deny that reading this book feels like a brief, welcomed moment away from the male-dominated world that surrounds us even today.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence and Death
Moderate: Sexual content
bronzeageholly's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
funny
inspiring
mysterious
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Animal death, Grief, Violence, Religious bigotry, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, and Terminal illness
Moderate: Fire/Fire injury, Sexism, Rape, Sexual content, and Pregnancy
Minor: Bullying, Transphobia, Homophobia, and Cancer
quillreads's review against another edition
mysterious
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
Review:
Admittedly, it took me nearly 200 pages to really start to get used to Matrix by Lauren Groff and its poetic, fluid, somewhat stream-of-consciousness writing style as well as its unique storyline that often produces more questions than answers. Even then, it was not until the end of the story that I fully appreciated the book for what it is. At the heart of the story is the character of Marie, an admirable but flawed nun whose ambition leads her to transform a starving, poor abbey into a magnificent, self-sustaining wealthy fortress. Marie’s character arc is wonderfully executed, and I appreciated the large cast of supporting characters as well.
My favorite part of Matrix, however, is its thematic exploration of religion, feminism, ambition, power, sapphic love, and humanity’s relationship with the natural world. This is the sort of book that I could read many times over and glean new meaning each time; it is the type of book that begs to be analyzed in a literature class. Groff trusts in the intelligence of her readers and never oversimplifies or hits the reader over the head in order to make her point.
The Run-Down:
You will probably like Matrix if:
· You go into the book with an open mind
· You are someone who is interested in themes of religion and queerness
· You enjoy poetic writing styles
You might not like Matrix if:
· You dislike flowery writing and fluid plot structure
· You prefer exciting plots and clear explanations for events
A Similar Book:
This is How You Lose the Time War by Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladsone. Similarities between these books include:
· Beautiful, lyrical, intelligent prose
· Friend/enemy relationship between two strong women from different worlds
· Themes of feminism, queerness and humanity’s relation to the natural world
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death, Cancer, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Miscarriage, and Sexism
Moderate: Dementia, Forced institutionalization, Grief, Physical abuse, Blood, Ableism, Body horror, Child abuse, Pregnancy, Body shaming, Bullying, Child death, and Classism
Minor: Excrement, Rape, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Sexual content, Animal cruelty, Fire/Fire injury, Homophobia, Infidelity, Death of parent, Violence, War, Torture, and Toxic friendship