Reviews

Romantic Outlaws: The Extraordinary Lives of Mary Wollstonecraft and Mary Shelley by Charlotte Gordon

orangeslices's review against another edition

emotional hopeful informative inspiring medium-paced

michayla13's review against another edition

informative fast-paced

4.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Suicide, Mental illness, Medical trauma, Infidelity, Animal death, Suicide attempt, Rape, Incest, Toxic relationship, Sexism, Pregnancy, Drug use, Death of parent, Animal cruelty, Terminal illness, Religious bigotry, Miscarriage, Medical content, Adult/minor relationship, Toxic friendship, Suicidal thoughts, Pedophilia, Grief, Forced institutionalization, Emotional abuse, Death, Child death, Cancer, Blood, and Abandonment

Minor: Suicide attempt, Miscarriage, Incest, Drug use, Animal cruelty, Sexual assault, Abandonment, Adult/minor relationship, Animal death, War, Terminal illness, Racism, Blood, Trafficking, Suicide, Sexual harassment, Rape, and Forced institutionalization

reggikko's review against another edition

emotional informative reflective medium-paced

5.0

feralpenguin's review against another edition

informative reflective medium-paced

3.5

kellyroberson's review against another edition

4.0

A thoroughly enjoyable read about two pioneering feminists that I knew far too little about.

rieviolet's review against another edition

emotional informative reflective slow-paced

4.0

It took me a really long time to finish this book (apparently 9 months, wow!). I started out with the idea of reading a little bit every month, but then I kept getting distracted by other books and lost momentum. I think that this erratic reading pattern might have affected my overall enjoyment negatively; it really started to feel like an impossible and never-ending task to get through this.

I still think that the book is good; it is very informative and also readable, once you manage to get into the rhythm of it. The language is not overtly complicated or inaccessibly academic.

The book is structured in a sort of dual narrative, following Mary Wollstonecraft and Mary Shelley in alternating chapters. While I can understand this authorial choice, sometimes it was still a bit hard to recall what had been going on previously, given this constant switch.

I quite liked that the author did not focus only on their personal lives, but also explored and analysed their body of work, of which I knew very little aside from the "big names" (Frankenstein and A Vindication of the Rights of Woman).

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicidal thoughts, Death of parent, Child death, Pregnancy, Medical content, Violence, Mental illness, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Grief, Death, Sexism, and Domestic abuse

Moderate: Toxic relationship, Classism, Torture, Gore, Child abuse, Ableism, Toxic friendship, Cancer, Chronic illness, Adult/minor relationship, Miscarriage, and Infidelity

Minor: Colonisation, Bullying, Animal cruelty, Religious bigotry, Racism, Murder, Acephobia/Arophobia, Drug use, Blood, Fatphobia, Fire/Fire injury, Incest, Alcoholism, Slavery, Forced institutionalization, Rape, and Animal death

algaemarina's review against another edition

informative inspiring sad slow-paced

4.25

ggrhodes03's review against another edition

5.0

A great retelling of the lives of Mary Wollstonecraft and Mary Shelley, a mother and daughter who did extraordinary things. Despite Wollstonecraft dying when Shelley was days old she had a greater influence on her daughter's life than may would believe.

raloveridge's review against another edition

5.0

I LOVED this. I was not so knowledgeable about the lives of these women or the times in which they lived, and this book was a revelation. Unbelievably gripping and deeply affecting, I cried like 4 times. It's the first long-ass book I've read in ages. I can't wait to teach this in October.

vcosta's review against another edition

informative inspiring reflective medium-paced

5.0