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Reviews tagging 'Child death'
Romantic Outlaws: The Extraordinary Lives of Mary Wollstonecraft and Mary Shelley by Charlotte Gordon
20 reviews
herelieshenry's review against another edition
emotional
informative
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
5.0
Engaging & at times a very thrilling read. Very, very well-written and easy to read despite the length. I did take an extended break from reading shortly after I started this book & was unable to get back to it for over a year, but that was on account of my personal life, not the merits of the book. As an aside, a majority of the content warnings I’ve tagged for this are things discussed, not necessarily perpetuated, in the work.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death, Death, Infidelity, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Suicidal thoughts, Grief, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, and Pregnancy
Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Incest, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Religious bigotry, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, and War
Minor: Animal death, Cancer, Homophobia, Pedophilia, and Rape
It is worth noting there’s also a moderate amount of discussion of capital punishment (particularly during the French Revolution), as well as minor discussion of graverobbing and corpse exhumation. That aside, the content warnings I’ve listed are moreso attributed to the events (& occasionally, people) the book covers than anything seeming to be endorsed by the author. There may be some things I missed, since I took a long break from reading in the middle, but I tried to mark down everything as best I could, based on how much they reoccur and how prominent they are within the biographies.beautifulpaxielreads's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
informative
reflective
sad
medium-paced
4.5
It took me nearly two months to finish Romantic Outlaws, but I am so glad I persevered. The amount of research that Charlotte Gordon did is staggering (over fifty pages of notes!) - and it shows on every single page of this dual biography.
More to come later.
More to come later.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death, Death, Mental illness, Misogyny, Sexism, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, and Death of parent
Moderate: Homophobia, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Medical trauma, and Toxic friendship
Minor: Fatphobia, Racial slurs, Racism, Slavery, Terminal illness, Xenophobia, and Murder
One mention of the g**** (anti-Ziganist) slur.laurenvoice's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
informative
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
4.75
My admiration for Mary Shelley grew and my love for Mary Wollstonecraft started whilst reading Romantic Outlaws. Mother and daughter never got to know each other in person. Yet Shelley led her life to the Wollstonecraft legacy and ensured Wollstonecraft's legacy would live on, whilst creating her own legacy at the same time. Both brilliant writers and feminist icons. It is sad to think that Mary Wollstonecraft never got to see how incredible and intelligent her daughter was, but, one hopes that once they were together again that Mary Wollstonecraft looked at her daughter with pride.
My favourite thing that both Wollstonecraft and Shelley had done throughout their life was protecting women from male violence. Something that is still so prevalent today. However, it shows they paved the way for the future to stand up against male violence. Mary Shelley may have played down and kept hidden her involvement in helping women, but it shows that she continued to use her mother's legacy in helping women. One situation that stood out was when she helped Elise when she had fallen pregnant, both Mary and Percy covered up this pregnancy so well that it became almost impossible to find any evidence of it at all. Although there is a mystery surrounding this child, the biography points towards that Elise was most likely raped - as with the name Mary Shelley had come up with using a character from Wollstonecraft's book that stood against male violence against women and girls. Shelley protected Elise from a society that would have shunned and demonised her for being an unwed mother.
The more this biography went on the more I disliked the males that played a role in Wollstonecraft's and Shelley's life. The men they encountered spoke of living a life of freedom, yet they continued to put these two amazing women in their life in shackles, making them into people they were not.
Godwin ruined Wollstonecraft's reputation after her death, refusing to acknowledge her writing and philosophy, it begins to create the question, was he scared of her intelligence? did he not agree with her stance of equality for women in society? Mary Wollstonecraft was an advocate for women's rights and education for all. She was an advocate for people to be taught nature to unlock their true imagination. Mary Wollstonecraft deserved and still deserves to be remembered as the innovative woman that she was! Godwin's treatment of his daughter and step-daughter, and then finding out his treatment of Wollstonecraft once she died, just filled me with a strong dislike for this man - his hypocrisy throughout just made him look like a fake.
Before reading, Romantic Outlaws, I had admired Percy Bysshe Shelley not only as the husband to such an incredible woman but as the writer too - his philosophy and political stance in his writing can still ring true today. However, in Romantic Outlaws, all I could see was the hurt he caused Mary Shelley. He claimed to stand the Wollstonecraft philosophy but he came across as someone that believes a man's needs is above a woman's. It was hard to see the equality in their relationship at times. It was even harder to see the compassion he had for Mary, especially, when 4 of their children died - in Romantic Outlaws it seemed that he believed that Mary had to give in to his desires. Nonetheless, I still admire Percy Bysshe Shelley to an extent but I only hope that he did truly love Mary more than this biography shows.
Don't even get me started on the rest of the names that shall not be named. Many of them wanted to harm and destroy Mary Shelley's name. However, Mary Shelley never gave up she fought and she succeeded by becoming one of the most famous writers to have ever lived. She followed her mothers legacy and became a feminist hero - pioneering the way for women in horror and sci-fi, and inspiring with her writing.
Both Wollstonecraft and Shelley stood for the equality of women, the end of male violence against women and girls. Not only this but they understood that the violence that men expressed is not only a women's issue but a men's issue too. They understood the need for violence to end to create a safer society in which people can live as equals, no matter their race, class, sexuality or gender.
Although Romantic Outlaws gave a fascinating and inspiring look into the lives and deaths of Mary Wollstonecraft and Mary Shelley. I did find that Gordon at times gave too long descriptions and went off on tangents in a few parts. Nonetheless, writing both Mary's lives in comparison to each other was innovative and really brought these two brilliant women back to life.
My favourite thing that both Wollstonecraft and Shelley had done throughout their life was protecting women from male violence. Something that is still so prevalent today. However, it shows they paved the way for the future to stand up against male violence. Mary Shelley may have played down and kept hidden her involvement in helping women, but it shows that she continued to use her mother's legacy in helping women. One situation that stood out was when she helped Elise when she had fallen pregnant, both Mary and Percy covered up this pregnancy so well that it became almost impossible to find any evidence of it at all. Although there is a mystery surrounding this child, the biography points towards that Elise was most likely raped - as with the name Mary Shelley had come up with using a character from Wollstonecraft's book that stood against male violence against women and girls. Shelley protected Elise from a society that would have shunned and demonised her for being an unwed mother.
The more this biography went on the more I disliked the males that played a role in Wollstonecraft's and Shelley's life. The men they encountered spoke of living a life of freedom, yet they continued to put these two amazing women in their life in shackles, making them into people they were not.
Godwin ruined Wollstonecraft's reputation after her death, refusing to acknowledge her writing and philosophy, it begins to create the question, was he scared of her intelligence? did he not agree with her stance of equality for women in society? Mary Wollstonecraft was an advocate for women's rights and education for all. She was an advocate for people to be taught nature to unlock their true imagination. Mary Wollstonecraft deserved and still deserves to be remembered as the innovative woman that she was! Godwin's treatment of his daughter and step-daughter, and then finding out his treatment of Wollstonecraft once she died, just filled me with a strong dislike for this man - his hypocrisy throughout just made him look like a fake.
Before reading, Romantic Outlaws, I had admired Percy Bysshe Shelley not only as the husband to such an incredible woman but as the writer too - his philosophy and political stance in his writing can still ring true today. However, in Romantic Outlaws, all I could see was the hurt he caused Mary Shelley. He claimed to stand the Wollstonecraft philosophy but he came across as someone that believes a man's needs is above a woman's. It was hard to see the equality in their relationship at times. It was even harder to see the compassion he had for Mary, especially, when 4 of their children died - in Romantic Outlaws it seemed that he believed that Mary had to give in to his desires. Nonetheless, I still admire Percy Bysshe Shelley to an extent but I only hope that he did truly love Mary more than this biography shows.
Don't even get me started on the rest of the names that shall not be named. Many of them wanted to harm and destroy Mary Shelley's name. However, Mary Shelley never gave up she fought and she succeeded by becoming one of the most famous writers to have ever lived. She followed her mothers legacy and became a feminist hero - pioneering the way for women in horror and sci-fi, and inspiring with her writing.
Both Wollstonecraft and Shelley stood for the equality of women, the end of male violence against women and girls. Not only this but they understood that the violence that men expressed is not only a women's issue but a men's issue too. They understood the need for violence to end to create a safer society in which people can live as equals, no matter their race, class, sexuality or gender.
Although Romantic Outlaws gave a fascinating and inspiring look into the lives and deaths of Mary Wollstonecraft and Mary Shelley. I did find that Gordon at times gave too long descriptions and went off on tangents in a few parts. Nonetheless, writing both Mary's lives in comparison to each other was innovative and really brought these two brilliant women back to life.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Child death, Death, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Sexual violence, Violence, Death of parent, and War
Minor: Rape
claireemma23's review against another edition
challenging
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
slow-paced
5.0
A truly excellent account of the lives of two extraordinary women. My favourite book of the year.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Child death, Suicide, and Suicide attempt
berodatheelf's review against another edition
emotional
informative
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
4.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Cancer, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Suicide, Grief, Death of parent, and Pregnancy
qqjj's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
emotional
informative
slow-paced
3.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Child death and Death of parent
Minor: Suicide and Terminal illness
rosianna's review against another edition
emotional
informative
inspiring
reflective
sad
fast-paced
5.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Child death, Death, Infidelity, Miscarriage, Suicide, Grief, Suicide attempt, and Death of parent
jdill1717's review against another edition
emotional
informative
reflective
4.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death, Mental illness, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Grief, and Suicide attempt
picaresquity's review against another edition
emotional
informative
reflective
slow-paced
3.0
Content Warnings
Minor: Child death
queenbeemimi's review against another edition
informative
medium-paced
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death and Suicide
Moderate: Infidelity and Miscarriage