Reviews

Cwen by Alice Albinia

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I found this one just a bit ... cringeworthy for lack of a better word. I didn't connect with any of the characters and found the court case sections annoying more than adding to the narrative. The character of Eva also just didn't work for me - I really hated the semi-religious reverence she was accorded in this book by nearly every female character which seemed just totally undeserved. The sections from the perspective of 'Cwen' also just fell flat for me. The writing often felt overly descriptive and certain metaphors and linguistic choices just seemed out of place or odd.

georgina_bawden's review

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5.0

This was interesting and sort of hard to describe. Not what I expected. Kind of a reverse Handmaid's Tale, about an island archipelago where a woman dies leaving her wealth to a local women's charity and her granddaughter. Her bypassed (and entitled) sons force an inquiry into Unfair Female Advantage in the Islands and it unfolds that their mother was running a kind of feminist social experiment. Well written, thoughtful and of an inclusive kind of feminism, writing towards a "gynotopia". Definitely different!

drannieg's review

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challenging funny hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad medium-paced

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

5.0

I wasn't expecting to enjoy this, necessarily. But it is brilliant. The tight use of language, the weaving of myth and truth and modern perspective - just outstanding.

(I mean, I did make a small squeak of outrage at the idea of potatoes about 1500 years too early but hey).

burntout_bookworm's review against another edition

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This was just not the story I expected it to be and the writing style was just not working for me.

hanz's review against another edition

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This book was making me annoyed I had to put it down. It's the most on the nose man hating "feminism" I've read in a book. It seemed to me to be specifically for rich white women, at least in the section I read. There was no nuance whatsoever, just men are awful and the solution is one woman controlling everything with her money.

Perhaps it improves later, but it didn't capture my attention enough for me to want to find out.

leoniepeonie's review

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4.0

I loved how rich this was in myth and meaning, and in being this glorious feminist, inclusive fever-dream. I did think that was a bit at odds with the style of the book, moving through the courtroom drama in the long, drawn-out way that it did, and I thought that hemmed things in a little bit - thinking of how Vigdis Hjorth did similar kinds of battles in Long Live the Post Horn!, I wish there had been a bit more of that energy here in the way the structure worked. The energy and passion was still there, but it felt a bit more constrained, and the collective action it described felt a bit more two-dimensional for it. Zoe and Eva's relationship blossomed within the framework though, and the characters shone and developed really beautifully.

In spite of my complaints about the organisation of it, I just thought this was a really wonderful and moving look at what it might be like to really tackle patriarchy, and I loved how otherworldly it felt even while being very deeply of this world. Plsssss let's have some of this as wholly our world soon.

gerbilreads's review

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4.0

Powerful, potent and inspiring. I liked the characters and LOVED the unique style of writing, part-vignette, part-trial dialogue. Gave the book great pace.
Only thing that stopped it being a 5* for me is that I felt this building argument, a rising crescendo of meaning which led to… the end. I feel there’s another step it should have taken for me that would have drawn everything together better and my expectation of that not being fulfilled left me a bit flat at the end.
Saying that, this is a fabulous book that I have not resisted recommending widely!