Reviews tagging 'Death'

For Thy Great Pain Have Mercy on My Little Pain by Victoria MacKenzie

11 reviews

emisbooks's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective fast-paced

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

4.5

suffocating but so beautiful. taught me a very important part of English history. deducted half a star as i felt like the writing was overly simplistic at times. other than that, i devoured this book and found it enchanting. i fear i have a new historical figure hyperfixation in julian of norwich 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, and Grief

Moderate: Misogyny and Religious bigotry

Minor: Sexual content and Sexual harassment

seventhswan's review

emotional hopeful inspiring reflective sad fast-paced

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

4.0

A fairly short book, but it packs a lot in. I felt a bit iffy about the concept going in, using real people that we can't know much at all about as fictional characters, but ended up really enjoying it. Although not claiming to be an accurate biography of either Julian of Norwich or Margery Kempe, having read Revelations of Divine Love I thought the Julian sections, at least, matched up well with what we know from Julian's writings, in accessible but no less beautiful prose. I found myself wanting to rush through the Margery sections to get back to the Julian ones in the beginning section, perhaps because I had more of an idea what to expect. This was a hope-filled, reflective novella that I liked a lot more than I expected to, and I don't think it took any disrespectfully large steps away from the source materials, even if the epilogue was a little lacking in sources to back up its speculation. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexism, Religious bigotry, and Pregnancy

Moderate: Child death, Death, Sexual assault, Fire/Fire injury, and Pandemic/Epidemic

Minor: Sexual content

victoria_catherine_shaw's review against another edition

challenging emotional fast-paced

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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Confinement, Death, Self harm, and Grief

lillianfc's review against another edition

hopeful reflective relaxing slow-paced

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

2.25

A lyrical text very fruitful for those who know nothing of Margery or Julian as historical figures. For those who are well versed — this text doesn’t do much more than reading these women’s original medieval texts, beyond making you wish the fictional version centered other characters in these women’s lives.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexism and Sexual harassment

Moderate: Child abuse, Child death, Death, Grief, and Pregnancy

Minor: Body horror, Blood, and Pregnancy

chrispybacon's review against another edition

reflective medium-paced

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

1.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Child abuse, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Misogyny, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual assault, Grief, Religious bigotry, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Pregnancy, Abandonment, and Pandemic/Epidemic

rosalind's review

informative inspiring fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• 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 death, Death, Misogyny, Sexism, and Grief

Moderate: Sexual content and Sexual violence

Minor: Bullying, Confinement, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Religious bigotry, and Injury/Injury detail

serendipitysbooks's review against another edition

emotional 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? It's complicated

4.0

 For Thy Great Pain Have Mercy on My Little Pain is the interwoven stories of Julian of Norwich, an anchoress whose writings are the earliest known surviving works by a woman in English, and Margery Kempe, a Christian mystic, whose book (which she dictated) is thought to be the earliest surviving English autobiography. While not interested in religion per se, I enjoyed this well-written story of two ordinary medieval woman whose extraordinary experiences with faith changed the course of their lives.
The book has 2 main parts. The first , told in alternating short sections, is the first-person story of their lives - childhood, marriage, motherhood, their religious visions, actions and reactions. Three interconnected things really stood out to me - the differences in their class background, their differing personalities, and the contrasting reactions to their religious visions. The 2nd part is the record of the meeting between the two. A lot of it is written as a transcript of their conversation. I’m not sure how I would have felt reading it but on audio with two distinct narrators, it worked well.
 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Misogyny, and Grief

kables_reads's review

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Mental illness, Self harm, and Grief

Moderate: Suicidal thoughts and Sexual harassment

emi's review

hopeful mysterious reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? N/A
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

A fascinating insight into the internal lives of two real women who experienced religious visions in the Middle Ages - very human, very hopeful. The novel zips between two POVs that at first I found a little confusing, but quickly each woman’s distinct voice makes itself known and I found things easier to follow. I could have read much more of how Julian and Margery experienced the world. A wonderful read!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement

Minor: Child death, Death, Sexual violence, Grief, Religious bigotry, and Death of parent

One main character grapples at length with her difficulties being an anchoress - hence the confinement tag. It is voluntary confinement but extreme and comes with difficult feelings.

jellafon's review

dark emotional informative inspiring reflective sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? N/A
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Wow… just brilliant 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Misogyny, Death of parent, and Pregnancy