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melluzyne's review against another edition
dark
emotional
informative
inspiring
mysterious
reflective
medium-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? No
4.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Racism and Sexual assault
Minor: Antisemitism and Abortion
leadabird's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death, Child death, Death, Hate crime, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Blood, Excrement, Antisemitism, Religious bigotry, Abortion, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, and Colonisation
Moderate: Suicide
Minor: Incest
callme_tippy's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
inspiring
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
This book was was absolute perfection and has changed my mind on historical fiction.
I picked this one up at my local library, the title caught my eye as I was walking out and I am so happy I stopped to pick it up as this might have been my favorite read this year.
I can't exactly put my finger on why I loved this book so much but I am going to say that majority of it has to be because of Conde's writing prowess. Conde was able to weave together a novel about this woman that history has forgotten in a heartbreaking, raw, and beautiful way.
This book has changed my perspective on historical fiction, I enjoyed the history and the value it added to the story. I am now much more open to reading historical fiction, I enjoyed the value the history added a lot more than I expected I would.
I am excited to read more work by Conde, and more historical fiction in the future.
I picked this one up at my local library, the title caught my eye as I was walking out and I am so happy I stopped to pick it up as this might have been my favorite read this year.
I can't exactly put my finger on why I loved this book so much but I am going to say that majority of it has to be because of Conde's writing prowess. Conde was able to weave together a novel about this woman that history has forgotten in a heartbreaking, raw, and beautiful way.
This book has changed my perspective on historical fiction, I enjoyed the history and the value it added to the story. I am now much more open to reading historical fiction, I enjoyed the value the history added a lot more than I expected I would.
I am excited to read more work by Conde, and more historical fiction in the future.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Ableism, Animal death, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Hate crime, Misogyny, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Blood, Antisemitism, Grief, Religious bigotry, Abortion, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail
hannahruth_bookworm's review against another edition
dark
reflective
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Child death, Death, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Slavery, Suicide, Torture, and Colonisation
fungimj's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
reflective
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Racism, Sexual assault, Abortion, and Colonisation
lexaprose_'s review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
informative
inspiring
reflective
sad
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
4.75
Highly recommend. It is very sad, but beautifully written.
Content Warnings
Minor: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Slavery, Suicide, and Antisemitism
emmylunaa's review against another edition
dark
emotional
fast-paced
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
5.0
This is the first book I’ve read by Condé and I’m looking forward to reading more! This reimagined story of Tituba’s life is the legacy she deserves. I loved this book and the poetic writing and imagery. I also enjoyed the interview done with Condé at the end of the book.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Child death, Racism, Sexual assault, Slavery, Violence, Abortion, Murder, Colonisation, and War
alp_books's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
informative
inspiring
reflective
sad
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Hate crime, Physical abuse, Racism, Sexual assault, Slavery, Antisemitism, Abortion, Fire/Fire injury, Colonisation, and Deportation
elderlingfool's review against another edition
challenging
dark
informative
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
2.0
The best thing I can say about this book is that it was engaging. That is no easy feat, but that was often obtained because I couldn't believe what I was reading and I was curious about what other weird things would come next.
I must say that the translation by Diogo Paiva also influenced my experience. I read this book in portuguese and I definitely do not recommend that. From the few words I could tell the original meaning of, there were much better translations to use. Even though the author is not at fault for this I can't help the fact that it influenced my experience and therefore my rating. With a better translation, there is a possibility I would give the book a weak 3 stars. With the translation out of the way, I am going to write about the rest.
The initial pacing is really fast, which is not my preference. It doesn't give the reader or the main character time to process feelings, but it does keep one curious about what is going to happen. After the first few chapters, it slows down a bit, but I still think overall the pacing is too fast for my taste. My guess is that the author was in a hurry to get to grown up Tituba and what her life was like so the childhood and most of the teenage years are quick mentions. I am surprised to see reviews that consider this book slow.
One good thing about the book is that it is informative in some ways. The author even uses an excerpt of Tituba's testimony during the trials, which I found really interesting. Still, as a work of fiction, many liberties were taken to feel in the gaps, including making Tituba see ghosts and giving her an ending that the author liked best. This completely imagined ending lasted for about 60 pages or more and I can't say it was the highlight of the book. More on that ahead.
The characters were, unfortunatelly, very one note. The only ones that had some complexity were Tituba and her husband. However, the author didn't seem to trust the reader to interpret their actions and had to explicitly write what those meant. Just adding more unecessary words to the book, I guess. All this did was make Tituba come off as dumb for not understanding why her husband and others acted in a certain way given the society they were in.
This book also contains love at first sight. It is also what I can only call extremelly heterosexual and it was so bothersome to read. The frequent line of "why can't women live without men?" got tiring really fast for someone that isn't heterossexual because we know perfectly well that they can. Other characters are also aware that Tituba can't spend too long without a man because she needs to have sex, which would be fine and dandy if that line didn't always come up. That also means that most men in this book are trash. Even the ones Tituba likes because she only cares about one thing coming from them either way and doesn't notice their awful personality.
One other thing that kept bothering me is how Tituba kept describing a man as deformed. It was like that was his main trait and even though he was portrayed more or less as an ok guy that's how she always thinks of him. Later, she also thinks of a man she has sex with as her son/lover and even mentions that it makes her feel incestuous. Can't you have sex with a younger man without this? Still, the first thing I mentioned bothered me way more than the later. This is part of the completelly made up ending by the author.
There were some lines about how Tituba cannot die because she is beautiful (something a lot of characters remark upon) and other two women deserve to die because they are ugly anyway. This type of childish thought process never works for me because it takes me out of the story when it comes from grown adults. I do not believe anyone past the age of 15 actually believes and says things like this.
There is an odd chapter where Tituba meets Hester Prynne from the Scarlet Letter in prison and admires and loves her just because they exchanged a few words and she called her pretty. Then, Hester is like "Have you read Paradise Lost? Milton is one of the few poets worth reading". More than anything, this chapter is in the book just so we know the literary tastes of the author. One of the weirdest things I read in a traditionally published book, especially because it came out of nowhere. It was kind of funny.
Now, this book is dark. There were two scenes that were really difficult for me to read so for anyone that needs content warnings I suggest to look these up, even though everyone probably knows more or less what happens in narratives about slavery.
Overall, I do not regret reading this book (I regret picking the portuguese translation though). It was a mess, but an interesting mess that I could talk about for hours. So, in that way is better than books that are alright and I have nothing to say about them.
I must say that the translation by Diogo Paiva also influenced my experience. I read this book in portuguese and I definitely do not recommend that. From the few words I could tell the original meaning of, there were much better translations to use. Even though the author is not at fault for this I can't help the fact that it influenced my experience and therefore my rating. With a better translation, there is a possibility I would give the book a weak 3 stars. With the translation out of the way, I am going to write about the rest.
The initial pacing is really fast, which is not my preference. It doesn't give the reader or the main character time to process feelings, but it does keep one curious about what is going to happen. After the first few chapters, it slows down a bit, but I still think overall the pacing is too fast for my taste. My guess is that the author was in a hurry to get to grown up Tituba and what her life was like so the childhood and most of the teenage years are quick mentions. I am surprised to see reviews that consider this book slow.
One good thing about the book is that it is informative in some ways. The author even uses an excerpt of Tituba's testimony during the trials, which I found really interesting. Still, as a work of fiction, many liberties were taken to feel in the gaps, including making Tituba see ghosts and giving her an ending that the author liked best. This completely imagined ending lasted for about 60 pages or more and I can't say it was the highlight of the book. More on that ahead.
The characters were, unfortunatelly, very one note. The only ones that had some complexity were Tituba and her husband. However, the author didn't seem to trust the reader to interpret their actions and had to explicitly write what those meant. Just adding more unecessary words to the book, I guess. All this did was make Tituba come off as dumb for not understanding why her husband and others acted in a certain way given the society they were in.
This book also contains love at first sight. It is also what I can only call extremelly heterosexual and it was so bothersome to read. The frequent line of "why can't women live without men?" got tiring really fast for someone that isn't heterossexual because we know perfectly well that they can. Other characters are also aware that Tituba can't spend too long without a man because she needs to have sex, which would be fine and dandy if that line didn't always come up. That also means that most men in this book are trash. Even the ones Tituba likes because she only cares about one thing coming from them either way and doesn't notice their awful personality.
One other thing that kept bothering me is how Tituba kept describing a man as deformed. It was like that was his main trait and even though he was portrayed more or less as an ok guy that's how she always thinks of him. Later, she also thinks of a man she has sex with as her son/lover and even mentions that it makes her feel incestuous. Can't you have sex with a younger man without this? Still, the first thing I mentioned bothered me way more than the later. This is part of the completelly made up ending by the author.
There were some lines about how Tituba cannot die because she is beautiful (something a lot of characters remark upon) and other two women deserve to die because they are ugly anyway. This type of childish thought process never works for me because it takes me out of the story when it comes from grown adults. I do not believe anyone past the age of 15 actually believes and says things like this.
There is an odd chapter where Tituba meets Hester Prynne from the Scarlet Letter in prison and admires and loves her just because they exchanged a few words and she called her pretty. Then, Hester is like "Have you read Paradise Lost? Milton is one of the few poets worth reading". More than anything, this chapter is in the book just so we know the literary tastes of the author. One of the weirdest things I read in a traditionally published book, especially because it came out of nowhere. It was kind of funny.
Now, this book is dark. There were two scenes that were really difficult for me to read so for anyone that needs content warnings I suggest to look these up, even though everyone probably knows more or less what happens in narratives about slavery.
Overall, I do not regret reading this book (I regret picking the portuguese translation though). It was a mess, but an interesting mess that I could talk about for hours. So, in that way is better than books that are alright and I have nothing to say about them.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death, Racial slurs, Sexual assault, Slavery, and Abortion
Minor: Ableism
thewileyseven's review against another edition
dark
reflective
sad
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.25
Content Warnings
Graphic: Racism and Sexual assault