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A review by cafffine
Matrix by Lauren Groff
5.0
My favorite type of feminist historical fiction - a story where women and their complex lives and power are given a full voice while maintaining the realistic and oppressive setting that they had to live through. This really did feel like a successful answer to the question of what a powerful woman could have looked like at this time and place in history, I was so captivated by this level of care given to setting, just adored the whole experience.
Realism was never the full driving force though, there was a satisfying progression in tone and motive, and each mini arc almost had a feeling like a fable (i.e. how’s marie gonna get out of this one!? stay tuned!)
Special note on the writing style as well, the sparsity of dialogue worked so well for this story in particular, felt like I was being told a handful of gossip by a nun.
Every aspect of storytelling was on show in this one.
Realism was never the full driving force though, there was a satisfying progression in tone and motive, and each mini arc almost had a feeling like a fable (i.e. how’s marie gonna get out of this one!? stay tuned!)
Special note on the writing style as well, the sparsity of dialogue worked so well for this story in particular, felt like I was being told a handful of gossip by a nun.
Every aspect of storytelling was on show in this one.