Reviews tagging 'Rape'

Fedra by Laura Shepperson

68 reviews

01_in_emilyon's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

2.75

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gaiadances's review against another edition

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dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.0

an interesting retelling of the story of phaedra. i enjoyed the links drawn to the other well known characters in greek mythology like theseus, medea, the minotaur and ariadne. however the book was pitched as a strong feminist retelling which it really wasn’t. the trial we were promised occurs in the last third of the book and is wrapped up in 20 pages. i was very disappointed with that. the build up of phaedra’s and hippolytus’s relationship led to nothing ultimately. the characters felt very confused and indistinguishable from one another. overall i enjoyed the first half of the book but was highly disappointed by where it ended up. 
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phoebebird's review against another edition

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dark emotional reflective sad slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.0

This book could have been great. The origin myths chosen are very conducive to interpretation and the author had some interesting ideas about where Phaedra’s story might’ve gone. It is really the writing that fails here. There are far too many POVs, especially from characters who show up once and disappear, or are not crucial to the plot. As if this wasn’t confusing enough, the writing itself is clunky and disorganized. There is a lot of tense confusion and it makes for a sometimes hard-to-follow read. 
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h_sloan's review against another edition

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dark sad slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.0

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faith_d's review against another edition

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

3.5

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luciuh's review against another edition

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2.0

eeehh... idk it was just a thing i read.. not amazing... not the worst..

edit: i enjoyed the world that the novel was set in, but felt as though the plot went nowhere. there was a lot of potential for a very thought provoking novel exploring both the position of women in ancient greek society and the exploitation of mythos by those in power, but the book never took hold of that potential and instead fell flat.
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bubblegirl858's review against another edition

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challenging emotional reflective slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.0

I really wanted to like this book. I have been on a Greek mythology retelling reading kick and I thought this book would be the perfect fit. It was not. Knowing the myth does not make this book any easier to read, in fact it only makes you want to scream when events play out exactly as you knew they would but now, NOW you can see the actual (imagined) impact they had on women in the story which only made me angrier. Every single character is unlikable. EVERY SINGLE ONE. Not a single redeeming quality to be found in any male character and not a single likeable character trait in any female character. One of the things that irked me the most about this book was that they CONSTANTLY reminded you how plain Phaedra was. Anytime a new character interacted with her: "Oh that is too bad she is so plain." "Well, she isn't a great beauty" and so on and so forth. That was the only way to describe her. I completely understand the constant reminders that she is a child, because she is, but the constant reminder of how ugly she is compared to other women was so off putting. For a proclaimed "feminist novel", I expected a lot better than what was given. Also, can we talk about how every Greek mythology retelling book is compared to Madeline Miller (just like this book was)? This book's writing was scores below Madeline Miller and just plain boring at times. The Night Chorus was interesting, and I might have enjoyed it if I listened to the audiobook. In writing, it looks super disjointed and is confusing a lot of times.
The only redeeming aspect of the book was getting to see Phaedra take revenge on her rapist because let's be honest, any person who has been raped wishes they could deal out justice to the person who harmed them in the same fashion. Knowing that she was like 6-7 months pregnant when she did it makes it that much more of an accomplishment. That was the only high point of the book. Her death at her own hands doesn't even feel like her own choice at the end due to her being backed into that corner.
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not_kamille's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.0

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elysareadsitall's review against another edition

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dark tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? N/A
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

"Phaedra" was a difficult read, but I'm glad to have read it. The Night Chorus of women in the story was heartbreaking and fascinating, and they were my favorite part of the book. This book follows Phaedra as Theseus kills her brother the minotaur, runs off with her sister, returns without her, marries Phaedra, takes her to Athens, and leaves her in the dangerous court alone. Phaedra is then raped by Theseus's son Hippolytus, and his trial follows.

The story dives headfirst into the politics of Athens and women's bodies. It's infuriating and hard to read, but it's realistic and important too. The prose is stark and driving. The book was quick to read and difficult to put down. Because it's a well-known myth, I knew what was going to happen, but I kept reading with hope and a need to know how Shepperson would wrap up the story.

The story is told in several perspectives. The characters Shepperson chose were confusing to me at first, but their parts in the story became clear quickly and made perfect sense. I liked the variety of perspectives because it showed how the ripple effects spread wide. Besides the Night Chorus, I was most drawn to Phaedra's perspective because she changes the most over the story and has a lot of inner turmoil.
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rakkaussipsi's review against another edition

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dark sad medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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