Smashbomb

Search

Search results

All (1986)

Content

Michaelis Dicionário de Português e Inglês

Reference and Education

(0 Ratings) Rate It

App

▶▶▶ PORTUGUESE DICTIONARY COMPLETELY REVIEWED, UPDATED AND EXPANDED! ◀◀◀ Get in a...

CornerJob - Join the team

Business

(0 Ratings) Rate It

App

CornerJob has placed among the 10 best APPS of 2016! #BestOfAppStore Find Jobs with CornerJob, the...

BookInspector (124 KP) rated Madam in Books

Jul 1, 2021

Madam

Phoebe Wynne | 2021 | Gender Studies, LGBTQ+

6.0

(3 Ratings)

Book Rating

I like gloomy boarding schools (0 more)

expected more (0 more)

The protagonist in this novel is Rose, and this story is told from her perspective. Rose is a very well educated Latin teacher that comes to a new, well-known school, but being a child of a very active feminist, stuck in a school that has very old and very strange traditions drives her “crazy”. I could not connect to Rose, I respected her thoughts, but she had no idea what she got herself into, and that made her look stupid. I missed student’s perspectives in this book. I think a student protagonist would have made this book way more interesting and absorbing, they definitely have a lot to tell.

I found the narrative of this book mysterious and very enjoyable. Rose is trying to find out more about the events happening in this school, but everything is so secretive, she gets only bits of information. I am not surprised she feels so frustrated. All of that creates a perfect mystery and suspense because I was so keen to find out, what was actually happening there. This book has plenty of issues to be discussed. It portrays only Rose’s perspective, she is from a lower class and has no idea how rich and influential people operate. So what seems outrageous to her, might seem very normal to rich people. I really enjoyed the ancient mythology that was in this novel, I loved the stories of powerful women from the past. The topics discussed in this book are arranged marriages, suicide, mental health issues, ignorance, friendships, homosexuality, teenage manipulations, lack of feminism, various secrets, and many, many more. This novel really highlights a very wide variety of topics.

The whole story is set in 1993, so it does show the struggles people had during those days, especially when it comes to technologies and communication. I enjoyed the writing style of this book, it was very atmospheric and dark. I really can see this novel as a film, it would be brilliant! The chapters of this book have medium length and it had me very engrossed in this story. I don’t really know what I think of the ending, it rounds up the story nicely, but for some reason, it didn’t really leave me satisfied.

So, to conclude, it is a very gloomy and dark novel, filled with unique characters and a plot filled with secrets and mystery. This book is perfect for discussions, it has a very wide variety of topics. I think it would be great for reading groups or readalongs. I would recommend it to anyone who enjoys gothic novels, or books set in strange boarding schools.