Smashbomb

Search

Search results

All (2424)

Content

ClareR (5996 KP) rated The Pumilio Child in Books

Apr 6, 2018

The Pumilio Child

Judy McInerney | 2018 | Fiction & Poetry

8.0

(1 Ratings)

Book Rating

Ya Ling is kidnapped from her well-off Chinese family and sold in to slavery in 15th century Italy. Mantegna, a Renaissance artist, buys her with money that he can't really afford to spend, and takes her home to a very disapproving wife and household.
Ya Ling is admirable calm and stoic through all of her trials and tribulations, and eventually work as a respected healer, as her family taught her back in China.
The author really makes you feel for the characters in her novel - pity and later pride for Ya Ling, and hatred for some of the less virtuous male characters. It's a book that reflects the times very well: men, and men in the church especially, hold all the cards. Women are held in very low esteem. And women who are in any way different from the accepted norms are in danger of the ecclesiastical courts.
I read this on 'The Pigeonhole', a social reading platform, and really enjoyed the whole experience.

Kudos

Ruth Angharad (2 KP) rated Instagram in Apps

May 24, 2019

Instagram

Communication, Photo & Video, Social Networking

8.2

(363 Ratings)

App Rating

Stories, making things private, hashtags, being able to use other apps with it. (0 more)

When its good, its very good but when its bad, its horrid.

I have been using instagram for about 7 years now and when it first came out I wasn't too sure if I liked the idea of it ... its basically facebook but with photos which is fine. I use instagram now as one of my most used apps and I enjoy watching peoples stories, connecting with people easily and I can watch the search page for hours sometimes.
However when there are problems with instagram they can be horrendous! It can log you out, freeze your phone completely and there are areas of instagram that are so dark and mentally quite disturbing that it could cause real distress. This would be something I would watch and manage carefully especially with children but it is overall an amazing platform.