Historical Fiction – Page 2 – OneReadingNurse.com

ARC Review: The Wrong Kind of Woman by Sarah McCraw Crow

Thank you so much to MIRA for the advanced copy in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own!

Quick Facts:

Title: The Wrong Kind of Woman
Series: n/a
Author: Sarah McCraw Crow
Publisher & Release: MIRA – October, 2020
Length: 320 pages
Rate & Recommend: 🌟🌟🌟 maybe for older women?

Here is the synopsis from GoodReads:

A powerful exploration of what a woman can be when what she should be is no longer an option

In late 1970, Oliver Desmarais drops dead in his front yard while hanging Christmas lights. In the year that follows, his widow, Virginia, struggles to find her place on the campus of the elite New Hampshire men’s college where Oliver was a professor. While Virginia had always shared her husband’s prejudices against the four outspoken, never-married women on the faculty—dubbed the Gang of Four by their male counterparts—she now finds herself depending on them, even joining their work to bring the women’s movement to Clarendon College.

Soon, though, reports of violent protests across the country reach this sleepy New England town, stirring tensions between the fraternal establishment of Clarendon and those calling for change. As authorities attempt to tamp down “radical elements,” Virginia must decide whether she’s willing to put herself and her family at risk for a cause that had never felt like her own.

Told through alternating perspectives, The Wrong Kind of Woman is an engrossing story about finding the strength to forge new paths, beautifully woven against the rapid changes of the early ’70s.

Man I have to say that it took me forever to get through this book. The Wrong Kind of Woman takes place in the early 70s during a time of political and campus unrest. It follows a woman trying to find her way through the Clarendon collegiate (fictional) boy’s club after her husband dies. There is a group of four women pushing for coeducation, tenure, rights, recognition and etc. It also follows a confused young man named Sam who is a student of Oliver’s, and he incidentally botches a small bombing to impress a girl. Sounds exciting but it was honestly pretty tedious for me.

I was not really feeling anyone except Sam’s passion, and he confused me too. I wasn’t quite sure what the purpose of his character was. At first he seemed like a sexually confused kid who had a crush on the dead teacher, but then he fell for a girl involved in domestic terrorism. A lot of the book was Virginia’s inner monologue as she learned about the women’s movements and adapted her thinking to her own needs and those of the “radicals.”

The parts I found most interesting were the family issues as Virginia and Rebecca tried to make ends meet, and reconcile their household after Oliver (the husband) died. They had some misadventures. I would have not minded some more time spent on the commune out of town either.

I just feel like somehow it could have been a little more readable and engaging. Something about the storytelling lacked for me. Maybe slightly older women who can relate to the times and connect with the characters would enjoy the book a little bit more than I did, but I did finish it eventually.

Thanks again to the publisher for my copy!

ARC Review: The Tower of Fools by Andrzej Sapkowski

Thank you so much to Orbit Books for the eARC via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review! All opinions are my own.

Quick Facts:

Title: The Tower of Fools
Series: The Hussite Trilogy, #1
Author: Andrzej Sapkowski, translated by David French
Publisher & Release: Orbit Books, 10/27/20 (original 2002)
Length: 576 Pages
Rate & Recommend: ⭐⭐⭐⭐ Yes but apparently not for easily offended people

The synopsis from GoodReads:

Reinmar of Bielawa, sometimes known as Reynevan, is a doctor, a magician, and according to some, a charlatan. When a thoughtless indiscretion finds him caught in the crosshairs of powerful noble family, he is forced to flee his home.

Once he passes beyond the city borders, he finds that there are dangers ahead as well as behind. Strange mystical forces are gathering in the shadows. Pursued not only by the affronted Stercza brothers, bent on vengeance, but also by the Holy Inquisition, Reynevan finds himself in the Narrenturm, the Tower of Fools.

The Tower is an asylum for the mad, or for those who dare to think differently and challenge the prevailing order. Escaping the Tower, avoiding the conflict around him, and keeping his own sanity might prove a greater challenge than Reynevan ever imagined.

Oh Reynevan, part of me thinks that him and his entire lot needed a turn in the asylum. After bedding a knight’s wife and apparently falling madly in love (which she clearly didn’t return), Reynevan sets off on a series of misadventures when he should honestly be fleeing the country.

This is a very historically dense book, with many names and details that bogged the pace down quite a bit. That said, I don’t know a darn thing about the Hussite wars so I felt like I learned SO much, and it was interesting too to see why the wars started and how the church kind of just devolved into heretical “witch hunts” and went to the crusades. There is more history than fantasy but it felt so real that I had more than enough to keep my imagination going.

The atmosphere felt appropriate too, these religious groups hated each other. There is suspicion and people were encouraged to rat out their neighbors for clemency. Someone is killing merchants, the Knights are on their way out, and wallcreepers are turning into humans and making dark deals. I know a lot of people aren’t liking all the Latin left in the book but like the prayers weren’t spoken in English and do y’all really care what they say? Even the bits left in sentences make more or less sense if you know anything about word roots, and if not, I doubt much is being missed.

I did just love the characters too. Scharley had me literally CRYING I was laughing so hard during one totally fake exorcism scene. I didn’t realize that Sapkowski had a sense of humor but the banter and conversations and occasional one liners from side characters are amazing, and I think David French did a great job bringing the characters through the translation. Reynevan himself is a moron though, he got so much great advice and ended up ignoring all of it, captured, and imprisoned instead. Riding through the towns and hearing the different townspeople’s interpretations of happenings and politics was interesting too.

I think this series is really going to heat up in book two, with the wars starting and a lot of the setting and exposition out of the way. I will definitely be reading on when the next book comes out!

Thank you so much again to Orbit Books for the early copy!