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Crucible of Fools
Power, M.S., Crucible of A Novel
176 pages, Paperback
First published May 1, 1991
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
November 5, 2019
+ Incredible prose style, tone and narrative voice were absolutely beautiful.
+ The atmosphere feels like the writing, the writing feels like the atmosphere. Everything is reflective on itself and other aspects of the novel - clearly a talented writer at the heart of it all.
- The treatment of women, not just by the men in the novel but sometimes feeling like from the novel itself was awful. It's hard when the narrator has their own psychology to unpick whether this was a character choice or a bad reflection on the author but it was painful to read at points because of this.
- The narrator knew things they couldn't possibly have known, unless perhaps it was a reflection on the gossiping nature of the villagers; everyone knows something through someone somehow.
- The plot (which I loved until I was 3/4's of the way in) felt odd, and somehow... I don't know something felt off?
(P.S. This review is entirely for myself because I will likely read this book again so I know how I felt when I first read it :)
+ The atmosphere feels like the writing, the writing feels like the atmosphere. Everything is reflective on itself and other aspects of the novel - clearly a talented writer at the heart of it all.
- The treatment of women, not just by the men in the novel but sometimes feeling like from the novel itself was awful. It's hard when the narrator has their own psychology to unpick whether this was a character choice or a bad reflection on the author but it was painful to read at points because of this.
- The narrator knew things they couldn't possibly have known, unless perhaps it was a reflection on the gossiping nature of the villagers; everyone knows something through someone somehow.
- The plot (which I loved until I was 3/4's of the way in) felt odd, and somehow... I don't know something felt off?
(P.S. This review is entirely for myself because I will likely read this book again so I know how I felt when I first read it :)
May 7, 2020
Beautifully written: you read it without effort, the words seem to flow, and you forget the terrible story you're being told. The human race described is not very pleasant, but there is nevertheless a lot of positive strong feelings to be found. The main characters are strong, you share in their plight. Very moving read!
September 21, 2025
Depressing, dark, gloomy and soul destroying. DNF.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews