A review by afi_whatafireads
The Mad Women's Ball by Victoria Mas

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

4.0

I definitely wasn't expecting anything going into the book, but the emotions I felt after finishing this was one that will be ingrained in my heart for a long time.


"As a madwoman among other madwomen, she finally seemed normal."


The story is set in Salpêtrière, an asylum in France (based on the real hospital Pitié-Salpêtrière), that were used as a place to abandon women that were deemed "crazy" and "mad". We follow a number of characters with different backgrounds from the book and how each and everyone of them has their own circumstances that leads them to be admitted to the asylum. In a world dominated by men, is an array of stories that left me in rage, fuming with anger and a representation from the voices of the women oppressed.

Reading this book was like going through a somewhat mysterious plotline, in a way that built up to something bigger at the end. It left us wanting more of the story, and wanting to know what had happened to everyone in the end. Truth to be told, I am still contemplating of how to articulate my thoughts into words for this unexpected gem that I stumbled upon, but I feel that this book is more then just voicing out women's voices, its also to show the misogyny and the abuse of power that comes from experiments that are indicated to women.

Character-wise, I loved our main protagonist and how everything came somewhat into a full circle. It was heartbreaking and left me feeling bleak in some ways. Plot-wise, I feel that there are more things that can be unpacked and there is a lack of gothic elements that I felt was a missed opportunity, but all in all, the stories of the women in here, to the experiments based on renowned doctors claiming to help the mentally ill patients with hypnosis and methods of torture, in the form of experimental claims made it a story that showed the voices of the women oppressed.


"Rage is a powerful emotion and one that should be not be used in a scattergun fashion."


This was a read that I will remember for a long time. From the plot leading to the infamous mad women's ball - in which the irony of the representation of society of the sane being as mad as the madwomen trapped in the asylum - to the stories of each characters and women that were held in contempt in the asylum. A story that of hope, grief, loss and mostly of souls that were broken and left behind and left to mend on their own.

Personal Ratings : 4🌟
(Buddy read this with my friends at a book staycation and its a memory that I will forever store in my mind.)