Reviews tagging 'Kidnapping'

La casa de los espíritus by Isabel Allende

38 reviews

karydiazc's review

adventurous dark emotional funny mysterious reflective sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.5

Reading this book was both amazing and heartbreaking. 
This is the first book I've read of Isabel Allende and I think these words will stay with me for a long time. 

The book starts comically, with fun stories about the family, with sad and almos cruel things woven in between. To be honest I had a really hard time reading the book because those first chapters seemed to go really slow and nothing seemed to be really happening, however things started to move ahead and it started to get interesting. 

I must say I loved almos every character (with obvious exceptions) and found the family history and generations to be quite interesting. 

I've never really been interested in politics so when that part of the books started I wasn't sure what to expect, but characters such as Clara, Blanca and Alba made it worth reading along. 

Now, the last few chapters were so hard to read. Not because they were boring or anything like that, but because of how crude and realistic they were. It's so hard to think that Latin America has been going through that for many many years and along several countries. Even now, it feels kind of close, even though nothing like that is happening apenly in my country (and hopefully won't happen, at least any time soon)

As I said on the beginning, this book was wonderful to read despite everything, however I would recommend anyone who wants to get into it to first read the trigger warnings, since there are a lot and some are very graphic, specially towards those final chapters. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abortion, Rape, Injury/Injury detail, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Torture, Misogyny, Violence, War, Grief, Police brutality, and Sexism

Moderate: Physical abuse, Drug abuse, Gun violence, Misogyny, Police brutality, Sexual assault, Kidnapping, Murder, Sexual violence, Blood, Classism, Death, and Suicidal thoughts

Minor: Violence, Sexism, Abandonment, Abortion, Blood, Death, Drug abuse, Kidnapping, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Sexual violence, Animal death, Excrement, Gun violence, War, Classism, Death of parent, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Pedophilia, and Police brutality

chaoticnostalgia's review against another edition

lighthearted sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

Agh, such wonderful writing, I just didn't connect to the story or characters much. Can't wait to read more from this author!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Classism, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Torture, Violence, Blood, Pedophilia, Police brutality, Sexism, Sexual assault, Animal death, Grief, Sexual content, Death, Death of parent, Kidnapping, Medical content, Murder, Sexual violence, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Racism, Rape, Abortion, Alcohol, Car accident, Chronic illness, Addiction, Domestic abuse, Excrement, and War

Minor: Drug use and Pregnancy

dakotahreads's review against another edition

adventurous dark relaxing sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Violence, Abortion, and Sexual violence

Minor: Addiction, Animal death, Domestic abuse, Incest, Kidnapping, Pedophilia, and Racial slurs

erinwolf1997's review against another edition

challenging emotional inspiring reflective slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Death of parent, Death, Grief, Abortion, Classism, Misogyny, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Domestic abuse, Sexual violence, Violence, War, Rape, and Torture

Moderate: Confinement, Injury/Injury detail, Physical abuse, Xenophobia, Blood, Chronic illness, Colonisation, Pregnancy, Murder, Pedophilia, Adult/minor relationship, Car accident, Gun violence, Kidnapping, Medical content, Police brutality, Racism, and Toxic relationship

Minor: Drug abuse and Drug use

littlebluenaiad's review against another edition

challenging slow-paced

• Loveable characters? No

2.0

Y’all idk what to say that was traumatizing and I hated the way they described the indigenous people but overall it was pretty intriguing

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Kidnapping and Torture

Moderate: Rape, Homophobia, and Xenophobia

marenvgl's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? N/A
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Torture, Sexual violence, Sexual assault, Police brutality, Miscarriage, Kidnapping, Genocide, Emotional abuse, Car accident, Abortion, Rape, War, and Violence

isamadeira411's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Kidnapping, Pedophilia, Violence, Rape, Sexual assault, Abortion, Child abuse, and Emotional abuse

cozylifewithabby's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

I have very mixed feelings about this book. I loved the narrative style and the weaving of different perspectives. I also appreciate the threads of events that all tie together by the end. However, though I do like magical realism and the fantastic, I had a hard time stomaching all the violence (mostly domestic and sexual with some torture) that is thrown in nonchalantly. Also, although the violence comes back to wreak havoc on the next generation it is almost always the women or the good who pay for the mistakes of the men (or more "manly" men in their lives. I might have more to say later, but for now those are my thoughts. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Chronic illness, Car accident, Death, Infidelity, Kidnapping, Murder, Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Sexism, Sexual content, Slavery, Domestic abuse, Excrement, Gore, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Abandonment, Abortion, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Gun violence, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Torture, Toxic relationship, War, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Hate crime, Police brutality, Violence, Vomit, Grief, Medical content, Pregnancy, Racial slurs, Racism, and Homophobia

perseffable's review against another edition

dark emotional sad slow-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Rape, Domestic abuse, Misogyny, War, Sexism, Sexual content, Sexual harassment, Death, and Death of parent

Minor: Abandonment, Adult/minor relationship, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Police brutality, Pregnancy, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Blood, Abortion, Addiction, Alcohol, Child abuse, Death of parent, Excrement, Fire/Fire injury, Gore, Grief, Gun violence, Homophobia, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Racism, Suicidal thoughts, Alcoholism, Child death, Classism, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Mental illness, Kidnapping, and Murder

dgdrgn's review against another edition

challenging dark inspiring reflective slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

My experience reading this book was a good lesson in reviewing the content warnings before reading any book. 😬

Besides that, this fictional story is very insightful as it depicts Chilean history, politics, and feminism through the lives and struggles of the Trueba family, in particular through the three generations of women and the patriarch Esteban Trueba. Overall, it was a relatively heavy read with some lightness that came from the magical realism depicted through some of the family members as well as the absurdities of Esteban Trueba. Allende does a great job of writing the story in an almost playful method, using timelines and character POVs to tell an engaging story. Would recommend - just make sure to review the content/trigger warnings ahead of time.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Sexual harassment, Physical abuse, Pedophilia, Kidnapping, Torture, War, Death of parent, Xenophobia, Police brutality, Injury/Injury detail, Death, Violence, Sexual assault, Sexual content, and Sexual violence