Reviews tagging 'Sexual assault'

La Sombra Del Viento by Carlos Ruiz Zafón

38 reviews

chrisljm's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious medium-paced

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

3.5

1. this book would not pass the bechdel test.
2. the twist almost made me shit myself. 
3. “the day was turning out to be longer than The Brothers Karamazov” is so funny. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child death, Confinement, Hate crime, Toxic relationship, Death of parent, Excrement, Homophobia, Murder, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Police brutality, Violence, Domestic abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Misogyny, Pregnancy, and Sexism

Moderate: Abandonment, Child abuse, Gore, Incest, Infidelity, Lesbophobia, War, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Gun violence, Infertility, Medical content, Miscarriage, Stalking, Terminal illness, Alcohol, Blood, Emotional abuse, Torture, Cursing, Physical abuse, Religious bigotry, and Sexual harassment

Minor: Ableism, Animal death, Antisemitism, Bullying, Rape, Abortion, Classism, Racial slurs, and Adult/minor relationship

flysick's review against another edition

dark emotional funny mysterious sad tense slow-paced

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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Domestic abuse, Miscarriage, Murder, Emotional abuse, Misogyny, Pregnancy, Sexism, Sexual assault, and War

tessduets's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional inspiring mysterious reflective sad tense medium-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

5.0

I loved this book so much. Lots of shocking plot twists and a completely unique story. While it was exciting and mysterious it was also a rather cozy read. It is beautifully written and is now one of my favorite books. I had the added fun of getting to read it while visiting Barcelona, definitely recommend that if you get the chance.  

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Content Warnings

Minor: Cursing, Murder, Confinement, Death of parent, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Dementia, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Gore, Gun violence, Homophobia, Grief, Infidelity, Injury/Injury detail, Misogyny, Police brutality, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Alcohol, Incest, Pregnancy, Religious bigotry, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Terminal illness, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Classism, Infertility, Sexism, Stalking, and Suicide attempt

kato_dg's review against another edition

mysterious medium-paced

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

2.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Torture, Infidelity, Physical abuse, Police brutality, Murder, Grief, Blood, Death, Death of parent, Homophobia, Infertility, Miscarriage, Sexual content, Sexual harassment, Domestic abuse, Excrement, Fire/Fire injury, Gun violence, Incest, Misogyny, Rape, Pregnancy, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Violence, and War

parkyparkpark's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny mysterious reflective sad tense medium-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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Sexism, Physical abuse, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, Infidelity, Gun violence, Forced institutionalization, Sexual violence, Sexual assault, Child death, Confinement, Vomit, Incest, Adult/minor relationship, War, Violence, Sexual harassment, Police brutality, Lesbophobia, Kidnapping, Gore, Grief, Dementia, Sexual content, Excrement, Emotional abuse, Domestic abuse, Terminal illness, Stalking, Pregnancy, Misogyny, Miscarriage, Medical trauma, Medical content, and Fire/Fire injury

diyashasen's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious medium-paced

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

4.0

Wow, I absolutely loved the drama of it all—what a mesmerizing story. I’m honestly so confused why I even liked this as much as I did, but boy is it a page-turner. I could not stop reading and was immediately drawn into Zafón’s world.

I may be super off-base, but for some reason this story had a similar energy to The Beautiful Ones (or just Silvia Moreno-Garcia vibes generally) and A Little Life—and in its lighter moments, my childhood favourite The Thief Lord.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Incest

Moderate: Sexual assault, Murder, and Police brutality

julesloyola's review against another edition

adventurous mysterious fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Rape, Homophobia, and Sexual assault

annahelle's review against another edition

adventurous emotional funny mysterious fast-paced

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

3.75

i really really enjoyed this book! although it was a little cheesy at times and i wouldn’t compare it to gabriel garcia marquez (as advertised on the book cover), i still had FUN! there’s definitely something to be said about the treatment of female characters. like i’m pretty sure it wouldn’t pass the bechdel test lol. a bit manic pixie dream girl vibes. and i dont just mean fernin’s silly sexual, womanzing tirades , bc i took that to be satire. idk i’m dr*nk on vacation and i had FUN okay. and really loved the main characters even tho i wished the women weren’t just love objects ! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Physical abuse

Moderate: Incest, Transphobia, and Homophobia

Minor: Sexual assault, Suicide attempt, Police brutality, Pedophilia, and Sexual violence

pr3rn4's review against another edition

• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No

2.0

While the story is engaging it's disturbing how every male character in the book views women. 
TW: sexual assault, rape
The book even minimises and blames sexual assault onto the victim.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Sexual assault and Misogyny

hmlongstreet's review against another edition

adventurous dark funny mysterious 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? No

5.0

This book is long... and it took me forever to read. I have had this book since 2019 and I had just lost motivation to read it, as it dragged in some points. The book was also just genuinely long (or long to my standard as I never read books more then 450 pages). It is also one of those books with small words and small margins. However once I got back into it I could not put it down. All I can say is, oh my goodness this book is spellbinding. It is so beautifully written, that I found myself rereading a lot of paragraphs, just admiring the sentence structure. The long story was worth it though, as everything comes together to create a satisfying ending for the story. Every character in the novel gets an in-depth back story, which deepened my understanding of each characters personalities. So much detail is put into every line, which makes it such a gorgeous read.

Also, every character is connected. All of them.

 

Some issues I had personally were that since the story takes place in Spain, street names and locations are mentioned rather often and as a native English speaker I had one hell of a time trying to pronounce them. Some phrases were also left in Spanish and certain references were made that I just didn't understand. Maybe I should brush up on some Spanish history. Halfway through I did end up switching to an audiobook to pick up the pace of my reading (I am a rather slow reader) and was heavily embarrassed at how I had butchered names and places pronunciation.

I plan to read the rest of the books in the series as well, but I highly recommend this book it is just amazing!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death

Moderate: Grief, Pregnancy, Sexual harassment, War, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Gun violence, Murder, Domestic abuse, Child death, Cursing, Fire/Fire injury, and Police brutality

Minor: Incest, Infertility, Death of parent, Homophobia, Terminal illness, Confinement, Abandonment, Bullying, and Stalking