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bluejay21's review against another edition
dark
emotional
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
Content Warnings
Graphic: Hate crime, Homophobia, Incest, Injury/Injury detail, Misogyny, and Police brutality
Moderate: Blood, Confinement, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Forced institutionalization, Infidelity, Miscarriage, Murder, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, and Torture
half_bloodreader's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
Bilingual Review/Crítica Bilingue (🇬🇧 & 🇵🇹)
🇬🇧 Written in the 1st person, past tense. Set in the 1st half of the 20th century, Franco's regime
Intrigue, mystery, books, Barcelona. What's there not to like? Or so I thought, but I ended with mixed feelings.
It's historical fiction. There are scenes that reflect the chauvinist times, things that happen to women that are part of plot points.
Except, there's language & violence used against women that doesn't add anything to the story, so it seems the author is taking pleasure out of tormenting women.
A male character is physically & s exually assaulted, yet it's told in a ridiculous tone. I was intrigued, which is why I kept reading, but I can't ignore these recurring themes.
Mc instantly falls in love with the women he's attracted to, no importance given to knowing them. These are all enigmatic, inscrutable, meaning they are as deep as a leaf.
Otherwise, they are a reason for ridicule.
Beware of Stereotype: blind person asks to touch strangers' faces 🙄
Mystery is almost entirely revealed in a letter conveniently left to the mc.
Writing plays with the frontier between beautiful & pretentious to the point of eyeroll.
🇵🇹 Escrito na 1ª pessoa, passado. Situado na 1ª metade do Séc. XX, Espanha Franquista
Intriga, mistério, livros, Barcelona. O que há para não gostar? Pensei eu, mas no fim fiquei dividida.
É ficção histórica. Há cenas que refletem os tempos machistas, coisas que acontecem a mulheres que fazem parte da trama.
Excepto que há linguagem e violência usadas contra mulheres que não acrescentam nada à história, parece que o autor tirou prazer de atormentar mulheres.
Um personagem masculino é agredido física & sexualmente, sendo tal contado em tom jocoso. Estava intrigada, por isso persisti, mas não posso simplesmente ignorar estes tópicos recorrentes.
Cuidado com Estereótipo: pessoa cega pede para tocar na cara de estranhos 🙄
Protagonista apaixona-se instantaneamente pelas mulheres que lhe são atraentes, e pouca importa conhecê-las. Essas são todas enigmáticas, imperscrutáveis, ou seja têm a profundidade de uma folha.
De contrário, são motivo de ridículo.
Mistério é revelado quase todo numa carta convenientemente deixada ao protagonista.
A escrita brinca com a fronteira entre bela e pretensiosa a ponto de rolar os olhos.
🇬🇧 Written in the 1st person, past tense. Set in the 1st half of the 20th century, Franco's regime
Intrigue, mystery, books, Barcelona. What's there not to like? Or so I thought, but I ended with mixed feelings.
It's historical fiction. There are scenes that reflect the chauvinist times, things that happen to women that are part of plot points.
Except, there's language & violence used against women that doesn't add anything to the story, so it seems the author is taking pleasure out of tormenting women.
A male character is physically & s exually assaulted, yet it's told in a ridiculous tone. I was intrigued, which is why I kept reading, but I can't ignore these recurring themes.
Mc instantly falls in love with the women he's attracted to, no importance given to knowing them. These are all enigmatic, inscrutable, meaning they are as deep as a leaf.
Otherwise, they are a reason for ridicule.
Beware of Stereotype: blind person asks to touch strangers' faces 🙄
Mystery is almost entirely revealed in a letter conveniently left to the mc.
Writing plays with the frontier between beautiful & pretentious to the point of eyeroll.
🇵🇹 Escrito na 1ª pessoa, passado. Situado na 1ª metade do Séc. XX, Espanha Franquista
Intriga, mistério, livros, Barcelona. O que há para não gostar? Pensei eu, mas no fim fiquei dividida.
É ficção histórica. Há cenas que refletem os tempos machistas, coisas que acontecem a mulheres que fazem parte da trama.
Excepto que há linguagem e violência usadas contra mulheres que não acrescentam nada à história, parece que o autor tirou prazer de atormentar mulheres.
Um personagem masculino é agredido física & sexualmente, sendo tal contado em tom jocoso. Estava intrigada, por isso persisti, mas não posso simplesmente ignorar estes tópicos recorrentes.
Cuidado com Estereótipo: pessoa cega pede para tocar na cara de estranhos 🙄
Protagonista apaixona-se instantaneamente pelas mulheres que lhe são atraentes, e pouca importa conhecê-las. Essas são todas enigmáticas, imperscrutáveis, ou seja têm a profundidade de uma folha.
De contrário, são motivo de ridículo.
Mistério é revelado quase todo numa carta convenientemente deixada ao protagonista.
A escrita brinca com a fronteira entre bela e pretensiosa a ponto de rolar os olhos.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Homophobia and Transphobia
Moderate: Domestic abuse, Incest, Physical abuse, Sexism, Sexual harassment, and Torture
Minor: Sexual assault and Sexual violence
sherbertwells's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
reflective
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.0
On the streets of fascist Barcelona, a boy unravels the mystery behind his favorite book. Some stories can survive the fact that their authors don’t really understand women; in this one the plot threatens to buckle under its own accumulated misogyny.
“I imagined Julián Carax at my age, holding that image in his hand, perhaps in the shade of the same tree that now sheltered me. I could almost see him smiling confidently, contemplating a future as wide and luminous as that avenue, and for a moment I thought there were no more ghosts there than those of absence and loss and that the light that smiled on me was borrowed light, real only as long as I could hold it in my eyes, second by second” (147)
Content Warnings
Graphic: Misogyny, Sexual content, Violence, Sexism, Religious bigotry, and Physical abuse
Moderate: Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, Homophobia, Sexual harassment, Sexual assault, Police brutality, Adult/minor relationship, Infidelity, Gun violence, and Blood
Minor: War, Racial slurs, and Forced institutionalization
lyricallit's review against another edition
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.5
Sigh. I was 1/3 of the way through and was befuddled as to where it was going. I really enjoyed the touches of magical realism but felt that style was abandoned in favor of gothic melodrama. I liked the way certain characters mirrored others in the past and the trope of authorship/stories, as the novel at times became a nesting doll of stories-within-stories.
Ultimately though I got really tired with the portrayal of women. All the women are secondary/tertiary characters who are usually victims who serve to further the mens' plots or to reveal a man's vile abuse. Especially since MUCH of this heartbreak would have been avoided if Sophie had just TOLD Julian who his biological father was! So... Cool. Let's just lay the blame there . I am truly unclear as to the relevance of Clara Barceló to the overall story. She is an objectified fantasy to a teen boy with a savior complex (to "save" or care for a "blind girl"), who ultimately becomes a bitter hag who can't even be around other women, presumably out of petty jealousy. Truly the book could have left her out completely and still attained its goals, so I am frustrated by what may just be an attempt to get back at a woman who scorned the author? And as for Bea, she is credited by Carax with saving his life and Daniel's but again, not sure how other than being the reason everyone was at the castle that night -- again, merely a convenient plot point.
Ultimately though I got really tired with the portrayal of women. All the women are secondary/tertiary characters who are usually victims who serve to further the mens' plots or to reveal a man's vile abuse. Especially since
Content Warnings
Moderate: Misogyny, Police brutality, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, and Violence
cewritespoems's review against another edition
This book is just jarringly sexist and once the narrator turns 16, I couldn’t read more than a page and a half before running into another description along the lines of undressing a woman is “like peeling a sweet potato on a winter’s night” or lengthy descriptions of breasts. At first I thought the author was just trying to characterize a few characters as womanizers… but every single man except one minor character in this novel can’t speak one sentence without objectifying every woman around them. I just want to read the actual mystery and the gothic elements but it’s impossible.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexism, Sexual harassment, and Sexual content
Moderate: Homophobia and Mental illness
Minor: Racial slurs, Pedophilia, Incest, Child abuse, and Excrement
sabrinaelisabeth's review against another edition
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.0
This is a terrible book and frankly I don’t understand why so many people love it. The story is quite interesting but that’s about it, however the way they story was wrapped up was just boring.
The sexism in this book is not only terrible, it’s exhausting. Every mention of a woman (or “female”) in this book, is sexist in every possible way. From the fact that their physical features are always mentioned, to the fact that they're apparently incapable of doing anything, except being a whore.
Furthermore there are so many instances of homophobia and such casual mention of rape, it’s disgusting.
It’s astonishing what this book gets away with frankly.
Furthermore, every single character’s dialogue is written the same. If it weren’t for context clues, you’d have no idea who was talking. It’s apparent that the author tried to be poetic (?) but it’s just not working. So many descriptions for every scene and word it’s exhausting to read. This novel could’ve been half it’s size and would still be too long.
The sexism in this book is not only terrible, it’s exhausting. Every mention of a woman (or “female”) in this book, is sexist in every possible way. From the fact that their physical features are always mentioned, to the fact that they're apparently incapable of doing anything, except being a whore.
Furthermore there are so many instances of homophobia and such casual mention of rape, it’s disgusting.
It’s astonishing what this book gets away with frankly.
Furthermore, every single character’s dialogue is written the same. If it weren’t for context clues, you’d have no idea who was talking. It’s apparent that the author tried to be poetic (?) but it’s just not working. So many descriptions for every scene and word it’s exhausting to read. This novel could’ve been half it’s size and would still be too long.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Homophobia
Moderate: Sexual assault and Sexual harassment
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