Reviews with content warning for Child abuse - The Paper Palace

More sensitive readers: please read the content warnings. I went into this book knowing almost nothing about it, so I was quite surprised to see how central these situations were to the plot, so keep that in mind.

This book started slow for me, but once I cleared Book 2, I couldn’t put it down. The characters are complex, the tone is melancholy, and the love stories are sweet and terrible and tender. Also: lush descriptions of nature that reminded me of “Where the Crawdads Sing.”

It’s a beautiful book that has stuck with me days after finishing it.

Content Warnings

livlosiewicz's review against another edition

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dark emotional reflective medium-paced

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

4.25

Pros:
•The writing is beautiful! This book has a strong sense of place
•I liked the structure and the different timelines, and how they weaved back and forth, a lot. It added a really well-crafted air of mystery to the novel and kept me captivated
•I also really liked how we could understand the characters’ (mostly Elle’s) decisions, even if we didn’t agree with them. Elle is a VERY flawed character, but we come to understand how she got there, which makes her more fascinating than frustrating to me
•Overall, this book is a creative and well-written exploration of the lasting impact of trauma, and how it can impact its victims not always in one big way, but a million small ways. I disagree with GR users saying the trauma was gratuitous. I think it was hard to read (and totally okay to not want to read it or not like it) but essential for the story Heller was trying to tell

Cons:
•okay, I didn’t like Jonas. I kept thinking I was going to grow to like him, but we didn’t get much characterization from him besides lovesick/horny. I know why she liked him as a kid, but why now?
•Normally, I’m a sucker for an ambiguous ending, but this was one that needed a more decisive ending for me to stick its point. Apparently, Heller didn’t think it was ambiguous, but after reading a bit more background, I think my original interpretation of the end was the opposite of what she’d intended. Basically, there’s an interpretation of the ending that works really well for me when considering the book and its themes, and if that’s not the ending that you interpret, I think it kind of weakens the book and leaves me less satisfied

Recommendation: I recommend for readers who like books with a strong sense of place, books that travel through dual timelines, and books with complicated characters making complicated decisions. This book is really well-written and deliberate, and I was really drawn into it, despite some nitpicky reservations. Please beware before picking this up, there are SIGNIFICANT content warnings. If you’re not in a place to read about trauma/don’t want to, skip this!!

Content Warnings

alice_poppy's review against another edition

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emotional sad medium-paced

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

4.0

Content Warnings

amethystbutterfly's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional informative reflective sad fast-paced

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

4.5

Content Warnings

e11en's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional mysterious sad 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

4.75

Content Warnings

georgie_mb's review

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emotional reflective slow-paced

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

2.75

I feel really mixed about this. Maybe this is more of a 2.75 than a 3…

Let’s start with the positives: the descriptions are truly beautiful, and that honestly was a whole star in my rrating system. I could see The Paper Palace and it’s surrounding, it was a very sensory experience.
For some reason (and I don’t really know why), I got more into this in the second half than the first, and I’m wondering whether it was because I settled into the banter of the family. Possibly because it reminded me slightly of my own…

I do have some issues with it though. Firstly I don’t think it helped that the Audible narrator sounded like the female US Siri which made some of it come across as very cold. But I think even looking past that, some parts really lacked emotion, and almost came across as harsh. I found this particularly hard to swallow when it come to the really disturbing parts, so much so I had to skip forward sometimes.

I also found the storyline lacked purpose. I think with the beginning it set it up to be a completely different book to what it turned out to be, and I was left slightly disappointed by that. There just didn’t seem to be any clear direction, regardless of the varying time lines.

Content Warnings

njm1993's review against another edition

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emotional reflective sad 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? No

3.75

Content Warnings

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