Reviews with content warning for Animal death - The Paper Palace

It's amusing how the journey went from initially disliking the main character to gradually rooting for her, but not really (picky on some parts). There are reasons behind every action and the subsequent consequences, regardless of how positive or dire they may be. If it's not you fulfilling something in that life, something is bound to happen. The subtleties throughout the book, along with metaphors leading up to the years portrayed, shed light on generational patterns. Ultimately, it's her choice, and the outcome remains uncertain. The ending brings about new beginnings—whether good or bad, it could be either or even both.

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bryn_cavin's review against another edition

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dark emotional reflective tense slow-paced

3.75

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nessafurtado's review against another edition

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dark emotional hopeful reflective sad tense slow-paced

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

3.75

Esse livro me fez pensar muito porque por mais que eu tenha amado a escrita da autora e me sentido imersa no livro eu geralmente não costumo ler livros com essa temática; então, PRA MIM, por mais que a história tenha me prendido, o final pareceu se arrastar e não trazer um desfecho satisfatório. Importante iniciar a leitura sabendo que trata de assuntos como abuso sexual e morte.
Ps. TEAM PETER.

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karlisimp's review against another edition

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dark mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

Wow. The ending was unlikeable and I didn’t think it made much sense. However the writing was phenomenal and the plot even more interesting.

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fifteenthjessica's review against another edition

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DNF at about 25%.

I found the characters, structure, and prose unpleasant. If you're on the fence, read the first chapter and then decide (based on the 5 stars reviews on Goodreads, there were people who liked the things I disliked). Just be warned that there are scenes of child sexual abuse and some animal deaths. The former provides some character context, but the latter is flat out gratuitous.

The majority of the cast is horrible people who I couldn't find enough redeeming qualities for to keep reading. This is a contemporary romance, yet I find myself wondering why the main character, Elle, is attracted to either of her love interests (her childhood friend Jonas and her husband Peter) and why they are attracted to her. Elle's PoV is one of the most passive-aggressive and bitterly miserable ones I've ever read. Jonas is my personal least favorite. He admits to telling Elle he was over her after introducing her to his now-wife just to hurt her feelings and (WARNING: mention of sexual assault)

then proceeds to finger her while she asks him not to because she's worried their spouses will see them.

Not to imply Peter is a prize, he's very inconsiderate and at one point laughs when their teenage son calls her the b word, but the other two set a really low bar for likability.

The book flits between the 24 or so hours after Elle sleeps with Jonas and the childhoods of Elle and her mother. Most of the flashbacks are unpleasant events from both childhoods, and while they certainly explain why these two in particular are so unpleasant (although, honestly, Elle seemed quite unpleasant as a child), half the time they seem irrelevant to the present day events (WARNING: mention of animal death and nudity)

Did we need the scene where Elle and her sister watch their mom's boyfriend flush a baby alligator down a toilet? How about the family friend and his new wife strolling around naked in front of children right after sex?

The prose, probably my least favorite part, is a mix of winding, metaphor-laden descriptions and moments that are included to give a sense of realism but that I found uncomfortable. Like yes, an ant would crawl on someone's nipple if that person laid naked somewhere that had ants, but why do the readers need to know that?

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shelby1994's review against another edition

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dark medium-paced

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

3.0

“I’m in love with you, too,” I say. “But I’m not sure it matters.”

A weird one!

In the hands of a less observant author, this could have easily taken a nose-drive into the trash heap. “Childhood best-friend // Charismatic Foreign Hottie” love-triangles basically write themselves, and it’s a coin-flip who wins out in each re-telling. Heller is able to set Elle’s story about through her watercolor landscaping and wry, resentful cast of mothers and daughters who love each other only slightly more than they hate each other.

Too bad this man isn’t worth shit. Elle spends a day and a lifetime wrestling with whether getting with her childhood best friend is worth digging up all the tragedy in their past. But as soon as he tumbles onto the page, he immediately screams “red flag.”
Incomprehensibly possessive. Can’t seem to take no for an answer. Uncomfortably hung up on someone he hasn’t seen since puberty. Has the same alien-like precociousness as a 40-year-old that he did as a 9-year-old.
I am all here for a tormented, possibly marriage-ruining love story. But this poor-man’s Colleen Hoover escapade wasn’t it.

Read If You:
Liked Elin Hilderbrand’s ‘28 Summers’
Are fluent in WASP
Have a place you always go back to when you need to find true north

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