Reviews tagging 'Stalking'

The Paper Palace by Miranda Cowley Heller

20 reviews

sunshine_2's review against another edition

emotional reflective 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

3.0

I had not read a book for myself for a while before randomly picking this up at the library. It was an alright jump back into reading novels; it’s an interesting story that also has highly descriptive imagery for the beautiful setting. However, it didn’t entirely grip me as I didn’t find myself rooting for the prominent love story. A large amount of characters were introduced throughout the story, and it was confusing at times to keep track of everybody. Additionally, there were multiple points depicting upsetting acts that I was not expecting. The ending is obscure and is left to the reader’s interpretation. Overall, it was okay, but I’m not sure I would recommend it.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Sexual assault, Domestic abuse, Sexual violence, Stalking, Child death, Incest, Adult/minor relationship, Death, Physical abuse, Rape, Child abuse, Infidelity, Sexual content, and Sexual harassment

beatriks's review against another edition

emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious reflective sad tense 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

5.0

This book is great, a family story, mysterious, dark, light, beautifully written, great twists, good jumps in timelines, overall great storytelling.

A great story about the sh*t women have to deal with in this world built by weak and violent men. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cancer, Infidelity, Rape, and Sexual assault

Moderate: Child abuse, Death, Pregnancy, Sexual content, and Stalking

Minor: Alcohol, Drug use, and Misogyny

scewart's review against another edition

dark emotional funny mysterious reflective 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

3.0

I loved the writing style, the twists you discover throughout the book, and the alternating timeline. However, I didn’t enjoy the entirety of the resolution buildup at the end of the book being washed away in the final paragraph. If the book had ended a few pages earlier, it was likely to receive a four star rating.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Stalking, Murder, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, and Sexual violence

Minor: Death, Incest, Cancer, and Grief

frozenduck's review against another edition

challenging emotional reflective tense 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? It's complicated

2.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Stalking, Sexual assault, Rape, Sexual harassment, Child death, Incest, Toxic relationship, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Miscarriage, and Pedophilia

avelavalamp's review against another edition

This book is about WASPs, but the author made casually racist choices in her descriptions of non-WASP characters. She lost me when she said “the Puerto Rican girls eyefuck me.” Why say this about nameless characters in a health clinic and only appear in three lines? Why use this extremely harsh language when

the narrator’s stepbrother is ACTUALLY molesting and raping her or when the childhood friend she loves ACTUALLY does want to f*ck her and she wants him to?! The term “eyefuck” would’ve been appropriate in both scenarios, and yet it’s never used—it’s reserved for the Puerto Rican girls seeking reproductive care—to make them seem “scary” for no reason

?! Add to that using terms like “crackhead” to describe an actual human, women consistently insulting one another with “don’t be such a cow” (fatphobic) and mid-book randomly assigning Jewish identity to the main family with no development? Microagressions abound. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Child death, Sexual violence, Stalking, Incest, and Sexual assault

thebranchlibrary_'s review against another edition

reflective sad slow-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Stalking, Incest, Rape, and Sexual assault

Moderate: Child death

Minor: Bullying, Cancer, and Miscarriage

scarletellajones's review against another edition

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual violence, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Sexual assault, Child abuse, Rape, and Stalking

skibbonboulash's review against another edition

slow-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

Let’s make the main characters childhood as traumatizing as possible then have a climax that is meaningless because you’re numb to trauma by then and then finish off with an underwhelming resolution and conclusion. You can tell the author writes for HBO (not a compliment)

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual harassment, Infertility, Death of parent, Death, Adult/minor relationship, Child death, Vomit, Sexual violence, Sexual assault, Gaslighting, Cancer, Bullying, Body shaming, Rape, Child abuse, Stalking, Sexual content, Murder, Classism, Toxic relationship, Pedophilia, Miscarriage, Alcoholism, Alcohol, Addiction, and Suicide

lindsayhotrod's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad slow-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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Violence, Stalking, Sexual violence, Sexual assault, Rape, Infidelity, Incest, and Grief

Moderate: Cancer, Sexual content, Miscarriage, Alcohol, Child death, and Classism

Minor: Blood, Bullying, Cursing, Dementia, Fatphobia, Eating disorder, and Body shaming

bowenlacar's review against another edition

emotional hopeful inspiring reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Abandonment, Alcohol, Bullying, Cancer, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Dementia, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Grief, Incest, Infidelity, Miscarriage, Murder, Pedophilia, Pregnancy, Rape, Suicidal thoughts, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Stalking, and Terminal illness