Reviews tagging 'Death of parent'

The Paper Palace by Miranda Cowley Heller

15 reviews

kristinj1's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad tense fast-paced

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

5.0

I went back and forth on giving this book 5 stars, or 4.75 stars. I tore through it in three days and felt like I saw pieces of myself in the main character - and, honestly, I have no quibbles with how it was written. So I landed on 5 stars, even though I think I hated some of the story. The sexual abuse of kids by adults and by a stepbrother was really, really terrible to read. I'm glad the author didn't dwell on it in the writing in order to traumatize all of their readers, yet I am still questioning if something that clearly has such a major impact on the main character's life (not to mention her mother's before her) should have had more time devoted to it in the writing? But that becomes dangerously close to trauma porn, which would mean that's all I remember from this book. By tucking it away in our main character's mind, it also tucked it away in our mind. Still flagging there, causing an irritation whenever you went across it, still making itself known. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Pedophilia, Alcohol, Sexual assault, Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, and Rape

Minor: Miscarriage, Blood, Death of parent, Drug use, Abandonment, Child abuse, Death, Animal cruelty, and Cancer

emmalou614's review against another edition

challenging emotional hopeful reflective sad medium-paced

3.5

At first I struggled with the back and forth of the timelines. Each time I was sucked into the present day story, it’s skip to stories of the past. I see in the end how it was important for the story, but still would’ve liked more of present day. Absolutely adored Jonas and Elle’s story. It was so relatable. I just wish we could’ve gotten more in the end about the future. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Miscarriage, Sexual assault, Child death, and Death of parent

georgie_mb's review

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. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Cancer, Child death, Cursing, Sexual assault, Death, Incest, Infidelity, and Rape

Moderate: Cancer, Terminal illness, Death of parent, Toxic relationship, and Alcohol

anastasiak's review

dark emotional funny hopeful inspiring medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape

Minor: Miscarriage, Death, Child death, Death of parent, Toxic relationship, Terminal illness, Murder, and Cancer

katewhite77's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional funny hopeful 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

A lyrical love story but not a conventional one.

A novel about family for all it's good and ill. The forks in the road life can force us to  take wheather we want it or not.  

This book centres around a complex of USA holiday homes made of 'paper' so in a sense this makes good holiday reading but a light hearted beach this is not. Only pack it if you fancy a bit of depth. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Cancer, Death, Grief, Child abuse, Toxic relationship, Death of parent, Child death, Rape, and Pedophilia

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

bethaniethebeast's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny reflective medium-paced

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

4.0

Miranda Cowley Heller is an excellent writer, but sometimes this book was "prose-y" to the point of reminding me that I'm reading a book. I don't like the characters but I understand them and relate to them. This book does an excellent job of exploring generational trauma, but I have to say HUGE trigger warning for child abuse and SA, that fully caught me off guard. Overall was an interesting read and I recommend it!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Child death, Infidelity, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual harassment, Toxic relationship, Ableism, Alcohol, Death, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Incest, Misogyny, Violence, Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Cursing, Emotional abuse, Grief, Rape, Sexual violence, and Toxic friendship

Minor: Death of parent, Grief, Incest, Mental illness, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Rape, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Adult/minor relationship, Death, Domestic abuse, Sexual harassment, Toxic friendship, Child death, Alcohol, Bullying, Child abuse, Classism, Emotional abuse, Pregnancy, Religious bigotry, Sexual assault, and Sexual content

paulabekkerus's review against another edition

dark emotional sad slow-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Alcohol, Animal cruelty, Cancer, Cursing, Emotional abuse, Grief, Incest, Animal death, Blood, Child death, Pedophilia, Child abuse, Death, Death of parent, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual harassment, Antisemitism, Infertility, Infidelity, Rape, Sexual violence, and Terminal illness

kdenten's review against another edition

adventurous dark reflective fast-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Emotional abuse, Child abuse, Sexual assault, and Death

Minor: Death of parent, Grief, Infertility, Sexual content, Blood, Cancer, and Child death

awestervelt20's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Domestic abuse, Death, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Terminal illness, Animal death, Cancer, Child death, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Incest, Rape, and Stalking