Reviews tagging 'Sexual assault'

A House Like a Lotus by Madeleine L'Engle

2 reviews

orchidlilly's review against another edition

emotional hopeful reflective sad medium-paced

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

2.5

So I appreciate what L'Engle is trying to do here. It hasn't aged quite so well, and I think even for the time, she didn't super manage to convey what she wanted to perfectly, but it was at least an attempt. We're still falling into her classic writing tropes of having "Noble Savages" and assimilating all foreign religions into being actually Christian the whole time. L'Engle clearly heard these criticisms at the time of publishing, because she goes as far as to deny that she does these things in universe through Polly, who is starting to feel more an more like an author insert. I don't love that despite trying to preach tolerance, we still have Max as a predatory lesbian. And, in general, I don't love the romantic relationships in this one. Polly's love interests are all men in their mid 20's. Polly is 16, just no. Surely people knew this was weird in the 80s, right? Also not loving that Polly has devolved into the "not like other girls" girl who puts down and relishes in one upping girls who are too normal or popular or pretty or whatever it is that "other girls" are like. Still, it did well enough to go back up to the middle of the road 2.5 Decent enough of you're into coming of age Christian lit, but now that we've completely abandoned the fantasy and sci-fi elements, I'm losing steam.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Alcoholism, Medical content, Animal cruelty, Cursing, Sexual content, Homophobia, Animal death, Outing, Adult/minor relationship, Alcohol, Grief, Chronic illness, Lesbophobia, Terminal illness, Drug use, Sexual harassment, and Sexual assault

Minor: Child abuse, Infidelity, Classism, Vomit, Death of parent, Body shaming, Ableism, Antisemitism, Bullying, Pedophilia, Blood, Panic attacks/disorders, and Injury/Injury detail

telemwill's review against another edition

dark hopeful reflective slow-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Sexual assault and Rape

This book is about struggling to forgive a dear friend of the same sex who altered by illness and alcohol attempts to sexually molest the main character, Polly. Polly, injured from running away and worried that she might be perceived as gay, calls her much older boyfriend for help. They end up having consensual sex, but seeing as he's so much older, we would definitely consider it statutory rape today. All of the adults who are aware of what happened, including Polly's uncle, discourage Polly from telling her parents.

This book had so much more in it than indicated above, but it is controversial for those reasons.