Reviews with content warning for Sexual assault - Cilka's Journey

Reviews tagging 'Sexual assault'

Cilka's Journey by Heather Morris

53 reviews

mollywoolven's review against another edition

dark emotional informative inspiring sad medium-paced

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

4.75

What a beautiful book!!
I read The Tattooist of Auschwitz
during lockdown and reading this had the exact same feeling. Cilka is a beautiful strong woman. She is a true inspiration and I think it is captured in this book wonderfully. Although a very hard subject, there are some light hearted moments and I would recommend to anyone to continue with it just have regular breaks throughout!

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aguin3's review against another edition

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emotional sad medium-paced

Strong character development? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.5

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billcbentley's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional sad fast-paced

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

4.75

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brireads43's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional inspiring sad medium-paced

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

4.5

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mightyfrenchbookworm's review against another edition

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dark emotional sad medium-paced

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

2.75

Je me sentirais mal de dénigrer un roman FICTIF inspiré d'un personnage réel sur le terrible vécu des gens ayant été emprisonnés dans les gulags. La trame de fond était intéressante. Ceci dit, l'écriture de l'autrice était très mid. En écriture on entend souvent parler de "show, don't tell". À mon avis, l'autrice, bien qu'elle ait parlé de désespoir, n'a pas su me faire ressentir ce désespoir dans ses écrits. Certains éléments étaient "garochés" et aurait pu être nettement mieux développés.

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tiiiger35's review against another edition

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dark emotional informative reflective sad fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

Like its predecessor, this books very emotional & at times hard to read. It’s hard to imagine how anyone could survive under such brutality & soul crushing conditions, let alone a girl so young. To be freed from the horror of Auschwitz, only to be wrongfully imprisoned again for almost another decade in a Soviet work camp, is absolutely despicable.
The fact this lady managed to build a happy, content life for herself afterwards is beyond incredible.
These stories harrowing as they are, have to be told now more than ever, at a time when the holocaust is called in to question by right wing conspirators & wars are breaking out across the world. Stories like this matter.

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lottie1803's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense

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? No

5.0

Ranking based on interpretation of events as mostly fiction. This is a very hard book to rate and review, based on both the harrowing historical content and the personal feelings of those connected to the real individual. Still, a very compelling and powerful story that does highlight the under-appreciated experiences of sexual violence in genocide. I found the writing style and characters a significant improvement on the first book. Cecilia does suffer from a bit of Main Character Syndrome, but in the context of her world and trauma, it’s understandable. The stories are linked, but not completely necessary to read them together.

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