Reviews with content warning for Torture - A Long Petal of the Sea

Reviews tagging 'Torture'

A Long Petal of the Sea by Isabel Allende

22 reviews

deenmachine's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional hopeful reflective sad 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

4.25

An incredibly well-researched historical fiction that follows the characters through their lifetime. I have read other critiques that say the book is too much telling, not enough showing, and I agree that the language can be a bit rote at times, like "this happened. She felt this way." I forgave it because there's so much that happens in this book that it's almost necessary, and the characters are compelling enough to keep you drawn in. The last couple pages had one of the more thoughtful and touching portraits of grief I've read in a while.

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charley0796's review

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dark sad medium-paced

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

3.5

A historical fiction about the Spanish Civil War and Chilean Coup - emphasis on the history and information with some entwining of character’s stories. It spans a whole generation, with quick jumps between time periods, which can make it hard to form bonds to the characters.

I’m glad I read this book, I knew nothing about these two periods of history so I found it interesting to learn about. However, I just couldn’t connect to the characters and felt at arms length (something many other readers seem to feel). At first I felt that there were too many POVs considering we only actually follow Roser and Victor. Characters we have spent time with and you think are going to be incorporated into the main story vanish half way through (Ofelia), coming back with a bit of a butchered character - which is somewhat understandable with what happened.
There was also some misogyny and mention of rape, and adult physical abuse, which I think more reflects the time period accurately and so didn’t bother me like another reviewer. The two main women were business women in their own right.

Overall, it didn’t capture me enough to score more than 3.5 - it was just too matter of fact.

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bridgetkay's review

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challenging emotional inspiring reflective 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? It's complicated

4.0

Allende handled the historical context well, deftly placing her protagonists as Catalan refugees from the Spanish civil war who establish a new home in Chile, only for that to result in a dictatorship also. However, the setting is not the focus of the novel, with relationships being what anchors this novel.

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