Reviews tagging 'Kidnapping'

A Long Petal of the Sea by Isabel Allende

2 reviews

abicaro17's review against another edition

adventurous dark reflective sad slow-paced

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

3.0

This gets an extra star exclusively for the fact that the man whose life this book was based on died 6 days before Allende could give him the final manuscript and tell him she dedicated it to him. The main plot of this book is the long and painful lives of Victor and Roser. The background of their lives includes the Spanish Civil war and political unrest in Chile. Unfortunately this book is boring. Because it never settles on a time period and elaborates on feelings and growth of the main characters, this story falls flat for me. The characters are flawed (as most people are) but, they spend almost no time ruminating or atoning for things like cheating or lying. I just couldn't bring myself to care about anyone or anything in this book. Allende is a beautiful writer I just think this is a boring story. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gaslighting, Genocide, Injury/Injury detail, Classism, Dementia, Emotional abuse, Gore, Kidnapping, Racism, Sexual violence, Violence, Antisemitism, Blood, Death, Domestic abuse, Abandonment, Alcohol, Medical content, Sexism, Torture, War, Child death, Chronic illness, Confinement, Colonisation, Death of parent, Acephobia/Arophobia, Body horror, Cancer, Deportation, Grief, Infidelity, Misogyny, Murder, Police brutality, Pregnancy, Gun violence, Religious bigotry, and Slavery

sarah984's review

challenging informative reflective slow-paced

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

3.0

The history that this book was based on was fascinating, but I think I would have preferred to read a straight-up history book to this work of historical fiction. The characters are all very vaguely drawn and have extremely predictable stories. The reader is always told how the characters feel instead of it being demonstrated in the text, and somehow despite all of the characters’ hardships everything seems to always work out neatly for them so the stakes felt weirdly low.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Blood, Body shaming, Child death, Confinement, Death, Death of parent, Excrement, Fatphobia, Grief, Gore, Infidelity, Kidnapping, Medical content, and Violence

Moderate: Ableism, Cancer, Dementia, Gun violence, Homophobia, Mental illness, Racial slurs, Police brutality, Rape, Racism, Religious bigotry, Sexual content, Torture, and Xenophobia