Reviews tagging 'Child abuse'

The Woman in the Library by Sulari Gentill

47 reviews

palejandro's review against another edition

adventurous dark hopeful mysterious tense fast-paced

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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Death, Mental illness, Domestic abuse, and Sexual assault

Moderate: Racism

bessadams's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense fast-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Murder, and Violence

Moderate: Stalking, Child abuse, and Gun violence

Minor: Sexual assault and Racism

heidipretzel's review against another edition

mysterious fast-paced

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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder and Death

Moderate: Pandemic/Epidemic, Stalking, Injury/Injury detail, Violence, Child abuse, Cursing, and Medical content

Minor: Blood and Gun violence

hypofocus's review

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.5

This book was cleverly written! A story within a story is hard to pull off but it works well here! I found myself changing my predictions up until the reveal and was still surprised when it went down! I love the themes of writing and reading, this book was written for book lovers for sure! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Injury/Injury detail, Racism, and Death

Moderate: Child abuse, Medical trauma, Stalking, and Murder

Minor: Cursing

librarymouse's review

funny mysterious fast-paced

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

4.5

A book within a book within a book made for a wild and very engaging read. I finished it in a day.

the novel ending with Leo, whose storyline seemed to be constantly unfinished, waiting for Winifred and Marigold made the whole thing more meta. For Freddie to be seemingly stalked by the Leo that Leo the murderer praises Hannah the author for creating was such an interesting way to fold the layered universes in on themselves! Leo the murderer stalking the author who then wrote a Leo the character stalking Winifred the author character who was friends with Marigold, the stalker of Whit, who had done an unsettlingly large volume of research on Cain to try to exploit his mom's shoddy lawyering into a pullitzer makes for a very interesting web of morally gray people. I did want Leo the character's story to be tied up more. He's still characterized as helpful, which I think ads an interesting tilt to the story being told about Leo the murderer and Hannah the author and the impact of what he gave her on her writing. But I want to know more about the reasoning behind the cupcakes and the groceries. Is it flirting, stalking, or friendship? I wasn't expecting for Leo the murderer to be a racist, but using that racism and vitriol to show his descent into delusion was interesting, especially in how that morphed from what could be perceived as advice on US perceptions of race and how it impacts jnteracrjoms with the police.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Sexual content, Injury/Injury detail, Toxic friendship, Mental illness, Murder, Racism, Blood, Grief, Gore, Gun violence, Medical content, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Death

Moderate: Police brutality, Pedophilia, Addiction, Violence, and Child abuse

tabookish's review against another edition

mysterious fast-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Gun violence, Pedophilia, Pandemic/Epidemic, Injury/Injury detail, Violence, Stalking, Death of parent, Sexual violence, Mental illness, Child abuse, Death, Racism, and Sexual content

kylieqrada's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.5

Book within a book? Check.
Metatextual elements? Check.
Surprisingly satisfying romance? Check.
Twist ending? Checkkkkk.
I loved this!!!!!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Murder, and Death

Moderate: Stalking, Child abuse, and Gun violence

Minor: Racism and Sexual assault

wrenl's review

dark mysterious medium-paced

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

2.25

A very trippy book. It’s almost a story within a story. 

The actual mystery about the women in the library doesn’t feel like a mystery. It’s more a mystery about Cain than anything else. And I just wasn’t a big fan of that story. In a way, the letters distracted from the Cain story. There wasn’t a good balance between the letters and the library mystery. 

I finished feeling a bit dissatisfied with the mystery and plot elements. I wanted more from the letters. There were tantalizing details about the Leo from the letters. Who is this person? How did they get Hannah’s information? All very curious.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Stalking, Gun violence, and Murder

vj_thompson's review

challenging dark mysterious tense slow-paced

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

3.0

The ending had me questioning what I just read. Overall, the plot kinda of dragged once I reached the halfway point. There were so many plot twists happening that it was hard to keep up. I loved the duel story element. The emails were a nice touch.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Death, Injury/Injury detail, and Murder

Moderate: Death of parent, Medical content, Gun violence, Stalking, Child abuse, and Blood

Minor: Alcoholism, Sexual content, Drug abuse, Racism, and Sexual assault

bluecardinal's review

dark mysterious medium-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Child death, Homophobia, Kidnapping, Misogyny, Death, Child abuse, Death of parent, Infidelity, Rape, Domestic abuse, Murder, Pedophilia, Classism, Gun violence, and Racism