Reviews tagging 'Sexual violence'

The Woman in the Library by Sulari Gentill

26 reviews

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

regaliaofchaos's review

mysterious tense fast-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual violence, Death, and Stalking

Moderate: Sexual assault, Racism, Pandemic/Epidemic, Drug abuse, and Blood

reallycooper's review against another edition

reflective fast-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? It's complicated

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Violence, and Gun violence

Moderate: Sexual violence

abijoyceshaw's review

adventurous dark hopeful mysterious tense medium-paced

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

2.75

The premise of a mystery novel within a mystery novel is interesting on a surface level. I enjoyed watching the secondary narrative unravel. The novel seemed to be building toward two climatic reveals, but I found the culmination of both narratives dissatisfying. The characters were fairly interesting, but they weren’t given enough depth for me to get attached.  

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Sexual violence, Death, and Murder

ladylothlorien's review

dark mysterious tense medium-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

So good! I was intrigued to see where the epistolary element would really come into play. At first I was super into the “story within the story” plot line and then I absolutely had to know where the epistolary plot line was going! I had kind of guessed the end of both plot lines ahead of time but it didn’t dampen my enjoyment. I’m so happy to find this author has written a bunch of other books because now I am absolutely going to read her back catalog!

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Murder

Minor: Sexual violence and Racism

The racism and sexual violence are brief mentions and are not very detailed. The murder descriptions are mainly what you would expect from a murder mystery but on a few occasions there are brief somewhat graphic descriptions.

josefineisreading's review against another edition

mysterious fast-paced

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

4.5

I really really enjoyed this! I read it for my book club and it kept us hooked the whole way through mainly because we had no idea where the story was going and who was responsible for all this chaos. It was quite fast paced and easy to read with chapters being only a few pages. 

I think the ending was pretty packed together but it would’ve been nice if we had a few hints along the way. I’m not sure if this is done on purpose because this story is essentially a manuscript. Not sure about the very end of the book because I’m pretty sure this is stand alone but I guess we make our own assumptions. At first it was confusing with what was going on with the emails and the actual story but I think it was cool. Wish we could’ve gotten a bit more out of it. Overall, I really enjoyed it but that was because I could speculate with others. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Death of parent, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Racism, Violence, Medical content, and Stalking

Moderate: Drug use, Incest, Addiction, Pandemic/Epidemic, Rape, Sexual violence, Blood, Child abuse, Cursing, and Alcohol

sammykay25's review

dark mysterious

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

3.5

I feel pretty neutral towards this book. I liked the writing a lot and the way there were dueling plots. But some things irked me like Marigold and Whit. They were both obnoxious, a little ridiculous, and Marigold was downright creepy. I could tell I was supposed to like them and I simply couldn't stand either of them. I also was able to predict the ending pretty easily so it kinda fell flat for me. But I didn't quite understand the last sentence which was intriguing. Overall, mostly fun with some annoyances.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Violence

Minor: Sexual violence and Rape

amberinpieces's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Medical content, Death, Cursing, Murder, and Stalking

Minor: Body horror, Classism, Racism, Addiction, Alcohol, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Sexual content, Violence, Child abuse, Drug abuse, and Gun violence

rmgiannino's review against another edition

adventurous dark hopeful mysterious 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Injury/Injury detail, Death, Sexual violence, Child abuse, Child death, Murder, Rape, and Medical content

bumblero's review

adventurous hopeful mysterious medium-paced

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

4.25

I thought the meta-narrative was intriguing. It helped me appreciate some of the subtleties that I missed but also made me question the three layers of story going on at once. Definitely kept me on my toes!

Would recommend! Likeable cast of characters, a decent sense of place, and I enjoyed how self-aware the book was. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Rape, Injury/Injury detail, and Gun violence

Minor: Medical content, Police brutality, Blood, Violence, Sexual violence, and Gaslighting