Reviews with content warning for Violence - The Woman in the Library

Reviews tagging 'Violence'

The Woman in the Library by Sulari Gentill

76 reviews

oceanelle's review against another edition

dark 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? It's complicated

2.75

There were parts of the book I thought were cleverly done, especially when it came to tone, but so many character details felt disjointed or forced or just out of place, like there wasn't a good enough reason for them to make certain decisions.

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arfog's review against another edition

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adventurous dark mysterious

4.0

Very interesting story within a story premise! Was a bit confused at first by the emailed chapter comments, but came to enjoy it. Really enjoyed the story. Generally happy ending for the main character. Note: the explanation of Kane's history contains a brief but graphic depiction of SA and violence. Was about 45 seconds in the audiobook, end of chapter 18.

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bessadams's review against another edition

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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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heidipretzel's review against another edition

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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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hypofocus's review

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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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librarymouse's review

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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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gothlawyer's review

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adventurous challenging dark funny mysterious tense fast-paced

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

4.0

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tabookish's review against another edition

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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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arkwen452's review against another edition

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challenging emotional mysterious tense slow-paced

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

3.5

The lady in the library was an interesting read. I gave it the rating that I did, because in my opinion, it is a slow paced book. There is a position between a story within a story with a story. The writer writes the book the lady in the library, and it's about a scholarship student in Boston from Australia, writing a novel but lacking inspiration. However, screen runs out in the library causes a friendship to form between four occupants, including our self. That begins the story or the first story the story. We follow Freddy as she grows closer to the other three individuals and romantically becomes involved with Kane. Kane has various secrets in his past , that as a story progresses, paints him as the obvious suspect. The only reason that Kane is not immediately pulled by the police is Fred's belief in his innocence and canes determined conviction to find out who's behind the set up and not be convicted again. Only the outer skirts of this in or in our story there is this "" beta, reader, or editor, that is reading the story for the , inner story author Hannah. It isn't until about 50% into the book that readers discover that there are two stories being told consecutively. The beta reader, or I saw him as an editor. Leo is not who he is pretending to be. So, as the reader is following one mystery, another mystery unravel in the form of Leo's identity, and , his actions as they point to more vivid and gruesome details. I think this book was OK overall. It struggled to come together for me in the beginning, and some of the humor felt stale, but I did enjoy following Freddy and Kane on their seemingly hopeless effort to clear his name. I was trying to hold out hope that there wouldn't be a cliché that he was lying to her the whole time, and luckily things turn out different than , one might expect. There were a lot of things or elements in the story that I found predictable and made notes as I was reading of these things, and they turned out to be true. I think I would recommend this book to other mystery readers if they two were. Just so they could see the parallels of the stories being interconnected like a spiderweb, because the small details in the story that involves Freddy they linked with the bigger details of Hannah, the inner writer, and the " beta reader", Leo.

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kylieqrada's review against another edition

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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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