Reviews tagging 'Murder'

The Stationery Shop by Marjan Kamali

14 reviews

erinkellyreads's review

adventurous challenging emotional hopeful inspiring reflective sad fast-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? It's complicated

5.0

 Easily, this is in the running for best book of the year for me, if not best book of the last few years. The writing is stunning, the characters are complicated and nuanced, and the story is heartfelt and heartbreaking. If this isn't on your TBR, it should be. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Violence, Infertility, Mental illness, Child death, Classism, Colonisation, Xenophobia, and Grief

Moderate: Mass/school shootings, Islamophobia, Abortion, Murder, and Gun violence

Minor: Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Sexism, Panic attacks/disorders, Cancer, and Pregnancy

kailiyahknight's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Mental illness, Suicide attempt, Adult/minor relationship, Chronic illness, Emotional abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Pregnancy, Police brutality, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Death, Violence, Abortion, Gaslighting, Child death, Gun violence, Murder, Gore, Toxic relationship, Self harm, Blood, Child abuse, and Panic attacks/disorders

Moderate: Death of parent

Minor: Cancer, War, Miscarriage, Alcohol, Vomit, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

777elia's review against another edition

adventurous emotional hopeful reflective sad fast-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? No

4.5

The writing style of this book was absolutely beautiful. The author could repeat the same details over and still add nuance and renew the same feelings I felt when first reading the event. I thought when the plot was revealed in the first chapter that this book wouldn't surprise me much but my god it did. Some moments were gut-wrenchingly heartbreaking and others filled with so much love. I couldn't put this book down it kept drawing me in. I recommend this book for anyone looking for a powerful love story that withstands the test of time.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, Child death, Death, Fire/Fire injury, and War

Moderate: Abortion, Sexual content, Blood, Chronic illness, Misogyny, Miscarriage, Murder, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual harassment, Suicide attempt, and Violence

decie's review against another edition

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Child death, Murder, Grief, and Gun violence

Moderate: Fire/Fire injury and Sexism

blakeandbooks's review

emotional 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? No

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, War, and Child death

Moderate: Sexism, Terminal illness, Murder, Miscarriage, Abortion, Racism, and Mass/school shootings

tiakiwi's review against another edition

medium-paced

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

3.0

This is a nice easy read about first loves and always holding that in your heart. The way the memories stay with you always. 

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Content Warnings

Minor: War, Miscarriage, Violence, and Murder

zosiablue's review against another edition

emotional inspiring 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? No

4.0

I've inadvertently read a romance and I'm not mad about it. This was about those young loves you never recover from, in the backdrop of 1950s Iran's political unrest. It was aching and sweet and sad. I've been lucky to be in love several times, some I keep waiting to recover from, and maybe the not recovering is the point. It sure was in this. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: War and Mental illness

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Child death, Murder, Death, Police brutality, Violence, and Classism

Minor: Abortion

mels_reading_log's review against another edition

emotional hopeful inspiring reflective sad medium-paced

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

5.0

This book is beautiful from the cover, to the love stories within. Not only did I fall in love with the characters and have my heart broken with them as well, I found out about some Persian dishes I need to try, because the food in this book leaps off the pages. Such a great love story.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Death, Mental illness, Suicidal thoughts, Infertility, Miscarriage, Self harm, and Suicide attempt

Moderate: Gun violence, Blood, and Fire/Fire injury

Minor: Abortion and War

This book takes place in 1950’s Iran through 2013 in America so it does cover a lot of touchy subjects.

spellygirl's review against another edition

reflective sad slow-paced

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

2.75

It's a pretty good book, just a bit slow for my taste, and a lot of back and forth between times/people. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Emotional abuse, Grief, Gun violence, Death, Genocide, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Murder, and War

Moderate: Abortion, Blood, and Suicide attempt

Minor: Cancer and Terminal illness

megelizabeth's review against another edition

2.0

This book pains me a little to review, because it has so many elements that I loved, but ultimately its flaws are too significant to merit a higher rating. The writing is brilliant, the sense of place and time is incredible, and there are so many great discussions about cultural differences, the reality of immigrant life, and the roles and expectations of women in Iran and the US. It presents a much more nuanced look at 1950s life than the stereotyped version you often see, and I just adored the sprawling, layered narrative and everything it has to say about love, loss, politics, and familial and societal expectations.

However, there are two things about this book that I just cannot forgive. The first is that it celebrates a character who grooms a child, and the second is that its representation of a mentally ill character feels lazy and one-dimensional and made me very uncomfortable. I'm not saying that mentally ill people can never be bad people, but to present the only mentally ill character as such and to leave very little space for any slight expectation of why they act the way they do is just irresponsible in my opinion. This book could've been incredible if these two elements had been dealt with differently, but instead I was just left feeling thoroughly frustrated and disappointed.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Police brutality, Abortion, Suicide attempt, Blood, Injury/Injury detail, Child death, Misogyny, Sexual violence, Murder, Death, Miscarriage, and Child abuse

Moderate: Sexual harassment