Reviews with content warning for War - The Winter Guest

Reviews tagging 'War'

The Winter Guest by Pam Jenoff

2 reviews

rchapy's review against another edition

emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

1.5

meh. the writing isn't bad, just a bit basic. the story is a bit contrived in my opinion. the author's biases show through in weird ways like the very unnecessary demonization of the Russians, who were actually the army that rescued Poland and defeated the Nazis not the Americans. but i guess that's not surprising as this author is a former Pentagon and state department employee. the ending felt too abrupt, with a ton of information then divulged in the epilogue. i get the intent but it didn't quite work for me. the characters made stupid decisions and acted irrationally, but given that they three main characters are all 18 it makes more sense.

but the thing where Ruth and Sam slept together and he apparently didn't notice she was not Helena, and she didn't say anything?? girl what are you doing. also Sam, what the hell are you doing?? yes they're twins but theres this whole big thing about how Ruth is the prettier one, with the fuller figure, and her hands are so much smoother than Helena's. and Sam just didn't notice that?? bro. wild. and then in the epilogue that whole issue is addressed in like 1 paragraph which was underwhelming to me. like that conflict was not settled in a very realistic way at all to me, which is why i rated the book 1.5 not 2.

Content Warnings

daralexandria's review

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dark emotional tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
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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