Reviews with content warning for Pedophilia - Five Tuesdays in Winter

while I am generally a huge Lily King fan, I was disappointed with this short story collection. she is undoubtedly a talented writer, but aside from two standout stories (the titular “five tuesdays in winter” and “when in the dordogne”), the stories did not make an impact on me. I was especially off put by the inclusion of two stories in which the protagonist nurses a crush on another character, only for that crush to later sexually assault them. while the two stories were slightly thematically different, one dealing with a developing teenager and the other themes of queerness and homophobia, that same motif of sexual violence was disturbing to me.

the latter handful of the stories in the collection were quite short, around 10-15 pages each, and left me wanting more. I have the feeling that “Mansard” could’ve been great given a bit more plot to it. But overall, I found many of the stories to be quite forgettable.

However, “five tuesdays in winter” was a lovely tale of found family, as was “when in the Dordogne.” I cried at both, filled with emotion at how King can so carefully craft emotions and settings. I found myself picturing the summer depicted “when in the Dordogne” as my own summer as an adolescent, marveling at the cool older kids who looked after my friends and I. she was able to capture the feeling of summer as a young person so well, and crafted a truly beautiful story about the people who enter our lives for a short period of time but have long lasting effects on who we are.

While I’m overall a bit disappointed by this collection, it was worth a read for those two stories alone.

Content Warnings

shahdhazem's review

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medium-paced

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

2.0

This is a very tricky book to rate since there are alot of stories and you might like some and hate some but I decided on a 2 star since the stories I didn't like were alot more than those I liked. Almost all the stories were an open end and this annoyed me so much especially since some of them had to have a conclusion not to be left like this. Also what I was looking for when I got into for the stories to make me feel something whether it's fluffiness. Sadness anything but what I only felt was disgust really the topics were so bad. So I guess this wasn't for maybe some people like this way of writing and all but I couldn't digest it at all.

Content Warnings

sdwerner's review

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emotional reflective medium-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? Yes

3.75

Content Warnings

ellalucys's review against another edition

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emotional reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
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

4.5

Content Warnings

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