Reviews with content warning for Pedophilia - Eine Frage der Chemie

Reviews tagging 'Pedophilia'

Eine Frage der Chemie by Bonnie Garmus

136 reviews

takarakei's review against another edition

Go to review page

emotional funny inspiring medium-paced

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

5.0

"Sometimes I think ... that if a man were to spend a day being a woman in America, he wouldn't make it past noon."

This book lives up to the hype fairly well. Can I say I 'enjoyed' the experience of reading it the whole time? probably not because it's extremely rage inducing. But the ending is satisfying, so all is well.

Elizbeth Mott is hilarious (unintentionally)
Honestly so is Mad
THERE'S A DOG POV
Fuck the Patriarchy!

Content Warnings

kaycerface's review against another edition

Go to review page

emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad medium-paced

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

4.5

Content Warnings

bookedforlife's review against another edition

Go to review page

emotional funny hopeful inspiring reflective sad medium-paced

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

3.5

Content Warnings

shannan1773's review against another edition

Go to review page

challenging emotional informative 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? Yes

4.0

Content Warnings

kot_zbigniew's review against another edition

Go to review page

emotional inspiring medium-paced

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

5.0

Content Warnings

bealmg's review against another edition

Go to review page

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

2.5

I didn't hate it, but it's just not a very good book. I was really hoping I would love this because I'd seen so many glowing reviews and because of the blurb. Which, by the way, is very misleading.
I liked the first half much better than the second and I devoured the first 200 pages (despite there being

a very graphic and violent rape scene dropped like a bomb right at the beginning, and there being no further exploration of its consequences except that it helps Elizabeth and Miss Frask bond or something

).
The writing was okay, there were some lovely sentences and some funny moments, but overall I felt like the writer wasn't brave enought to delve deeper into the themes the novel explored. Speaking of themes, there was just way too many - feminism, sexism, religion vs science, grief, motherhood, family ties... Feminism and sexism were really heavy-handed, with the same problem I felt with Babel: not enough subtlety to make me truly think, because the author over-explained everything.
The characters were, for the most part, quite flat, despite each having at least one dedicated POV. I liked Elizabeth and her little nucleus, but was disappointed at her lack of growth in the novel - she already knew everything and never made any mistakes? While a lot of her obstacles were perfectly believable, I would have loved to see her doubting herself, making mistakes, learning and un-learning...
The structure of the novel reminded me a lot of a TV episode, with plenty of POVs quickly shifting back and forth (this is particularly grating in the second half, when it keeps happening over and over again). I felt that this didn't work for me because I didn't get to spend enough time in the characters' minds, since these POVs were mostly used to move the story further and to give new information rather than make us readers spend time understanding the characters.
Finally, the setting. Except for one or two pop culture references (Jack LaLanne is one of them) and a lot of chapters beginning with "In the 1950s/60s...", I could barely tell that the novel was set during those decades.
Overall, this was a quick read, I did laugh at some moments, but I wished it had been better.

Content Warnings