Reviews tagging 'Sexual assault'

The Trial of Lotta Rae by Siobhan MacGowan

5 reviews

mementowori's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring reflective sad 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? It's complicated

4.25

This broke me. I listened as an audiobook in work, and my colleague had to check in on me several times to make sure I was okay because I was chronically sad! Sadness, anger and frustration were circulating in me throughout. Amanda Dahl as narrator added something for me that I don't think I would have felt in physical format. Her voice coupled with the narrative was poetic and beautiful, so so hopeful, and yet...

I won't spoil the book but just know that while a tale of the past, you definitely can see the similarities to the struggles faced by women still. I was frustrated at the author for piling in so much grief, but at the same time, that's all part of the story. That's what happened, and acknowledge that is my problem, not the author's. It was beautiful.

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adelheid's review

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dark emotional sad tense 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? Yes

5.0


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lozababe's review

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challenging dark emotional sad tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

What a book! To say that I enjoyed it wouldn’t quite feel right given the subjects in this book. It was an extremely powerful read and tackled a lot of sad subjects. 
The book is written in both first person narrative from the view of Charlotte or Lotta Rae, and the third person for William Linden. It is set in the early 1900s and seems to be pretty well written and researched for that time. Their lives intertwine after William becomes Lotta’s lawyer when she takes a gentleman to court after she is sexually assaulted. With the era that it is set in, it’s not hard to guess the outcome of the case, but from then on it seems that the lives and fates of Lotta and William are tangled together forever. 
Lotta’s life seems to be filled with more and more tragedies while William seems to have a lot of luck in his life and career and although he thinks of Lotta, she doesn’t have much of an impact on his life… until she meets his son, Raff. While William doesn’t approve, Raff and Lotta become closer and closer making William uneasy about Lotta being back in his life. 
It was interesting to read this book and I sometimes forgot when it was set. But it was interesting to learn about the suffragette movement as if I was taking part in it, the horrors of World War I and even touching upon the Spanish Flu pandemic. This was a really good historical book, and it showed just how much a woman was made to endure throughout her life. Thank you to Siobhan MacGowan and Pigeonhole for allowing me to read this wonderfully written but extremely sad book.  

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anapthine's review against another edition

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dark emotional 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

4.25


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bookswithruby's review against another edition

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dark emotional sad tense 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? Yes

4.5


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