Reviews tagging 'Sexual assault'

When We Were Orphans by Kazuo Ishiguro

5 reviews

shelbyrodger's review against another edition

emotional mysterious reflective sad medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: War, Grief, Death of parent, Kidnapping, and Violence

Minor: Sexual assault, Trafficking, and Sexual violence

hannah_cogo's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious reflective sad tense slow-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

3.75

this book was insane. an intense journey. incredibly well written and detailed, very well structured and consistent. but the ending left me so sad and empty.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Physical abuse, Abandonment, Child death, Death, Murder, Sexual assault, Slavery, Animal death, Vomit, Medical content, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Violence, Misogyny, Child abuse, Colonisation, Animal cruelty, Death of parent, Drug use, Genocide, Excrement, Gore, Kidnapping, War, Body horror, Fire/Fire injury, Grief, Medical trauma, Rape, Mental illness, Blood, and Sexism

very intense and has a lot of graphic/triggering themes so read with caution!!

elydy's review against another edition

adventurous dark medium-paced

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

4.0

Find myself falling more in love with Ishiguro's narrative style as I read more of his books. Wasn't as keen on the "big reveal" as his usual slow reveal, but this still gripped me a lot, and was an interesting period to read about.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Sexual assault

mangopassion555's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious reflective fast-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: War, Violence, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Infidelity, Drug abuse, Xenophobia, and Mental illness

Minor: Sexual assault, Domestic abuse, and Abandonment

readwithbells's review against another edition

dark mysterious reflective slow-paced

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

3.5

When We Were Orphans was a really beautiful piece of writing that was done in such an intimate manner I almost felt inappropriate reading it at some points. The end result of the story is rather dark (although I suppose I shouldn’t have expected any less) but the true marvel of it is how Kazuo Ishiguro presents the mind and memories as being ever-increasingly fallible. It’s a book that could have been really pretentious but was just honest and true. The reason this gets 3.5 stars is simply that I found myself not super invested in the atmospheric nature of the story - it was less plot focused and I don’t usually gravitate towards books like that even though I can definitely say it was well written. It prompted a lot of reflection for me and I think that’s a beautiful thing.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: War, Gun violence, and Xenophobia

Moderate: Sexual assault