Reviews with content warning for Death - The Paper Palace

Mostly I’m just confused. Why the hell did I just read an entire book to basically have no closure for the main plot. There’s unnecessary trauma included in the book that totally could’ve been left out. Elle is the unluckiest character, and I know that bad things happen to lots of people… but her life was one bad thing after the other. She’s a bad person. The one good thing that’s ever happened in her life and she acts like she could easily give it up. The only thing saving this book from a one star is the last handful of chapters and even that is a stretch.

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sianh77's review

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emotional funny 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

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nabrackett's review

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emotional slow-paced

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

2.0

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abi_sarah's review

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dark emotional medium-paced

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

4.0

<spoilers in this review>

Overall I enjoyed this book for it’s immersive nature, the descriptions of the settings made it so easy to escape to the seaside with Elle and her family and follow her story intently.

However, it took me a while to read because I wasn’t gripped by it, I was intrigued but not gripped. The urge to pick up the book was only there to carry on reading - for the escapism, not because I absolutely had to know what happened next.

This book reminded me of the familial dramas of ‘Little Fires Everywhere’ by Celeste Ng. I am coming to realise that I really enjoy novels with imperfect families, reading about how they communicate during times of conflict and what circumstances can push familial ties to breaking point.

Miranda Cowley Heller writes excellently about the truly awful realities of rape. Including that the perpetrator is nearly always someone the victim knows, and what’s worse - someone the victim knows well. This circumstance makes the aftermath for the victim all the more difficult to deal with. Heller describes Elle’s trauma and the way she deals with it in the most matter of fact, yet sympathetic way. Some parts of this book were honestly extremely hard to read, it all just felt so real, so painful. As the reader, I developed so much sympathy for Elle.

When Elle finally tells her mother who the real perpetrator of her rape was, you can literally feel her release of breath through the pages. You feel her shoulders relax and her brow flatten.

I would have given this 5 stars, but there were parts where I just wasn’t fussed one way or the other if I picked it back up to read. So it’s a 4 star for me.

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