Reviews tagging 'Racial slurs'

La chica salvaje by Delia Owens

623 reviews

jodar's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-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? Yes

3.5

The novel was an enjoyable and easy read. The MC, Kya, is engaging, albeit a bit unbelievable in terms of practical plausibility and psychology. The ending had a melodramatic twist to resolve the mystery – for a while before that I had up to four characters I had suspicions about. At least I was right about one of them!

The novel focuses quite a bit on the beauty of the natural world, which weaves in well with the plot line. I thought the pacing of the plot was good, though more use of foreshadowing would have worked more powerfully. Also, the musings by the MC on evolutionary biology and human behaviour struck me as quite reductionist, and seemed to be a way of explaining away the characters’ actions without psychological depth or ambiguity. The interweaved poetry occasionally worked well, but more often felt a bit jarring.

Overall, if you don’t expect too much, it is a great “airport read”.

CW: Extramarital sex.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Domestic abuse, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Grief, and Abandonment

Moderate: Confinement, Infidelity, Mental illness, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Infertility, Racial slurs, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Terminal illness, and Death of parent

insideunder's review against another edition

emotional inspiring reflective sad slow-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Abandonment, Alcohol, and Classism

Moderate: Bullying, Misogyny, Racial slurs, Self harm, Sexism, Blood, Stalking, and Murder

Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Infertility, Death of parent, and War

kailiyahknight's review against another edition

emotional mysterious sad slow-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Bullying, Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Violence, Grief, Murder, Abandonment, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, and Blood

Minor: Cancer, Cursing, Infidelity, Suicidal thoughts, Xenophobia, Car accident, Death of parent, and War

leah_harper's review against another edition

dark emotional informative mysterious reflective sad slow-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse and Abandonment

Moderate: Racial slurs and Sexual assault

zoecaitart's review against another edition

dark emotional inspiring mysterious sad slow-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Bullying, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, and Abandonment

rain02's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious reflective medium-paced

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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Sexual content, Sexual violence, and Abandonment

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, and Death

yerfillag's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional hopeful mysterious reflective sad tense slow-paced

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

5.0

The protagonist and setting draws you in from the very beginning and with short chapters it feels like a quick read. Although the story jumps back and forth between two different time periods it never felt confusing and got more and more suspensful when they started to connect. I had read somewhere that the author is a zoologist which is very apparent as a lot of the book focuses on describing the wildlife and fauna but it wasn't distracting but instead invited you into the point of view of the main character. While the overall pace felt rather slow it definitely picked up towards the end and while I was worried of being left with many questions, the last handful of pages answered a lot of them and left me just sitting in silence for a moment once I had finished the book.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Child abuse, Confinement, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, Toxic relationship, Violence, Murder, and Sexual harassment

ed_moore's review against another edition

adventurous mysterious reflective medium-paced

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

2.75

“A real man is one who cries without shame, reads poetry with his heart, feels opera in his soul, and does what’s necessary to defend a woman” 

Owens’ ‘Where the Crawdads Sing’ wasn’t what I thought it was be nor what it was made out to be at all. It has focus on two timelines, Kya as she grows up abandoned on the North Carolina marshes, and this timeline slowly catches up to 1970 and the suspected murder of Chase Andrews out on the marsh. It begins as a story of abandonment and a young girl adapting to survive, arguably with far too much ease; Owens does not include many problems within her plot related to the abandonment that Kya genuinely struggles to overcome nor does it particularly deeply look into the complex emotions that must come with such a character. The mystery is introduced quickly but takes a back seat for the large majority of the novel, not much is added to it in terms of clues or red herrings and it is generally quite poorly written and predictable. I was disappointed by the mystery aspect, especially as the book evolved and begun to focus more on this new identity of becoming a romance. 

 

I am often an advocate of separating art from the artist but for a book written in 2018 to frequently use the ’N’ word to no real plot effect or meaningful, especially given the controversial status of Owens as a person, I feel I have to address this as a huge negative. Yes ‘Where the Crawdads Sing’ is a historical fiction and trying to reflect American race prejudices of the time in its setting, however this is extremely poorly done and the use of certain phrases was unacceptable for the 21st century in the manner that Owens remorselessly used them. 

 

I enjoyed Owens’ descriptions of setting and intimate relationship with the wildlife of the marshes. It was a completely absorbing atmosphere with a focus on love of nature, however that is about all that wasn’t disappointing or problematic with ‘Where the Crawdads Sing’. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racial slurs and Abandonment

rowan27's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional inspiring mysterious reflective sad slow-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, and Abandonment

Moderate: Bullying, Racial slurs, Racism, and Rape

Minor: Self harm and Sexism

ameliabellward's review against another edition

adventurous emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racial slurs, Racism, Sexual assault, and Violence