Reviews tagging 'Violence'

The Woman in the Library by Sulari Gentill

80 reviews

librarymouse's review against another edition

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

4.0

A book within a book within a book made for a wild and very engaging read. I finished it in a day.
the novel ending with Leo, whose storyline seemed to be constantly unfinished, waiting for Winifred and Marigold made the whole thing more meta. For Freddie to be seemingly stalked by the Leo that Leo the murderer praises Hannah the author for creating was such an interesting way to fold the layered universes in on themselves! Leo the murderer stalking the author who then wrote a Leo the character stalking Winifred the author character who was friends with Marigold, the stalker of Whit, who had done an unsettlingly large volume of research on Cain to try to exploit his mom's shoddy lawyering into a pullitzer makes for a very interesting web of morally gray people. I did want Leo the character's story to be tied up more. He's still characterized as helpful, which I think ads an interesting tilt to the story being told about Leo the murderer and Hannah the author and the impact of what he gave her on her writing. But I want to know more about the reasoning behind the cupcakes and the groceries. Is it flirting, stalking, or friendship? I wasn't expecting for Leo the murderer to be a racist, but using that racism and vitriol to show his descent into delusion was interesting, especially in how that morphed from what could be perceived as advice on US perceptions of race and how it impacts jnteracrjoms with the police.
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gothlawyer's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark funny mysterious tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

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tabookish's review against another edition

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mysterious 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

3.0

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arkwen452's review

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challenging emotional mysterious tense slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? N/A
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

The lady in the library was an interesting read. I gave it the rating that I did, because in my opinion, it is a slow paced book. There is a position between a story within a story with a story. The writer writes the book the lady in the library, and it's about a scholarship student in Boston from Australia, writing a novel but lacking inspiration. However, screen runs out in the library causes a friendship to form between four occupants, including our self. That begins the story or the first story the story. We follow Freddy as she grows closer to the other three individuals and romantically becomes involved with Kane. Kane has various secrets in his past , that as a story progresses, paints him as the obvious suspect. The only reason that Kane is not immediately pulled by the police is Fred's belief in his innocence and canes determined conviction to find out who's behind the set up and not be convicted again. Only the outer skirts of this in or in our story there is this "" beta, reader, or editor, that is reading the story for the , inner story author Hannah. It isn't until about 50% into the book that readers discover that there are two stories being told consecutively. The beta reader, or I saw him as an editor. Leo is not who he is pretending to be. So, as the reader is following one mystery, another mystery unravel in the form of Leo's identity, and , his actions as they point to more vivid and gruesome details. I think this book was OK overall. It struggled to come together for me in the beginning, and some of the humor felt stale, but I did enjoy following Freddy and Kane on their seemingly hopeless effort to clear his name. I was trying to hold out hope that there wouldn't be a cliché that he was lying to her the whole time, and luckily things turn out different than , one might expect. There were a lot of things or elements in the story that I found predictable and made notes as I was reading of these things, and they turned out to be true. I think I would recommend this book to other mystery readers if they two were. Just so they could see the parallels of the stories being interconnected like a spiderweb, because the small details in the story that involves Freddy they linked with the bigger details of Hannah, the inner writer, and the " beta reader", Leo.
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kylieqrada's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

Book within a book? Check.
Metatextual elements? Check.
Surprisingly satisfying romance? Check.
Twist ending? Checkkkkk.
I loved this!!!!!
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mountainstobeach's review against another edition

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dark hopeful mysterious fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? No

4.25

The book moves along quickly although there are multiple aspects that require one to suspend belief. Overall it is entertaining and worth the time to read!
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vj_thompson's review against another edition

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challenging dark mysterious tense slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? N/A
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.0

The ending had me questioning what I just read. Overall, the plot kinda of dragged once I reached the halfway point. There were so many plot twists happening that it was hard to keep up. I loved the duel story element. The emails were a nice touch.
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alicelalicon's review

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mysterious tense slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

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reallycooper's review against another edition

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

3.0

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snhmyers's review against another edition

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

4.5

This book drew me in just by the first sentence of the summary. It felt fast paced at the beginning, somewhat slower in the middle, and it picked up again near the end. I LOVED the creative point of views that the author used! Wonderful book!
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