Reviews tagging 'Kidnapping'

The Round House by Louise Erdrich

15 reviews

taylorlanxon's review

adventurous tense medium-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Domestic abuse, Kidnapping, Murder, Gun violence, and Hate crime

Moderate: Sexual assault

aandromeda's review against another edition

dark slow-paced

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

1.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape and Child death

Moderate: Kidnapping

lorenag5's review against another edition

challenging emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Domestic abuse, Murder, Child death, Physical abuse, Grief, Gun violence, Hate crime, Kidnapping, Mental illness, Racism, Rape, Violence, Injury/Injury detail, Child abuse, Alcohol, Car accident, Colonisation, Death, Dementia, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Religious bigotry, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Sexual content, Vomit, Adult/minor relationship, Eating disorder, Fire/Fire injury, Panic attacks/disorders, and Sexism

sam_fielder_137's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional reflective tense slow-paced

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

3.25

I was mostly just bored. Since the main character is telling the story as an adult lawyer who's married, when we got to the climax, I knew everything would be okay. The stakes were low. The crime happened, they knew who did it. It was about justice, but didn't dive a lot into that aspect. I think the word "breast" was in the book more times than "justice" which is saying something. It was disturbing to read about a 13 year old boy's infatuation for his aunt, and the payoff for that was much too low.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Murder, Violence, Sexual violence, Physical abuse, Alcohol, and Sexual assault

Moderate: Classism, Colonisation, Death, Religious bigotry, Hate crime, Grief, Cursing, and Racism

Minor: Eating disorder and Kidnapping

readswithcocktails's review against another edition

challenging dark funny sad medium-paced

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

4.0

Not my favorite Erdrich, but still really good. I liked the voice of Joe as the narrator, although sometimes it was hard seeing things as an adult that he just couldn't piece together as a 13 year old kid (although that's probably evidence that it's well written). As other reviewers have said, this is much more a coming of age story and a story about how violence committed against one family member can affect every member of the family, rather than a mystery.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Racism, Domestic abuse, Misogyny, Gun violence, Fire/Fire injury, Kidnapping, Sexual assault, Violence, Sexual violence, and Adult/minor relationship

cantfindmybookmark's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense slow-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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Murder, Kidnapping, Fire/Fire injury, Alcohol, Child death, Dementia, and Rape

voidflowers's review

dark emotional reflective sad medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Car accident, Alcohol, Colonisation, Sexual violence, Gun violence, Gore, Drug abuse, Sexual assault, Drug use, and Alcoholism

Moderate: Alcohol, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Alcoholism, Vomit, Toxic relationship, Physical abuse, Kidnapping, Addiction, and Adult/minor relationship

katsbooks's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional medium-paced

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

4.5

“Now that I knew fear, I also knew it was not permanent. As powerful as it was, its grip on me would loosen. It would pass.”

“We are never so poor that we cannot bless another human being, are we? So it is that every evil, whether moral or material, results in good. You'll see.”

This was a very intense read. Definitely check trigger warnings for this book. It started a little slow for me but really picked up as it went. Generally, I like to listen to general fiction because I find it doesn't hold my attention the way romance, fantasy or thrillers. That's how I started this novel but found it fairly easy to finish it physically. My main complaint is that I didn't like that there weren't any quotation marks. I get that it's a literature choice but I don't really get it. Other than that, there wasn't a whole lot that I didn't like about this book. My favorite aspect was probably the perspective. It was so effective to make the main character's perspective that of a 13-year-old boy. It took all of the serious, intense themes and filtered them through the semi-innocent eyes of a pubescent boy. It genuinely made so much of the story more impactful. I also really appreciated the commentary on how Native Americans straddle the line between tribal soveriegnty and American jurisdiction, especially when it comes to things like rape cases or crime perpretrated by white people on reservations. It was also really interesting to read a depiction of reservation life. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Car accident, Colonisation, Death, Domestic abuse, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Cursing, Grief, Gun violence, Rape, Mental illness, Addiction, Bullying, Drug use, Injury/Injury detail, Misogyny, Sexual violence, Violence, Kidnapping, Medical content, and Murder

suzanlemont's review

dark emotional informative sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

This was an incredibly well-written book with so many well-structured elements: suspense/mystery, family relationships, adolescence/coming of age, Native American culture. The ending would normally leave me upset but the author has the wise foresight to weave in some threads earlier on that let you know that the end of the book is not all there is, and this saved it from becoming one of those stories I hate that leave you dangling and dissatisfied. The casually descriptive language adds texture and wit to an-already compelling story and an air of authenticity that I could feel in my bones. This is neither a romanticized nor grungy/bigoted view of life on a Native American reservation - the characters are fresh and honest, the emotions are real without being overwhelming or just for shock effect. Very well done; i was riveted. There are even a few chuckles.  Now I wan to go back and read Erdrich's Love Medicine which I read a very long time ago because I think she's brilliant.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Cursing, Grief, Gun violence, Murder, Violence, Rape, and Sexual violence

Minor: Alcoholism, Car accident, Colonisation, Domestic abuse, Kidnapping, Medical content, Medical trauma, Sexual content, and Vomit

None of the triggers were very overwhelming/are all thoughtfully handled.

bedtimesandbooks's review against another edition

dark sad tense medium-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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Child death, Abandonment, Murder, Gun violence, Alcohol, Drug use, Alcoholism, Kidnapping, Sexual assault, Car accident, Racism, Blood, Domestic abuse, Grief, Physical abuse, Violence, and Vomit