Reviews tagging 'Physical abuse'

Paradais by Fernanda Melchor

17 reviews

sarajjunu's review against another edition

dark medium-paced

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

2.0

writing is good but it’s so boring!!! the plot is okay? i get the shock value aspects in the end but it’s just so annoying and since the protagonist had ZERO depth to him there was really nothing to focus on when reading? it was all “fatboy this fatboy that my annoying mom my stupid cousin” and then they do something horrible in the end and it’s like… okay? i feel like this entire book could’ve been 30 pages because i would’ve loved to read about the narrator AFTER the event because he finally seemed to be developing but nooo

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Fatphobia, Rape, Murder, Homophobia, and Violence

Moderate: Sexism, Body shaming, Pregnancy, Physical abuse, and Incest

katsteele5's review against another edition

dark medium-paced

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

3.0

Amazing prose, truly beautiful writing, and yet somehow seems to be unrelentingly dark for the sake of it. I can’t really wrap my head around this. 

I didn’t find Polo’s immediate willingness to go along with Franco’s scheme very convincing. I might have felt a lot differently about it had that not been the case.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gun violence, Incest, Physical abuse, Rape, and Sexual violence

veara_'s review against another edition

dark reflective tense fast-paced

• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual violence, Sexism, Police brutality, Cursing, Pedophilia, Rape, and Physical abuse

Moderate: Alcoholism, Kidnapping, Homophobia, and Fatphobia

cmcrockford's review against another edition

challenging dark sad tense fast-paced

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

4.0

Pretty great crime novella even if part of me thinks it should be a short story. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Toxic friendship, Fatphobia, Gun violence, Classism, Excrement, Sexual assault, Physical abuse, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Vomit, Murder, Sexual content, Pregnancy, Misogyny, Injury/Injury detail, Alcoholism, Body shaming, Cursing, Drug use, Incest, and Sexism

Moderate: Ableism

Trigger warning seems like a pretty useless phrase for this book.

mermaidstears's review against another edition

challenging dark tense 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? Yes

1.5

read the content warnings before you even consider picking up this book. Heavy topics don't really deter me but I wouldn't recommend this to anyone. I understand why some enjoy this but it's an absoulte no from me. stay safe out there x

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Classism, Cursing, Fatphobia, Incest, Kidnapping, Misogyny, Murder, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, and Stalking

Moderate: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Torture, Gore, Grief, Racism, and Violence

Minor: Dementia, Blood, Death, Drug use, Bullying, Excrement, Gun violence, and Injury/Injury detail

syd_the_bookish_kid's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Homophobia, Emotional abuse, Toxic relationship, Gun violence, Kidnapping, Hate crime, Stalking, Drug abuse, Murder, Racial slurs, Sexual assault, Alcohol, Misogyny, Alcoholism, Racism, Pregnancy, Blood, Ableism, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Body horror, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Gore, Cursing, Addiction, Bullying, Body shaming, Child abuse, Death, Drug use, Excrement, Fatphobia, Rape, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Sexism, Sexual content, Sexual harassment, Suicide, Torture, Violence, and Toxic friendship

rasy's review against another edition

dark tense fast-paced

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

2.0

Unfiltered, subversive, repulsive, lustful and shocking in delivery. Has the classic elements of Latin American literature.

Appreciate the story and understood the backbone. Definitely not my cup of tea.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Violence, Death, Sexual violence, Sexual harassment, Domestic abuse, Fatphobia, Gun violence, Blood, Cursing, and Kidnapping

suepergurl's review against another edition

challenging dark tense slow-paced

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

2.0

this is a slow, excruciating burner with an explosion at the end.
I gave it 2 stars only because I couldn't like the characters at all and they just live a very miserable life with no signs of hope. Also the ending is a bit traumatizing. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Alcoholism, Blood, Drug abuse, Hate crime, Incest, Murder, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexism, Sexual content, Stalking, Toxic friendship, and Violence

kaiulanilee's review against another edition

challenging dark tense medium-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcohol, Animal cruelty, Emotional abuse, Excrement, Violence, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Misogyny, Murder, Sexism, Sexual violence, Gun violence, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, Rape, Sexual assault, Stalking, Alcoholism, Fatphobia, Homophobia, Incest, Kidnapping, Sexual content, Sexual harassment, and Body shaming

Moderate: Colonisation, Drug use, Racism, Torture, Classism, Blood, and Child abuse

jlebon's review against another edition

challenging dark tense medium-paced

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

3.25

Whilst I did still overall enjoy this book, it is undoubtedly a frustrating read from cover-to-cover. Whether it is Melchor's sprawling sentences and aversion to punctuation, paragraphs or chapters, or the fact that nothing really happens for the first 95% of the book and the narrative climax is condensed into a few, brief, confusing final pages, there are a number of criticisms I have with this book.

This is particularly frustrating in that I think the concept of the text is fantastic, being extremely dark in nature, presenting incel culture through the lens of the two main characters Polo and Franco and the destructive effect this mindset has upon both themselves and the people around them. However, Melchor has to be given plaudits in her nuanced presentation of such issues, cultivating characters that are products of their environment and aspects of society. Nevertheless, I do think that this was elongated to an unnecessary extent with a great portion of the middle of the text going over well-trodden ground. However, I understand how this could also be symbolic of the trapped mindset the protagonist Polo finds himself in.

As a final point, given the huge build-up to the climax of the narrative, I found the ending unsatisfactory in its briefness and confusing nature.

Again, I understand that this is representative of Polo's loss of mind but for the build-up I wanted that bit more.

By no means a bad book but I definitely think it could have been improved in a multitude of aspects.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexism, Addiction, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Pregnancy, Rape, Body shaming, Death, Sexual violence, Toxic friendship, Cursing, Gun violence, Kidnapping, Physical abuse, Misogyny, Murder, Sexual assault, Sexual content, and Violence

Moderate: Blood, Mental illness, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

Minor: Emotional abuse