Reviews tagging 'Classism'

The Hacienda by Isabel Cañas

94 reviews

plantgal_jill's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood

Moderate: Rape, Classism, Fire/Fire injury, and Religious bigotry

blissofalife's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious 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? It's complicated

4.5

The inspirations for this book

Rebecca, Shirley Jackson novels

are obvious throughout but told through a fresh lens and seamlessly combined. The build-up was superb, the climax felt a little too fast. Would still recommend it!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Gore, Body horror, Death, and Murder

Moderate: Classism, Alcohol, and Alcoholism

Minor: Abortion, Racism, Forced institutionalization, Infidelity, Mental illness, Vomit, Pregnancy, Rape, Religious bigotry, Sexual content, War, Confinement, Gaslighting, Miscarriage, Racial slurs, Animal death, and Colonisation

zeeck07's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Xenophobia, Classism, and Racism

rachelunabridged's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense 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? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Alcohol, Blood, Gaslighting, Classism, Colonisation, Death, Fire/Fire injury, and Racism

Moderate: Religious bigotry, Death of parent, and Infidelity

Minor: Abortion, Rape, and Sexual content

ishouldreadthat's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense fast-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? No

4.5

A fantastic Gothic horror story set just after the Mexican War for Independence. Incredible characters, proper spooky plot, and a satisfying ending. Would highly recommend.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Classism, Blood, and Murder

Moderate: Gaslighting

Minor: War and Sexual violence

tigger89's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.0

I found this book to be the perfect type of spooky, the kind that gives you chills while you're reading but that doesn't linger once you've put the book down. I particularly loved the way the classic "catholic exorcism" trope was twisted by having the exorcist be not just a catholic priest, but also a witch. The atmosphere was also gorgeous, both outside and inside the hacienda. I felt that sunlight, and those chills!

Something I didn't like was that the female characters weren't as strong as I'd expected. They were all either very passive or they were under heavy aid from(or motivated by) male characters, particularly Padre Andres. It's not that I feel he was a bad character, but for a novel which contained themes centering around patriarchal control and violence, it was disappointing to see the female characters essentially led around by a male lead, even one who was respectful and good. This is especially jarring in comparison to Mexican Gothic, which I felt handled the partnership of the female lead with a male companion much better.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Blood, Fire/Fire injury, and Gaslighting

Moderate: Colonisation, Abortion, Murder, Classism, and Racism

Minor: Alcoholism, War, Sexual violence, Rape, Confinement, and Death of parent

tuesdaye's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood and Classism

Moderate: Body horror and Religious bigotry

Minor: Classism, Domestic abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Misogyny, Physical abuse, and Rape

xangemthelibrarian's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious reflective tense fast-paced

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

5.0

This debut book is absolutely incredible! I found the story to be believable and it was so easy to listen to as an audiobook. I adore Beatriz, Andrés, and Paloma. All three of them deserve the world.

There's so much that I want to say about the haunted hacienda. About Rudolfo and Juana and Ana Luisa and the first Doña. The complicated relationships and the tragedies that happened in that house. And how the caste system played into so much of what happened in the book! I want to talk about it and how incredible reading this book was but I don't want to give away any potential spoilers!! 

Just. Read it. It's amazing. And if Cañas writes anything else, I'm reading that too.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Colonisation, Death, War, and Classism

Moderate: Fire/Fire injury and Blood

Minor: Alcohol, Animal death, and Confinement

aformeracceleratedreader's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Loveable characters? It's complicated

3.5

Really great for the haunted house/afraid of what lurks in the dark vibes. The overall story for me was quite slow to get through until towards the end. 
It is multiple POV. 
The reason the house is haunted was interesting, but it felt pretty slow to get to that point. I loved all the creepiness of it though. It was nice reading a gothic horror that wasn't set against an all white cast. The author also touches on class/classism and colorism/racism a little bit.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Abandonment, Abortion, Blood, Classism, Death, Death of parent, Religious bigotry, Sexual assault, Colonisation, Gaslighting, Toxic relationship, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Racism, Xenophobia, Injury/Injury detail, Animal death, Fire/Fire injury, and Rape

wlreed312's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense 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? Yes

4.0

 Well this was fabulous. I can definitely see why it gets compared to Rebecca, it's incredibly atmospheric and genuinely creepy. The writing is fantastic, and the descriptions (especially Andres' at the beginning) are so vivid they all but leap off the page. The tension builds nicely, and there are some very unsettling things happening. I also really appreciated the look into the class differences of the various characters, it was a great look into a period of history I don't know much about. I would have liked a bit more about Andres powers, and I would have liked a page or two for an epilogue. Really great debut, can't wait to read any future works. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Classism

Moderate: Death of parent and War