Reviews tagging 'Domestic abuse'

The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafón

90 reviews

dreamerfreak's review against another edition

emotional mysterious sad slow-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Torture, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Incest, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Pregnancy, War, Death, Excrement, Gun violence, Classism, Confinement, Fire/Fire injury, Sexual assault, Alcohol, Grief, Blood, Domestic abuse, Police brutality, and Homophobia

leahrenz's review against another edition

adventurous mysterious fast-paced

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

3.5

This isn't my sort of book - historical fiction, mystery, metafiction, fatefully doomed romances - but it came as a recommendation so I thought I'd give it a go.

The writing style walks a dangerous line between vivid and beautiful description and pretentious sentimentality. I have a real aversion to flowery writing, but I let myself be convinced by Zafon's verbosity, which only occasionally grated me.

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Content Warnings

Minor: Fire/Fire injury, Domestic abuse, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Forced institutionalization, and Grief

vb_marie's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny hopeful mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.5

Superbement bien écrit. Les premiers chapitres sont tellement beaux que je les ai lus par petits bouts, pour les savourer pleinement.

Les éléments gothiques sont parfois trop présents à mon goût. De plus, certaines scènes m'ont fait tellement peur que j'en ai fait des cauchemars (d'où les 4,5 étoiles et non 5).

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Physical abuse, Blood, Gun violence, Death, Domestic abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Child death, Confinement, Excrement, Fire/Fire injury, Forced institutionalization, Gore, Murder, Incest, Infidelity, Police brutality, Pregnancy, Religious bigotry, Sexual content, Violence, and Homophobia

Moderate: Cursing, Alcohol, Grief, Medical content, Bullying, Child abuse, Stalking, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Sexual harassment, Terminal illness, and War

marta_gramaca's review against another edition

funny mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Domestic abuse, War, Police brutality, Violence, and Sexism

megw27's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No

1.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Transphobia, Police brutality, Emotional abuse, Domestic abuse, Blood, Child death, and Misogyny

Minor: Incest, Death of parent, Child death, Confinement, and Fire/Fire injury

bethanylewis's review against another edition

dark emotional funny 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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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Death, and Blood

Moderate: Domestic abuse

Minor: War

jasonwalko's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny hopeful inspiring mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

I’m struggling to find the words for what this novel did to me. The words in these pages profoundly affected me in ways that I haven’t really experienced since I was a kid. This is a NOVEL-ass novel in no uncertain terms. I laughed, I cried, I felt fear, tension, anger, hope, loss, sadness, joy, and basically everything else on the wide spectrum of human emotions. It does everything that a novel should do and does it all unbelievably well. No matter what your taste in books is, you’re going to fall in love with some element of this book, be it the strong characters, the mystery of the main plot, the beautiful writing, or the incredibly tense and satisfying conclusion. There’s something in here for everyone, and if you love fiction novels, you will love this. Seriously struggling to find anything to criticize about this book. Some sections might go on for a bit too long but there really isn’t an ounce of fat here. Everything has its purpose and seeing it all come together is truly a rewarding experience for the reader with plenty of “oh shit” moments throughout. I don’t even want to talk about the actual plot because there isn’t enough room here to talk about it here and honestly the less you know going into it, the better. It’s just such a dense and satisfying narrative to sink your teeth into. This thing is a treasure.

Strong recommend to anyone who is looking to rediscover their love of reading.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Sexual assault and Domestic abuse

kimbo8's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful informative mysterious reflective sad tense slow-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Death of parent, Miscarriage, and Violence

Moderate: Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, and War

roseblossom999's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring lighthearted mysterious reflective relaxing sad tense medium-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Confinement, Death of parent, Sexual violence, Violence, Bullying, Gun violence, Homophobia, Domestic abuse, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Death, Murder, Blood, Drug abuse, Pregnancy, and Incest

cainnechwithdrawn's review against another edition

The characters are extremely flat in a sexist way. I hated reading so many descriptions of men objectifying women. Disappointing, I've heard a lot of good things but this is hard to read for me. I'm not even someone who is against depictions of misogyny, I liked Nabokov's Lolita for example, but that book had substance to it's sexual violence.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Violence

Minor: Domestic abuse and War