Reviews tagging 'Police brutality'

The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafón

91 reviews

fleural's review against another edition

adventurous emotional mysterious sad 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

5.0

A particularly excellent book for bibliophiles, The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafón is a book about the love of a book and the search for its author, his life and the lives surrounding the reader (the narrator) and writer both during and in the wake of war. It features strong character development and elements of magic realism with beautifully poignant story lines and memorable, distinguishable characters all with their own lives and losses. The book is not without its humor, but it´s also deeply emotional and addresses a slough of humans rights issues relevant to its setting, so be aware there is some heavy content.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence and Police brutality

Moderate: Fire/Fire injury, Child abuse, and Murder

Minor: Miscarriage, Sexual violence, Homophobia, Racism, Forced institutionalization, and Incest

Set during and in the wake of the war with a diverse cast of characters with hard lives, this book delves into a great deal of issues which is why I´m putting the content warnings but most are handled with great humanness and compassion.

anced's review against another edition

hopeful mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Police brutality, War, Death, Violence, and Death of parent

satuhurme's review against another edition

adventurous emotional slow-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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Fire/Fire injury, Murder, Police brutality, and Toxic relationship

chalkletters's review

dark mysterious medium-paced

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

1.5

The Shadow of the Wind is one of those books that seems to always be featured in book shops. I must have picked it up a dozen times to read the blurb or the first page but never quite got around to actually buying it. It’s a book about books, and while those appeal to me as a reader in theory, they are often slightly disappointing in practice.

Such was the case with The Shadow of the Wind. While the cemetery of forgotten books is a fascinating concept, Carlos Ruiz Zafón spends hardly any time there. The Shadow of the Wind isn’t so much a book about books as a book about one author and his mysterious backstory. Except, some of the mystery, specifically Lain Coubert’s identity, could be guessed hundreds of pages before it was officially revealed.

Daniel and Julián simply aren’t that interesting as characters, unless you find adolescent male romances particularly compelling. Sadly, the women they fall in love with aren’t very well fleshed out, they exist mostly as aloof and unattainable examples of femininity, which is tiresome. Carlos Ruin Zafón does much better with the minor characters: Daniel’s father is sympathetic, Fermin’s story is unexpected, Bernada is sweet, and I could go on. In terms of building a large and interconnected cast of characters, Carlos Ruin Zafón has succeeded, but the story he chooses to tell with them isn’t all that inspired.

The Shadow of the Wind’s prose is very nice, there were several poetic descriptions of Barcelona, usually at the beginnings of chapters, as well as some lovely atmospheric moments throughout. It does veer towards pretension at times, but not enough to ruin the reading experience.

Overall, The Shadow of the Wind is solidly written, and has good moments especially in Carlos Ruin Zafón’s minor characters, but the main story wasn’t something I’d especially recommend.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death, Police brutality, Violence, Confinement, Fire/Fire injury, Incest, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, and Murder

Minor: Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Infidelity, Child death, Animal cruelty, War, Blood, Emotional abuse, and Pregnancy

okarenhelena's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny inspiring 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? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Medical trauma, Abandonment, Chronic illness, Domestic abuse, Child abuse, Confinement, Death, Police brutality, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Misogyny, Sexual harassment, and Torture

Moderate: Incest, Miscarriage, Rape, Child death, Homophobia, Stalking, Blood, and Infidelity

Minor: Pregnancy, Mass/school shootings, War, Excrement, and Forced institutionalization

frenandjen's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark mysterious sad 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? No

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Biphobia, Blood, Child death, Chronic illness, Sexism, Fire/Fire injury, Forced institutionalization, Excrement, Fatphobia, Homophobia, Incest, Adult/minor relationship, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Classism, Colonisation, Confinement, Death, Dementia, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Stalking, Gun violence, Hate crime, Kidnapping, Lesbophobia, Mental illness, Misogyny, Murder, Rape, Transphobia, Violence, Injury/Injury detail, Sexual harassment, Torture, Body shaming, Child abuse, Gaslighting, Grief, Police brutality, and Pregnancy

forestsapphicc1's review against another edition

adventurous dark inspiring mysterious sad tense slow-paced

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

4.0

I adore Zafons writing. He uses words to paint vibrant but also dark pictures amd makes it an incredible journey to read The Shadow of the Wind. However...did he really have to include incest? It's such a beautiful story, but that storyline just put a damper on it. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Violence, Incest, and Hate crime

Moderate: Sexism, Police brutality, Sexual harassment, Sexual content, Child death, Pregnancy, Murder, Miscarriage, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: War, Physical abuse, and Racial slurs

tomnoor's review against another edition

3.0

 I liked the plot, setting, many of the characters, etc but the misogyny was really draining. Just endless comments about the women characters’ attractive bodies or lack thereof. Clara’s dismal ending bothered me too - all she did was have the audacity to not fall in love with a 10 year old boy when she was like 20, and I’m supposed to be glad to hear she ended up withering away alone? Nor did I care for the several male characters who physically and emotionally abused their wives/daughters only to later be characterized as loving, misunderstood men. Also, 18 hours was a long audiobook only for the mystery to be not so much solved as just revealed in a tell all letter by a character who could have at least said the same things about 200 pages earlier. I also definitely felt deceived by the premise of the “cemetery of forgotten books” which was hardly fleshed out despite being the primary marketing on the book jacket. This book was exhausting to read, even when I was enjoying it, so I don’t think I’ll be picking up the sequels. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Fire/Fire injury, Misogyny, and Police brutality

Moderate: Domestic abuse

mystral's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious medium-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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Minor: Homophobia, Miscarriage, Police brutality, and Torture

lovelessreader's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny mysterious tense slow-paced

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

4.0

What a book. It took me around 100 pages to get into the it because the pacing is excruciatingly slow, but it was absolutely worth it. The story was completely unpredictable and really fun, and nerve-wracking at certain parts, to read. 10/10 would reccommend

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Gore, Infidelity, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Physical abuse, Police brutality, Sexual harassment, Torture, and Violence