Reviews tagging 'Murder'

The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafón

74 reviews

bookish_bry's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark hopeful mysterious reflective sad tense slow-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

3.25

This book was very good when it was good, but honestly dragged a bit in some places. The story and mystery is great, but there felt like there was a lot of filler. Also, I was often ripped out of the narrative when we were listening to a part of the story from a particular character's perspective and suddenly zoomed out to third person omniscient giving us information that the character we were following could not know. Sometimes that sort of thing works, but it didn't really feel like it worked here. I also wish we'd spent a little more time getting to know Bea. There were also a few annoying loose ends.

Wasn't... Fermín wanted for murder? Clara just disappeared into nothing. even though I expected her to at least have some baring on the plot at some point.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Gun violence, Incest, Physical abuse, Terminal illness, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Police brutality, Stalking, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, and War

Moderate: Misogyny

_qwert's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional hopeful inspiring 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? It's complicated

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Incest, Mental illness, Rape, Self harm, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Police brutality, Murder, Pregnancy, Alcohol, and Sexual harassment

pipn_t's review against another edition

adventurous mysterious 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

Surely the author could have set the historical scene without so many racist remarks and sexist attitudes.  Also got tired of everyone beating each other to a pulp.  It was an interesting story, which is why I read to the end, but one of the major plot points revolves aroundc content I don’t like reading about (

incest

) so I felt rather like I wasted my time on this whole thing as it kinda ruined my enjoyment of the book.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Incest, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Racial slurs, Racism, and Violence

Moderate: Confinement, Homophobia, Physical abuse, Torture, Forced institutionalization, and Murder

Minor: Ableism, Child abuse, and Antisemitism

kiana_hi's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious reflective tense medium-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? Yes

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Gun violence, and Police brutality

Moderate: Homophobia, Sexism, Death of parent, and Murder

Minor: Bullying, Miscarriage, Forced institutionalization, Lesbophobia, and Sexual harassment

ka_cam's review against another edition

adventurous dark 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

3.0

I read this while I was sick with covid which maybe impacted my experience, but I didn’t love it. It was too slow and exposition-heavy to be a compelling mystery for me, and the constant misogyny and violence against women characters (and their flatness in development) was a big turn-off for me. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Domestic abuse, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Violence, Murder, Toxic friendship, and Classism

Moderate: Chronic illness, Infidelity, Racism, Torture, Police brutality, Stalking, Death of parent, Pregnancy, War, and Injury/Injury detail

anna_pizzichidilibri's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny mysterious reflective 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Miscarriage, Blood, and Murder

bookwormcat's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

This was a great book. Beautiful prose, compelling characters and a fascinating mystery. Dark and sad but with moments of real humour. I loved it

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Terminal illness, Torture, Toxic relationship, Police brutality, Medical content, Medical trauma, Stalking, Murder, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Body horror, Bullying, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Confinement, Cursing, Gun violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Grief, and Death of parent

Minor: Incest, Excrement, and War

chrisljm's review

adventurous dark mysterious medium-paced

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

3.5

1. this book would not pass the bechdel test.
2. the twist almost made me shit myself. 
3. “the day was turning out to be longer than The Brothers Karamazov” is so funny. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child death, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Hate crime, Homophobia, Misogyny, Sexism, Toxic relationship, Violence, Excrement, Police brutality, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Child abuse, Cursing, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Incest, Infertility, Infidelity, Miscarriage, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Terminal illness, Torture, Blood, Medical content, Religious bigotry, Stalking, Lesbophobia, Abandonment, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, and War

Minor: Ableism, Adult/minor relationship, Animal death, Bullying, Racial slurs, Rape, Antisemitism, Abortion, and Classism

narsere's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Police brutality and Murder

Moderate: Homophobia, Incest, Misogyny, and Forced institutionalization

Minor: Sexual content

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: Child abuse, Murder, and Fire/Fire injury

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

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.