Reviews tagging 'Sexual violence'

The Wych Elm by Tana French

15 reviews

benlundns's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious slow-paced

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

2.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, and Rape

soniaa5's review against another edition

adventurous mysterious sad tense slow-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Murder, Drug use, Suicide, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Drug abuse, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, and Suicide attempt

cjcrawfish's review against another edition

dark mysterious sad slow-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

2.5

Well written, but overly long and plodding 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Cancer, and Death

Moderate: Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Violence, Sexual assault, and Sexual violence

te_ss_i's review against another edition

mysterious slow-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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Fatphobia, Cancer, Sexual assault, Homophobia, Grief, Emotional abuse, Sexual harassment, Murder, Self harm, Terminal illness, Rape, Bullying, Suicide attempt, Mental illness, Toxic relationship, Drug use, Death, Toxic friendship, Vomit, Stalking, Panic attacks/disorders, Violence, and Sexual violence

emmajp's review

3.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Ableism, Sexual violence, Sexual assault, and Sexual harassment

Minor: Alcoholism

corncake's review against another edition

mysterious tense slow-paced

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

2.75

Excellent characterization, but the pacing of this book is painfully slow. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual harassment, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, and Violence

Moderate: Bullying, Death, Drug use, Medical content, Cancer, Cursing, Grief, Alcohol, and Blood

Minor: Self harm, Vomit, Misogyny, and Homophobia

cfell's review against another edition

dark mysterious reflective slow-paced

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Suicide attempt, Ableism, Chronic illness, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Hate crime, Homophobia, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Suicide, Cancer, Dementia, Medical trauma, Sexual harassment, Classism, Death, Grief, Forced institutionalization, and Terminal illness

Moderate: Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, and Stalking

Minor: Self harm

jenniferpalmblad's review

dark mysterious sad tense slow-paced

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

3.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Death, Murder, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Suicide attempt, Terminal illness, Rape, Suicidal thoughts, and Violence

ellipalmer's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious tense medium-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

4.5

It's hard to say much about what I liked about The Witch Elm without venturing into topics that feel like spoilers. It took about 150 pages to get to the meat of the story, which felt like a long time. If it were another author who I didn't know I might have felt annoyed, but in my experience Tana French knows what she's doing. While I still feel like the first 1/3 dragged a bit, pushing through definitely paid off. The writing is top knotch, French a master of plot and psychologically complex character development. I watched an interview with her where she said that she's less interested in "who did it" than "who the detective is" and the impact of the mystery/story on the person trying to work their way through it and find the truth. I think that's what makes her stories so good. You want to know who did it, but the payoff is deeper and longer lasting because solving the mystery doesn't put the world back in order. The detective is forever changed and solving the case doesn't bring the satisfaction and closure they hoped it would. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Death, Gaslighting, Terminal illness, Suicide attempt, Panic attacks/disorders, Mental illness, and Medical trauma

Moderate: Addiction, Bullying, Injury/Injury detail, Sexual harassment, and Sexual violence

maekay's review against another edition

dark emotional tense 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? It's complicated

4.0

Loved this! Tana French did a wonderful just of easing me into the main character/narrator and then slowly peeling away the false narrative through the murder mystery to reveal

the real villain of the story is the protagonist and his shitty fate is the direct result of his shitty actions

. I was left unsettled by the end of the story, but in a very good way. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Sexual violence, Sexual assault, and Homophobia

Moderate: Suicide attempt