Reviews tagging 'Fire/Fire injury'

Le Bal des folles by Victoria Mas

4 reviews

picnicatthehangingtree's review against another edition

challenging emotional reflective sad 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

3.5

Engaging but felt underdeveloped and a bit half-baked. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Physical abuse, Toxic relationship, Chronic illness, Forced institutionalization, Self harm, Rape, Suicide attempt, Medical content, Ableism, Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Confinement, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Misogyny, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Sexism, Sexual violence, Sexual assault, and Pedophilia

Moderate: Dementia, Alcoholism, Grief, Classism, Blood, Child death, Murder, Alcohol, Death, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Injury/Injury detail, Panic attacks/disorders, and Violence

kamikakushi's review against another edition

dark reflective sad medium-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Misogyny, Forced institutionalization, Mental illness, and Physical abuse

Moderate: Rape, Suicide attempt, and Sexual assault

Minor: Fire/Fire injury, Medical content, Grief, Death of parent, and Death

loxeletters's review against another edition

dark reflective sad medium-paced

• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes

3.5

I really enjoyed learning about 19th century Paris and the culture's misogyny, as far as one can enjoy this. It was very interesting.

I also liked the magical realism/supernatural aspects, though they were much less prevalent in the second half of the book.

This book actually challenged me on some of my core beliefs as a writer - the author does a lot of "head-hopping", which is usually frowned upon in modern fiction, though it used to be quite common in classic literature. It forced me to confront whether I actually don't like this technique or whether that was just ingrained in me from countless online repetition. My final conclusion is that I don't know. It did feel quite jarring a lot of the time and often  broke the immersion. But maybe that was intentional?

In any case, I think that the translation was a bit subpar, featuring dangling modifiers and comma splices a lot. Again, maybe that's just the author's style, but I'd be willing to bet it's the translation. 

Overall I have mixed feelings on this book. It was easy to read and engaging, plus I learnt a lot, but the prose just felt disconnected at times in a way that I can't really explain. Still, a very solid book.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Misogyny, Forced institutionalization, Medical trauma, and Sexual assault

Moderate: Grief, Mental illness, Rape, and Suicide attempt

Minor: Fire/Fire injury, Blood, and Drug abuse

lauramparis's review against another edition

dark emotional sad medium-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness

Moderate: Body horror, Classism, Confinement, Forced institutionalization, Death, Death of parent, Medical trauma, Misogyny, Murder, and Panic attacks/disorders

Minor: Physical abuse, Abandonment, Alcohol, Blood, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Injury/Injury detail, Child death, Rape, Self harm, Sexual harassment, Suicide attempt, Adult/minor relationship, Fire/Fire injury, and Sexual violence