Reviews with content warning for Sexual assault - The Seventh Veil of Salome

Reviews tagging 'Sexual assault'

The Seventh Veil of Salome by Silvia Moreno-Garcia

16 reviews

cragamiel's review against another edition

4.75

mysterious reflective tense slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

I saw a few other reviews saying this was slow, or had too many POVs, so I wanna say up front that this is a drama, sort of a character study, not an action flick. The other POVs help flesh out those characters and provide additional perspectives, and I thought they were an excellent choice (I loved all the different character voices too, and the switch between first and third person as the story went from the documentary interviews to the actual main characters).

This is the sort of book I could write papers about. I could write about Jay Rutland as embodying possibility, and how

his death is also the death of the futures that both Vera and Nancy wanterd.

Or I could write about how Salome's sequences serve to illuminate both the characters of Nancy and Vera, with Nancy always claiming to be Salome because she wanted the part so bad and Vera trying to figure out how to be Salome on set, despite being immediately identified as Salome in the flesh by Joe Kantor and the other filmmakers, and how Salome's story really fills out the theme across all three of their stories of the destructive power of love. (So to those who say that Salome's sections didn't have any point — hard disagree.)

I also think this book nails the inevitability of tragedy. There are points where things could have gone differently, and maybe the ending could have been averted, but there was never any real choice. Just like Nancy so often thinks about making a better choice before compulsively making everything worse again, always.

A note on Nancy — God, she's the worst, but she's very compelling. Same with her relationship with Benny. They are what "dark romance" should be, imo.

Also I loved that Vera got to punch her; Vera deserved that catharsis, and Nancy deserved a bloody nose and unemployment.

All that said — this was going to be 5 stars for me until the last about 15 pages.

I feel that we should have had at least one more POV passage from each Vera and Nancy after Jay's death. Did Vera have to finish filming in fresh grief? Was Jay's mother still in town, because she'd probably blame Vera for what happened to Jay, wouldn't she? How did Vera handle that? And how did Nancy react when she found out that Benny had shot the wrong person, her ex no less, and how on earth did she not get put on trial with him when the whole thing was her idea?? We get a little insight into the aftermath through Joe's sort of epilogue, it's true, but I feel that there's an emotional beat missing at the end.

Still a solid book, and I'd recommend for anyone looking for a good tragedy.

Content Warnings

bookswithjk's review against another edition

4.0

dark emotional medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

A historical fiction that intertwines the lives of three women - Salome, Vera, a new actress swept away from her home, and Nancy, an already established actress desperate to become a star. It’s a story that puts the seedy underbelly of 1950s Hollywood to a Biblical setting, comparing the life of a Biblical figure to those of modern women.

In the end you realize that not much has changed. Salome, Vera and Nancy - no matter what era they are from, they are still subjected to the male gaze, forced to mold themselves to what others want, to (as Vera’s mother says) survive. Salome, forced to dance for her lustful uncle, Vera forced to perform the role of Salome to the point of mental exhaustion, and Nancy struggling to make it big and hold onto a dream that her own father started for her.

Content Warnings

scrubsandbooks's review against another edition

5.0

dark emotional tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

I have thoroughly enjoyed so many of Silvia Moreno-Garcia’s books and this book is no exception. Once again, she weaves an amazing tale that pulls you right into the setting, that being 1950s Hollywood in his book. The transition between scenes of Salome, and the actresses for the movie involving Salome was exception, well-timed, and well-paced. The characters were memorable and complex, even the ones you loved to hate (ahem, Nancy). I read the digital copy along with the audiobook when I had the chance and it is highly worth listening to as it has a full cast. Every character has a distinct voice even without the use of differing narrators, and they along with the plot felt easy to follow. I couldn’t put this down even when I had appropriate moments where I wanted to yell about what was happening, particularly when our male character has to deal with the casual racism and sexism in the film industry that was historical accurate of that time.

From both this book and the last one of Silvia’s that I have read (Silver Nitrate), it’s apparent that the author takes great strides to research the film industry and its many moving parts. I really can’t wait to read more, be it about film, about Mexico and Mexican culture (holy hell, the description of the dinner scene at Vera’s house made me hungry), or anything else.

And for those who are curious before reading this whether there's a happy ending or not,

there is no happily ever after in this one, nor is the ending particularly happy.

Content Warnings

tamara_joy's review against another edition

4.0

dark sad tense fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Content Warnings

mirificmoxie's review against another edition

2.0

challenging emotional slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: No

Loveable characters: No

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Content Warnings

nightmarebees's review against another edition

4.75

look, there was no way i WASN’T gonna enjoy a silvia moreno-garcia novel. this is now my fifth or sixth read from her and they’re all bangers. 1950s hollywood? sexism and colorism in the industry? biblical undertones?? i’m in.

i loved the format of this as well. there are three main character POVs done from third person, and then intermittent snippets from other characters who are being interviewed for some documentary on the events of the book. we don’t yet know what bad thing is going to happen, but the teases of it throughout made me devour this even faster.

vera was a darling protagonist to root for. the colorism within her own family, the imposed “rules” of gender coming from both her relatives and from the industry, her own desires for love and music pulling her in different directions. she isn’t my absolute favorite SMG heroine, but she’s a star nonetheless.

one thing SMG does really well is women who are complex and conflicted to the point of villainy. nancy is a character who is both so hateable AND so pitiable bc despite her own decisions getting her into problems, you can see the ways they seemed like the only ones available to her at the time. she fails to see that everything she believes vera has “stolen” from her is actually a construction of a white supremacist system. she directs her anger at vera bc she has no means to fight the people who are ACTUALLY keeping her down, and that’s the way the system wants it.

the only thing that really gave me pause was jay. he just felt a little too perfect throughout? however, considering the ending, that may have been intentional.

Content Warnings

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