Reviews tagging 'Death'

The Stationery Shop by Marjan Kamali

74 reviews

annreadsabook's review against another edition

emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

3.5

I wouldn’t normally call myself a romance reader—I don’t know why, but I often struggle to get into them. So when I heard about The Stationery Shop, a book that considers young love against the backdrop of political unrest in 1950s Iran, I was excited to dive in.

I appreciated the ways in which Kamali depicted the trials and triumphs of daily life unfolding all while one’s country descends into sociopolitical chaos—falling in love can be complicated and weird and messy even in the best of circumstances, but what happens when you throw in political violence and unrest? And I think there’s a lot to be said here about the roles that parents play in the lives of their children—there’s the question of what we owe our parents, and what our parents owe us. 

I did feel that the writing style left a bit to be desired—I would’ve loved to see a bit more of Roya beyond her desires to be with Bahman, and conversely I felt by the end of the book I knew next to nothing about Bahman himself—beyond his desires to “change the world,” who really is he and what does Roya actually find compelling about him? And perhaps this is one of the reasons I was a bit perplexed as to how Roya and Bahman, who fell into a whirlwind romance at only 17, continued to pine for each other over the course of 6 decades, well after both of them married others and had children of their own.

Nevertheless, I found myself hoping that Roya and Bahman would somehow find their way back to each other.

Anyway, I think this is might be a solid book for people who don’t generally vibe with most traditional romance books but are looking for something with romance involved--and for those who enjoy historical fiction.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death and Gun violence

Moderate: Child death and Miscarriage

Minor: Suicide attempt

jpn99's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative reflective sad medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Death, War, and Violence

Minor: Genocide

madelinedalton's review against another edition

emotional reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, War, Death, and Suicide attempt

Moderate: Abortion and Child death

Minor: Medical content

ksuazo94's review against another edition

emotional hopeful inspiring reflective sad 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? It's complicated

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Terminal illness, Death, and Suicide attempt

Moderate: War, Violence, and Gaslighting

schang's review against another edition

challenging emotional hopeful sad medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Suicide attempt, and Mental illness

Moderate: Abortion and Adult/minor relationship

zosiablue's review against another edition

emotional inspiring 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? No

4.0

I've inadvertently read a romance and I'm not mad about it. This was about those young loves you never recover from, in the backdrop of 1950s Iran's political unrest. It was aching and sweet and sad. I've been lucky to be in love several times, some I keep waiting to recover from, and maybe the not recovering is the point. It sure was in this. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: War and Mental illness

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Child death, Murder, Death, Police brutality, Violence, and Classism

Minor: Abortion

nicolebooks's review against another edition

challenging emotional hopeful reflective sad fast-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? No

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Classism, Gun violence, Mental illness, Suicide attempt, Violence, War, Miscarriage, Adult/minor relationship, and Death

Moderate: Abortion

lily159's review against another edition

emotional informative sad fast-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Minor: Child death, Abortion, War, Suicide attempt, Grief, Death, and Mental illness

book_dragon_'s review against another edition

challenging emotional funny inspiring 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? It's complicated

5.0

5 Stars are simply not enough.
This is the best book I've ever read. It was written beautifully and made me fall in love with Roya, Bahman and Walter.
And oh how I cried over Marigold and Kyle!
I wept more than once reading about Royas life and loves.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abortion, Suicide attempt, Pregnancy, Miscarriage, Death, Child death, and Mental illness

Moderate: War

mels_reading_log's review against another edition

emotional hopeful inspiring 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

5.0

This book is beautiful from the cover, to the love stories within. Not only did I fall in love with the characters and have my heart broken with them as well, I found out about some Persian dishes I need to try, because the food in this book leaps off the pages. Such a great love story.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Death, Mental illness, Suicidal thoughts, Infertility, Miscarriage, Self harm, and Suicide attempt

Moderate: Gun violence, Blood, and Fire/Fire injury

Minor: Abortion and War

This book takes place in 1950’s Iran through 2013 in America so it does cover a lot of touchy subjects.