Reviews tagging 'Emotional abuse'

Piranesi by Susanna Clarke

167 reviews

jasminrain's review

dark mysterious reflective 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? No

5.0

Absolutely brilliant piece of dark academia exploring the depths that people are willing to go to in the search for knowledge. I don't think it's a book for everyone - it is slow and there needs to be a certain appreciation for learning and knowledge to take interest in the book and its characters. But it is a truly astonishing piece of literature bringing together mystery, magical realism, ancient world and academia. I cannot say I've ever read anything quite like it before. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gaslighting, Emotional abuse, Death, Kidnapping, and Toxic friendship

Moderate: Gun violence

aidareads's review against another edition

emotional funny lighthearted mysterious reflective relaxing 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? No

3.75

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death, Violence, and Emotional abuse

Minor: Vomit

spineofthesaurus's review

challenging mysterious reflective slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Grief, Gaslighting, Abandonment, and Toxic friendship

Moderate: Death, Animal death, Torture, Confinement, Suicidal thoughts, Mental illness, Slavery, and Ableism

wishbea's review against another edition

mysterious medium-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gaslighting

Moderate: Emotional abuse

Minor: Cursing

literaryscouser's review

adventurous dark funny mysterious sad 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

This book is a little wild. The magical realism and religious undertones make for a wonderful combination. Honestly, I feel like if I go into too much detail I might spoil something, as there is a part of me still unsure about what I read- in the best way possible. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Toxic friendship, Gaslighting, Emotional abuse, and Kidnapping

Moderate: Death, Violence, and Cursing

Minor: Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Cursing, and Vomit

tomas_lw's review

emotional mysterious reflective sad tense slow-paced

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

4.75

A haunting tale and an intriguing mystery. I could barely put it down. This is a story that will live in my mind for many years.

My only complaint is that there is a part of the book, after the central mystery is mostly revealed but before the climax begins to build where the book lost its pace and rhythm for bit but t got it back and stuck the landing magnificently. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Kidnapping, Mental illness, Gaslighting, Confinement, and Emotional abuse

Moderate: Toxic relationship and Death

It's not quite as bad as the tags make it sound though. But there's some heavy stuff in it.

novemberreads's review

adventurous challenging dark mysterious fast-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Vomit

Minor: Kidnapping and Emotional abuse

shannabanana6's review

adventurous emotional inspiring reflective medium-paced

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

4.0

This was a really cool sci fi book. The world of the Labyrinth was so cool and Piranesi's love and reverence toward it and the world is admirable, to find beauty in everything is not easy but I think that's the moral of the story here. There's also some more intense aspects too which is kind of a strange mix of trauma/sadness and love and beauty. I found the resolution at the end of the book rather satisfying although I want to know more bout how he's getting on in this new world.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Kidnapping, Toxic relationship, and Emotional abuse

ambers's review

challenging emotional mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

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

3.5

I'm of two minds about this book. I read the whole thing in one sitting, and I honestly thought I was going to give it 5/5 stars. Then, as I started to think about it, I changed that to 4/5. At the time of actually siting down to write this review, I've dropped it to 3.5/5. 

Why? There was obviously plenty that I loved, given my knee jerk reaction. The lush writing, the strange ecology, the dreamlike quality and its descent into nightmare - all of that was fantastic. Unfortunately, I can't get past the author's choice to write her only gay character as a predatory villain with a pattern of taking advantage of younger men, including lumping his sexuality in with his 'transgressive' nature (which explicitly includes several despicable acts). It isn't that queer characters can't be villains (although I would, honestly, caution authors to be careful of that regardless - being aware of harmful tropes is important), but this particular blend of using sexuality to highlight someone's perversion is harmful and dated. The longer I sit with that, the more I sour on this book. It's a real shame, because Piranesi could've been something beautiful. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Kidnapping, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, and Confinement

Moderate: Death, Gun violence, and Murder

queenie_ofthe_void's review

adventurous emotional mysterious sad medium-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

3.5

The mystery was intense and it had me hooked start to finish. I loved Piranesi as a character, as tragic as he was. It brushed right up against the myth of the Labyrinth, but it wasn't so overt that it felt redundant.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Dementia, Kidnapping, Gaslighting, Mental illness, Slavery, Confinement, and Toxic friendship

Moderate: Homophobia, Murder, Rape, Death, Grief, Adult/minor relationship, Injury/Injury detail, and Physical abuse