Reviews tagging 'Injury/Injury detail'

The Woman in the Library by Sulari Gentill

39 reviews

kteq's review against another edition

dark mysterious medium-paced

3.5

The craft choices of the characters-as-writers added such a fun meta-layer to this mystery - and served to explain the absolute ridiculous names and choices of everyone involved.

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Stalking, and Violence

Minor: Racism and Sexual assault

wogslandwriter's review against another edition

emotional funny mysterious tense slow-paced

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

3.0

To be honest, I found the book mostly boring. I only finished it because the audiobook was pretty short and I wanted to see how the real world storyline resolved. It wasn't too much of a mystery and the novel portion of the story was more of a supporting character to the narrative between Leo and Hannah than a full story on it's own.

Overall, I enjoyed the story and it's nuanced and less nuanced analyses of how a story is affected by the author and vice versa. Some parts were feather-light and I felt accomplished for seeing them and noticing the themes. Other parts were extremely heavy-handed and felt a little silly to read. 

I think having the "real world" elements be restricted entirely to correspondence was a really smart move and really pulled the book together. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Child abuse, Blood, Violence, Grief, Toxic friendship, and Domestic abuse

Moderate: Gore, Classism, Medical content, Gun violence, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, and Sexual content

Minor: Addiction, Pandemic/Epidemic, Injury/Injury detail, Racism, Deportation, Alcohol, Child death, Sexual violence, Mental illness, and Pedophilia

One of the main characters describes and incident from their past where a younger sibling dies in an accident. Another describes a childhood incident where a beating from a parent has pedophilic overtones, but there is an intervention before anything beyond physical violence occurs.

tlaynejones's review against another edition

medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

This is a cute twisty contemporary murder mystery. There is a bit of a book within a book plot which adds an extra layer of interest, and I enjoyed the idea of the book (that I’m reading) being critiqued chapter by chapter as a literary device. This is great for when you want something that will engage you and entertain you without too much effort. It’s not gory, and wasn’t particularly dark (considering it’s a murder mystery) in tone. There were a few chuckles; I figured out the murderer early on, but not how the murderer actually did the murder-y things, so the ending was still a good result. The character development and relationships aren’t very fleshed out, and one of the characters was so annoying, but I think that’s sort of the nature of this style/genre. No queer rep.

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: Domestic abuse, Forced institutionalization, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, Racism, Vomit, Murder, Physical abuse, and Classism

Minor: Sexual violence, Torture, and Pandemic/Epidemic

heidipretzel's review against another edition

mysterious fast-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

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder and Death

Moderate: Pandemic/Epidemic, Stalking, Injury/Injury detail, Violence, Child abuse, Cursing, and Medical content

Minor: Blood and Gun violence

hypofocus's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.5

This book was cleverly written! A story within a story is hard to pull off but it works well here! I found myself changing my predictions up until the reveal and was still surprised when it went down! I love the themes of writing and reading, this book was written for book lovers for sure! 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Injury/Injury detail, Racism, and Death

Moderate: Child abuse, Medical trauma, Stalking, and Murder

Minor: Cursing

librarymouse's review against another edition

funny mysterious fast-paced

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

4.0

A book within a book within a book made for a wild and very engaging read. I finished it in a day.

the novel ending with Leo, whose storyline seemed to be constantly unfinished, waiting for Winifred and Marigold made the whole thing more meta. For Freddie to be seemingly stalked by the Leo that Leo the murderer praises Hannah the author for creating was such an interesting way to fold the layered universes in on themselves! Leo the murderer stalking the author who then wrote a Leo the character stalking Winifred the author character who was friends with Marigold, the stalker of Whit, who had done an unsettlingly large volume of research on Cain to try to exploit his mom's shoddy lawyering into a pullitzer makes for a very interesting web of morally gray people. I did want Leo the character's story to be tied up more. He's still characterized as helpful, which I think ads an interesting tilt to the story being told about Leo the murderer and Hannah the author and the impact of what he gave her on her writing. But I want to know more about the reasoning behind the cupcakes and the groceries. Is it flirting, stalking, or friendship? I wasn't expecting for Leo the murderer to be a racist, but using that racism and vitriol to show his descent into delusion was interesting, especially in how that morphed from what could be perceived as advice on US perceptions of race and how it impacts jnteracrjoms with the police.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Sexual content, Murder, Racism, Mental illness, Death, Gore, Blood, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Alcohol, Toxic friendship, Grief, Medical content, and Gun violence

Moderate: Addiction, Child abuse, Violence, Pedophilia, and Police brutality

tabookish's review

mysterious fast-paced

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

3.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Gun violence, Pedophilia, Pandemic/Epidemic, Injury/Injury detail, Violence, Stalking, Death of parent, Sexual violence, Mental illness, Child abuse, Death, Racism, and Sexual content

vj_thompson's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? N/A
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.0

The ending had me questioning what I just read. Overall, the plot kinda of dragged once I reached the halfway point. There were so many plot twists happening that it was hard to keep up. I loved the duel story element. The emails were a nice touch.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Death, Injury/Injury detail, and Murder

Moderate: Death of parent, Medical content, Gun violence, Stalking, Child abuse, and Blood

Minor: Alcoholism, Sexual content, Drug abuse, Racism, and Sexual assault

bkyng313's review

adventurous dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.0

this was my first mystery book and i really enjoyed it! i loved all the twists and turns and i was faked out till the very last chapter

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: Murder and Violence

Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Stalking, and Injury/Injury detail

samw0327's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.5

Very meta which made it a slightly more challenging read. A book about a woman writing a book about a woman writing a book. 😂😵‍💫

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Sexual assault, Child abuse, and Rape