Reviews tagging 'Torture'

The Marriage Portrait by Maggie O'Farrell

4 reviews

esalan's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious reflective sad medium-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Murder, and Torture

Moderate: Sexual content and Sexual assault

Minor: Pregnancy

charisw's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad slow-paced

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

2.5

This isn’t a bad book, but it’s not my cup of tea. The whole book felt so heavy for me. The main character’s complete and utter lack of agency and control, while an important theme in the novel, was really triggering for me. I hated reading it, honestly, because it felt so heavy.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Infertility, Misogyny, Violence, Animal cruelty, Blood, Confinement, and Emotional abuse

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Misogyny, Torture, Classism, Sexism, Grief, Toxic relationship, Blood, Violence, Emotional abuse, Adult/minor relationship, Animal death, Gore, and Sexual assault

meenakshisathish's review

dark emotional mysterious tense slow-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Confinement, Adult/minor relationship, Classism, and Domestic abuse

Moderate: Emotional abuse, Forced institutionalization, Sexism, Adult/minor relationship, Vomit, Gaslighting, Infertility, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Death, Murder, Misogyny, and Torture

Literary fiction, historical fiction, gothic, feminist

judythedreamer's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

Quick thought on story structure: the non-chronological double timeline lends itself to an alternative structure. The current day sections are in actuality the third act playing out, so plot point 2 is them leaving Ferrara for the fortezza with the poisoning.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Toxic relationship, Classism, Domestic abuse, Murder, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Confinement, Death, Gaslighting, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Rape, Misogyny, Sexism, Adult/minor relationship, Infertility, Sexual assault, Vomit, Emotional abuse, Sexual violence, and Torture