Reviews with content warning for Abandonment - Паперовий палац

I went back and forth on giving this book 5 stars, or 4.75 stars. I tore through it in three days and felt like I saw pieces of myself in the main character - and, honestly, I have no quibbles with how it was written. So I landed on 5 stars, even though I think I hated some of the story. The sexual abuse of kids by adults and by a stepbrother was really, really terrible to read. I'm glad the author didn't dwell on it in the writing in order to traumatize all of their readers, yet I am still questioning if something that clearly has such a major impact on the main character's life (not to mention her mother's before her) should have had more time devoted to it in the writing? But that becomes dangerously close to trauma porn, which would mean that's all I remember from this book. By tucking it away in our main character's mind, it also tucked it away in our mind. Still flagging there, causing an irritation whenever you went across it, still making itself known.

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fabi1998's review against another edition

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emotional funny 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? Yes

5.0

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thewordapothecary's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

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

2.5

Mostly I’m just confused. Why the hell did I just read an entire book to basically have no closure for the main plot. There’s unnecessary trauma included in the book that totally could’ve been left out. Elle is the unluckiest character, and I know that bad things happen to lots of people… but her life was one bad thing after the other. She’s a bad person. The one good thing that’s ever happened in her life and she acts like she could easily give it up. The only thing saving this book from a one star is the last handful of chapters and even that is a stretch.

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talyahonor23's review against another edition

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challenging dark mysterious reflective sad tense 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? Yes

3.0

While I enjoyed the reading this book and the writing style, I hated every single character. Why did shegave to go into so much deatil with the child abuse? Even the adult sex scenes were either violent or too explicit. And Why was everyone so rich and so beautiful? The only one who is considered neither is poor Gina. There was also a lot of sexual violence against most females characters as well as everyone leading very shitty lives. Was no one allowed ro be happy for real? I hate cheaters but I was intrigued by their story. The author is a little dated...using butter on a burn has been considered an old wives tale for years. Her obsession with meat and dairy is also a little out of touch. But it was an easy and interesting read.

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saoreads's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional 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? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

It's amusing how the journey went from initially disliking the main character to gradually rooting for her, but not really (picky on some parts). There are reasons behind every action and the subsequent consequences, regardless of how positive or dire they may be. If it's not you fulfilling something in that life, something is bound to happen. The subtleties throughout the book, along with metaphors leading up to the years portrayed, shed light on generational patterns. Ultimately, it's her choice, and the outcome remains uncertain. The ending brings about new beginnings—whether good or bad, it could be either or even both.

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wsimcik's review against another edition

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dark emotional reflective sad fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No

4.5

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elsmithies's review against another edition

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dark reflective sad slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No

2.75

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sarahemhavens's review against another edition

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dark emotional 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

2.0

this one was not for me, I struggled my way through. The writing was alright, some quotes did stand out to me - but overall, this book was very meh, and really off putting at some points.

“I wonder if he would love me if he could see inside my head”
(The other quote is an absolute spoiler so I will be refraining bc I like to keep these spoiler free)

I was hoping to be enveloped in this book the way I was with Malibu Rising, because it’s the same idea when it comes to writing timeframe and storytelling, but I don’t think it was done very well in this one. Though the focus of the book is supposed to be how one night changes everything, the primary focus, I felt, was more on the fifty year spread. This book gave me, personally, a whole lot of nothing. I wanted more out of it and at the same time, less of so many other things.

There was also a lot of trauma and triggering things (sa, csa/cse/csea) which left me feeling skeeved out and just unsettled.

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