Reviews tagging 'Child death'

Smaller and Smaller Circles by F.H. Batacan

13 reviews

dlrosebyh's review against another edition

dark mysterious medium-paced

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

4.0

Filipino men are either of the two Ts: trash or treasure. And while this is cliché, Filipinos take this very seriously, hence why Smaller and Smaller Circles didn’t feel fiction at all while reading this. 

 

If you’re familiar with Philippines politics, every element in the novel shouldn’t surprise you. Yup, priests can be corrupt, can be evil, and it happens more regularly than expected. But what’s so groundbreaking about this book is that it breaks the conservatism of our country in some sort of way. 

 

Growing up as a Filipino in a conservative Catholic household, I've always been told to not do certain things, and consuming media against the 5th commandment (AKA: thou shalt not kill) is extremely prohibited. Smaller and Smaller Circles winning as a Philippine National Book Award sure stirred a lot of conversation, but it was deserving of the attention. 

 

One thing Filipino authors never fail to do is to bring up the social issues in our country. In this book, we can see that with the underlying child labor plot, where children are forced to work because they’re in poverty. 

 

While, yes, I know that the book is something not new or has been done before, I also really enjoyed reading it. I don’t know if it’s just because I’m Filipino, but this book felt somehow like home. It was easy to read, to digest, and you don’t need a lot of brainpowers unlike a majority of crime/mystery novels. 

 

Overall, I believe that Smaller and Smaller Circles might be cliché, but it’s an eye-opening novel about the things happening in the Philippines, a third-world country who do not have the privileges first-world & second-world countries have. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Child death, and Child abuse

Moderate: Pedophilia, Rape, and Emotional abuse

Minor: Police brutality

andievillegas's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death and Murder

Moderate: Child abuse

unidentifiedfilipinoobject's review against another edition

dark emotional tense fast-paced

• Loveable characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Murder, Classism, and Violence

Moderate: Blood, Grief, Body horror, and Gore

Minor: Cursing, Drug abuse, Infidelity, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, Vomit, Child abuse, Adult/minor relationship, Drug use, Gun violence, Medical content, and Alcoholism

bookishxintrovert's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful inspiring reflective sad 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? No

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Child death, Grief, Religious bigotry, Injury/Injury detail, Violence, Gore, and Sexual assault

asti_64's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious 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? Yes

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child death, Murder, Violence, and Kidnapping

Moderate: Rape, Child abuse, Pedophilia, and Physical abuse

Minor: Police brutality and Adult/minor relationship

helliepad's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious tense fast-paced

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

4.75

The author mentioned that she wrote this book feeling angry at the justice system and corruptness present in all Philippine bureaucratic and civil systems. I can feel it, and I can understand it.

What's worse is that though this book was written in the 90s, edited in 2013, and I've read it in 2022, this could have very well been a contemporary novel still set in my current time, or perhaps even in my grandchildren's time. It is the first time I've seen priests being involved investigators in crime novels instead of just witnesses.

Every single character in this book is dealing with decades of moral muck and personal issues and I don't have any poetic words for it. This is a situation that happens every day and I'm too familiar with the helpless, bleak feeling of the Philippines' extrajudicial system to even be surprised at it.

Very honest portrait.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Blood, Child abuse, Child death, Medical content, Murder, Rape, Sexual assault, and Sexual violence

Moderate: Blood, Emotional abuse, Kidnapping, Rape, Medical trauma, Police brutality, Abandonment, Religious bigotry, Classism, Death, Injury/Injury detail, and Stalking

eliseraine's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced

4.0

Binasa ko ito sa panahon ng pandemya kung saan mas napapansin at nabibigyang liwanag ang mga isyung tinalakay sa nobelang ito. 

Bilang isang Pilipino, masasabi kong totoong-totoo ang mga mensaheng gustong iparating ni F.H. Batacan sa kaniyang nobela. Nakakalungkot isipin na lahat ng aking nabasa ay nangyari at nangyayari sa aking bansa. 

Hindi ko ito binigyang ng perpek na marka dahil sa tingin ko ay mas mailalahad pa nang mas maayos at nakakaintriga ang mga pangyayari.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death and Murder

itskayleighlove's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense 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? It's complicated

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Child abuse, Violence, Sexual assault, Blood, Child death, Classism, Death, Fatphobia, Grief, Gore, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Suicidal thoughts

dgrachel's review against another edition

dark mysterious sad

3.0

A good mystery and I appreciated that it was set in a country I usually don't read about. It is a sad tale, though, and graphic, so pay attention to the trigger warnings. I do wish I'd read it in print instead of listening to the audio, because while the audio narrator was good, I think the story would have been more immersive in print and I'm sure there are details I missed that would have made the experience richer.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Sexual assault, Death, Child death, Murder, Pedophilia, and Violence

mepitts's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

Very much enjoyed the Philippine and Catholic context and the narrator’s accents. Struggled with the extremely detailed graphic nature of the crimes being investigated. (Seems like in these morally ambivalent days, for a protagonist to have moral authority he has to be battling some kind of “violence porn”) Even so, recommended.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Blood, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Sexual violence, and Torture