Reviews with content warning for Pedophilia - Smaller and Smaller Circles

Reviews tagging 'Pedophilia'

Smaller and Smaller Circles by F.H. Batacan

14 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.

Content Warnings

ravenph's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous dark emotional funny mysterious tense 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

4.5

Content Warnings

gellyreads's review against another edition

Go to review page

mysterious sad tense 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? It's complicated

4.0

Content Warnings

unidentifiedfilipinoobject's review against another edition

Go to review page

dark emotional tense fast-paced

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

5.0

Content Warnings

asti_64's review against another edition

Go to review page

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

Content Warnings

itzjez's review against another edition

Go to review page

dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

5.0

Content Warnings

sincerely_bibliophile's review against another edition

Go to review page

emotional funny mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

4.5

One thing that makes this novel so good is that it has a very short chapter but each chapter is well written, as if each chapter is like a one episode of a series. Despite of so many characters presented in the story, the author was able to introduce each with enough back story that makes this novel more interesting in every turn of the page.

I loved how the book discusses about poverty, power and injustices. It is really frustrating because Batacan have first written this book in 1996. The problems of our country back then which inspired her to wrote this book is still evident until today (2022)

The diversity of characters and balance between good and evil in this book makes it more interesting. I loved how the author used Father Saenz and Father Jerome as the main protagonist in the story. A representation of light amidst darkness. Hence, I can only hope that someday, more people like Father Gus, Father Jerome and Director Lastimosa are the ones who will be given authority and power over the people so that there will be less opression and that compassion may prevail instead.

Content Warnings