Reviews tagging 'Confinement'

Of Women and Salt by Gabriela Garcia

22 reviews

bookish_baker_'s review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative reflective sad 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug abuse, Drug use, Murder, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Death of parent, Violence, War, Death, Domestic abuse, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Alcoholism, Injury/Injury detail, Addiction, Blood, Racial slurs, Confinement, and Racism

forthe_girlwhowaited's review against another edition

challenging dark reflective medium-paced

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

2.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug use, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Grief, Child abuse, Gore, Addiction, Confinement, Physical abuse, Alcoholism, and Drug abuse

qqjj's review against another edition

dark medium-paced

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

2.0

Tried to do too much? There were soooo many themes touched on (immigration/asylum/deportation and differences between generations and country origins, political regimes, domestic violence, substance abuse and overdoses, mother-daughter relationships, and more), but didn't/couldn't explore them all thoroughly within this short book. All of these themes are intriguing to me in themselves, but all of them together seemed too much. It was also quite challenging to adjust to the jumping POVs and time/places of each chapter/vignette, the ordering and structure of which seemed haphazard, and never really allowed for the atmosphere of the settings to really shine through. Interested to see future directions of the author, but ultimately just okay for me.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug abuse, Drug use, Murder, and Domestic abuse

Moderate: War, Sexual violence, Forced institutionalization, Colonisation, Terminal illness, Sexual content, Incest, Fire/Fire injury, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Confinement, Cancer, Addiction, Transphobia, Adult/minor relationship, Xenophobia, Police brutality, Alcoholism, Pedophilia, Self harm, and Grief

lacunaboo's review against another edition

emotional reflective sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Confinement, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Forced institutionalization, Murder, Toxic relationship, and Violence

Moderate: Abandonment, Alcoholism, Cancer, Death, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Rape, and Sexual assault

bjdarby's review against another edition

emotional reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Addiction, Confinement, Child abuse, and Sexual assault

jayisreading's review against another edition

challenging emotional reflective sad slow-paced

3.5

I wanted to like this book more than I actually did. Nonlinear narratives can be incredible with the right kind of story, and Of Women and Salt would have benefited from having a linear one. It wasn’t particularly difficult to follow what was happening, but there was too drastic of a disconnect between chapters that made it hard for me to get immersed. It was harder to feel any emotional connection to what was happening or with the characters, and the few times I did, the moment disappeared too quickly as the story moved to something entirely different.

That said, Garcia captures ideas and emotions in such a lyrical way, from the tragic to the beautiful, and particularly the bittersweet. There were a lot of unique descriptions that helped bring together concepts often connected to geography in some manner.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Sexual assault, and Violence

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Misogyny, Racial slurs, and Rape

Minor: Cancer

ladymirtazapine's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful reflective sad tense medium-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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Death of parent, Child death, Domestic abuse, Murder, War, Rape, Racial slurs, Xenophobia, Violence, Trafficking, Terminal illness, Sexual violence, Drug abuse, Death, Confinement, and Alcoholism

miaaa_lenaaa's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful informative reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

This was actually really good.
The complexity of the characters was intense, each had a quite realistic side of themselves that they weren’t sharing with the others but not in a frustrating way.
The writing was poetic but not unclear.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Body shaming, Cancer, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Confinement, Death, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Forced institutionalization, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Racial slurs, Racism, and War

evilo_reads's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad slow-paced

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

2.0

There were many great parts of the book with many dynamic characters, vivid settings, and detailed prose. Unfortunately, the character we focused on the most, Jeanette, was extremely unlikeable. Her redeeming qualities were almost nonexistent, and while the traumas she endured certainly explained her character they didn’t help her story arc in a fulfilling way. All this to say, I definitely wasn’t prepared for how trauma-heavy this book was and it came as an overwhelmingly depressing surprise that definitely hindered my enjoyment and appreciation of this novel.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Confinement, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Forced institutionalization, Infidelity, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Toxic relationship, and Violence

Moderate: Blood, Death, Pedophilia, and Racism

Minor: Child abuse

bookforthought's review against another edition

challenging dark informative inspiring reflective sad slow-paced

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

4.0

Of Women and Salt was the perfect read around International Women's Day. Following five generations of Cuban women and a Salvadorean mother and daughter, this book takes us on a journey across space and time to witness the strength and tenacity of women who choose to keep fighting against all odds.

These women are the only protagonists here, their voices (often silenced in their daily life) rising prominently to shine a light on their truths, their struggles, their pain, and their hopes for a better future. The men in their lives lurk in the background, their viewpoint unimportant and their main contribution being bringing pain and tears - or being conspicuously absent. The women finally take centre stage and reclaim what is theirs, even if only for short stretches. The book's nonlinear narration, in fact, means that it often reads more like a series of short stories or vignettes linked by a common thread.

Don't let this book's size fool you: despite being quite short, it is packed with content and material for reflections. It also takes some dark turns, and I found I often had to stop to give myself time to absorb what I'd just read and digest some of the harder themes. Covering everything from domestic violence to drug abuse, sexual violence and the harsh reality of a modern-day US immigration detention centre, Of Women and Salt is as far as from a light read as possible. Nevertheless, I really enjoyed it, in its own way.

The writing was beautiful and lyrical, and it quickly drew me in. The characters were complex and portrayed excellently, even if we only spent a limited time with each of them. The thing I struggled with most was the non-linear narration, but that's something I know I often find hard to follow. Each time/location change was clearly marked at the beginning of the new section, but I still found I often had to go back to remind myself how far in the future or in the past we had moved compared to what had come before.

Overall, this is a powerful book and a really strong debut from the author, and I look forward to reading more of her works in the future. Of Women and Salt takes an honest look at the harsh reality of life for many women, restoring their voices and their dignity, and certainly made me wish for the day when for women everywhere stories like this will be just that - stories.

I received an e-arc of this book from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for my honest review. This did not affect my opinion of the book in any way.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Forced institutionalization, Misogyny, Sexual violence, and Violence

Moderate: Child abuse, Murder, and Suicide