Reviews with content warning for Rape - El baile de las locas

Reviews tagging 'Rape'

El baile de las locas by Victoria Mas

179 reviews

cariad_llyfr's review against another edition

challenging dark sad fast-paced

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

2.0

Characters are ok but what is really strong about it is the the discussion on women in the asylum. The truth comes through very strongly about how women were treated incarcerated and who by. The strength of that truth comes through feelings of sympathy, it makes the story heartbreaking so it's that truth that carries the story rather than the characters themselves. The story has gaps and scenes that feel thrown in and others that were pointless. It could have been done neater, there was so much potential but not executed well.

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loxeletters's review against another edition

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dark reflective sad medium-paced

Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes

3.5

I really enjoyed learning about 19th century Paris and the culture's misogyny, as far as one can enjoy this. It was very interesting.

I also liked the magical realism/supernatural aspects, though they were much less prevalent in the second half of the book.

This book actually challenged me on some of my core beliefs as a writer - the author does a lot of "head-hopping", which is usually frowned upon in modern fiction, though it used to be quite common in classic literature. It forced me to confront whether I actually don't like this technique or whether that was just ingrained in me from countless online repetition. My final conclusion is that I don't know. It did feel quite jarring a lot of the time and often broke the immersion. But maybe that was intentional?

In any case, I think that the translation was a bit subpar, featuring dangling modifiers and comma splices a lot. Again, maybe that's just the author's style, but I'd be willing to bet it's the translation.

Overall I have mixed feelings on this book. It was easy to read and engaging, plus I learnt a lot, but the prose just felt disconnected at times in a way that I can't really explain. Still, a very solid book.

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phoebeb2003's review against another edition

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dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced

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

4.5

Amazing, stunning, phenomenal. Potentially existential crisis inducing. Highly recommend.

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w0rldofab00kw0rm's review against another edition

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dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

This book shines a historic light on the position of women that were 'different' compared to the norm at that time. It is troubling to read how easy you were marked as mad when not complying to the picture of normal.

With this book, I expected to get more of a story about Dr. Charcot, his practices and the ball. Sadly, I felt like these events could be written in more detail. They feel a bit as a side story to me.

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