Reviews tagging 'Death of parent'

Paradais by Fernanda Melchor

4 reviews

syd_the_bookish_kid's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

3.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Homophobia, Emotional abuse, Toxic relationship, Gun violence, Kidnapping, Hate crime, Stalking, Drug abuse, Murder, Racial slurs, Sexual assault, Alcohol, Misogyny, Alcoholism, Racism, Pregnancy, Blood, Ableism, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Body horror, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Gore, Cursing, Addiction, Bullying, Body shaming, Child abuse, Death, Drug use, Excrement, Fatphobia, Rape, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Sexism, Sexual content, Sexual harassment, Suicide, Torture, Violence, and Toxic friendship

ayoderable's review against another edition

challenging dark tense medium-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Stalking, Violence, Incest, Homophobia, Misogyny, Death, Death of parent, Alcoholism, Sexual violence, Vomit, Murder, Rape, Blood, Addiction, Gun violence, Fatphobia, Sexual assault, Child abuse, and Gore

rachelfek's review against another edition

dark

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cursing

Minor: Rape, Death of parent, and Death

hukkelberg's review against another edition

dark reflective sad tense slow-paced

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

3.75

What a sad little thing. It's just mulch. Irritating, frustrating, upsetting mulch. It paints a picture, spends so many pages painting a huge glance at the holes and corners of the workings in this country. The way its written, the huge sentences, steeps the text in a false sense of urgency that tricks you into thinking something's going to happen and then it doesn't, it never does. But it makes its point. The voice is this way because Polo's life is this way and it convinces you, as it convinced him, that this endless rhythmic drudgery is all that ever will be. He's barely present in the end, in his own mind, and that had the unfortunate consequence of making me as detached as he willed himself to be so he could process it. I started it yesterday evening, around midnight, and finished it now, not without it putting me to sleep thrice. It's a serious book, deals in serious matters, but instead of bringing you in, it makes you into the unengaged spectator of an avalanche of tragedies that so overwhelmingly supersedes the scope of action of its protagonist there is no moment you are tempted to commune with whatever it's attempting to speak on. It's like watching the news form another room. But it's not bad, nor is it dumb. It's just sad and little.

EDIT: Bumping this up half a star, not because it's any better, but because I just had to work on a place just like the one described here and I understood intimately, immediately, the feelings of the main character. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Body shaming, Classism, Kidnapping, Sexual assault, and Sexual violence

Moderate: Misogyny, Pregnancy, Fatphobia, and Incest

Minor: Child death and Death of parent