Reviews with content warning for Child abuse - Kadund tütar

Reviews tagging 'Child abuse'

Kadund tütar by Elena Ferrante

17 reviews

jaiari12's review against another edition

4.0

reflective medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: No

Content Warnings

twoheadedcalf_nev's review against another edition

3.5

dark reflective sad tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: No

Loveable characters: No

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

i enjoyed the structure and the writing style of the book but i did not particularly enjoy the main character -- or any of the characters, really -- nor the development of her thought process. maybe i'm simply not used to reading books in first person anymore, but i was unable to take anything she said at face-value: she sounded either delusional or self-serving.

the way she thinks and talks about her daughters, the way she goes back and forth on her opinions on them, was very upsetting. which i would like to think is the point of the book and that's why i rate it 3.5 stars.

however, if the intention was to make readers empathize with the complications of motherhood, it did not succeed for me -- it only made me think the main character is an abusive middle-aged woman going back and forth between a superiority complex and self-recrimination.

Content Warnings

cady_sass's review against another edition

3.75

dark emotional tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: No

Loveable characters: No

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

It’s difficult for me to fairly rate this book because I inadvertently watched the film before reading, not realizing it had been a novel first, when I prefer to & always try to read the original work before watching any film. I feel that if I hadn’t watched the movie first I would’ve rated this lower. I was able to invision these characters, who were quite brilliantly portrayed in the movie, and to fill in gaps in description and prose that this translation leaves to be desired. I’m sure that the original Spanish is closer to what I would’ve expected going into this- a painful, cringe inducing, car-crash of a situation between a brilliant but cold academic woman who abandoned her children at a young age to pursue self identity and a young mother struggling with her own daughter and identity. It’s quite remarkable at its core but the English prose (again, I assume due to the translation, which is ironic because the protagonist is a translator by trade) is dry and abrupt.

Content Warnings

andratalpi's review against another edition

4.5

dark mysterious reflective sad tense fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: No

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Content Warnings

yocatsbooks's review against another edition

2.5

challenging slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: No

Loveable characters: No

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

It definitely kept me hooked, but by the end I realised there wasn't an awful lot I liked about this book. I do want to read more books by Ferrante as I think her style is very strong and unique!

Content Warnings