Reviews tagging 'Infidelity'

The Miniaturist by Jessie Burton

7 reviews

lesbegays's review against another edition

mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? No

3.0

a very slow start, but it picked up a lot in the middle. the end kind of ground to a halt for me, though. the miniaturist adds an element of magical realism throughout the novel, and at the end gets pulled back down into realism while while also not being really explained. i wish that the book had either left that very open-ended and magical or given more detail, as the middle ground really doesn’t work for me. however, this was overall an interesting glimpse at a period in history i know literally nothing about. 
i never would have read this if not for it being a book club pick, but i don’t regret it. 
MAJOR content warning for societal homophobia of the sort you would expect from a puritan nation in the 1600s. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Homophobia, Infidelity, Death, Animal death, Outing, Pregnancy, and Animal cruelty

Moderate: Racism, Violence, Misogyny, Injury/Injury detail, and Sexism

Minor: Confinement, Xenophobia, Alcohol, Slavery, and Colonisation

rayne31's review against another edition

adventurous emotional mysterious sad 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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Medical trauma and Blood

Moderate: Religious bigotry, Infidelity, and Homophobia

Minor: Death, Torture, Slavery, Stalking, and Racism

nrogers_1030's review against another edition

emotional sad slow-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

I’ve tried to listen to this last year & found it dull. Fast forward and I wanted to give it another shot, but I chose to read instead of listening to the audiobook. I loved it! I could hardly put it down until I could finish. It has a slower pace, but the amount of character building … it was just phenomenal. I wish there was a “happily ever after” because I love those, but it would have been far-fetched & stretched at best.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Classism, Infidelity, Injury/Injury detail, Animal death, Confinement, Death, Alcohol, Blood, Toxic relationship, Death of parent, Grief, Religious bigotry, Misogyny, Outing, Violence, and Homophobia

Moderate: Excrement, Racism, Vomit, and Sexual content

Minor: Racial slurs, Torture, Abortion, Child death, Slavery, and Alcoholism

itsbumley's review against another edition

emotional mysterious sad slow-paced

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

2.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Infidelity, Racism, Rape, Stalking, Animal cruelty, Death, Gore, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Blood, Body horror, Child death, Colonisation, Death of parent, Excrement, Homophobia, Medical trauma, Misogyny, Abortion, Animal death, Grief, Outing, Racial slurs, Religious bigotry, and Slavery

sophieduncan's review against another edition

emotional mysterious medium-paced

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Homophobia, Animal death, Blood, Death, Infidelity, Outing, Racial slurs, Racism, and Religious bigotry

Moderate: Colonisation, Alcoholism, Death of parent, Grief, Misogyny, Police brutality, Sexism, Sexual content, and Slavery

katenovah's review against another edition

mysterious sad medium-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? It's complicated

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Racism, Sexual content, Sexism, Violence, Murder, Animal death, Death, Religious bigotry, Racial slurs, Infidelity, and Blood

gemmascott's review

challenging dark inspiring mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

For me, this was a book about hypocrisy and change. How people often project an image of themselves to the world that is very different to their inner selves, and how, despite their expectations, people can change and grow, often in ways they had never anticipated. It isn’t the best “historical” novel I’ve ever read (there were a few glaring anachronisms), but it was beautifully written and I thoroughly enjoyed the story. 

I loved the fact that this book was inspired by an object displayed in the Rijksmuseum and feel like the choice of setting was helpful in exploring some of the themes,  including race, gender and sexuality.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Death, Homophobia, Infidelity, Medical trauma, Racial slurs, and Sexism