Reviews tagging 'Animal cruelty'

La casa de los espíritus by Isabel Allende

49 reviews

studiouspoppy's review against another edition

adventurous emotional sad tense fast-paced

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

4.25

Es un muy buen libro, muy interesante y plantea ideas muy progresistas para la época. Refleja muy bien el contraste de ideas por medio de los personajes, la normalización de violencia que personajes más jóvenes cuestionan. Lo recomiendo muchísimo, aunque puede ser un poco fuerte por hablar de violencia sexual y de tortura.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child abuse, Homophobia, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Torture, Violence, Police brutality, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Miscarriage and Racial slurs

menomica's review against another edition

challenging dark sad tense slow-paced

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

Aunque es un libro muy largo y muy denso, a mí me ha gustado el linaje familiar y como los eventos y sucesos tienen se influencian entre sí. Está lleno de trigger warnings, pero si lo puedes aguantar, y si tienes mucho tiempo que perder, y eres fan del drama y historias largas y enrevesadas, te recomiendo este libro (no lo digo como insulto: como ya he dicho, me ha gustado el libro bastante).

PS: El peor personaje de todo este libro es sin duda, Esteban Trueba. La mejor fue Clara Del Valle

y ADIVINAD QUIÉN MUERE PRIMERO

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Bullying, Death, Gore, Infidelity, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Torture, Violence, Blood, Police brutality, Medical content, Grief, and War

Moderate: Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Police brutality, Religious bigotry, Abortion, and Pregnancy

Minor: Ableism, Gun violence, Homophobia, Incest, Miscarriage, Vomit, Stalking, Car accident, and Lesbophobia

elliej's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional funny hopeful reflective slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Torture, Abortion, and War

Moderate: Ableism, Animal cruelty, Racial slurs, and Sexism

rieviolet's review against another edition

dark emotional sad medium-paced

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

3.5

I cannot say bad things about Isabel Allende's writing style but I had to trudge a bit to get through the book. Personally, it was hard for me to feel much connected to the characters and also to digest some of the crudest passages. 

I have to say that it's been a long time since I've despised a character as much as Esteban Trueba and I cannot emphasise enough how much I disliked the sections with him as a narrator. I listened to the audiobook and I think that I managed to finish the book only because I really liked the voice actress, otherwise I would have given up after the umpteenth of his capitalist rants or descriptions of his male prowess and insatiable desires, they made me want to scream.

I liked much better the final chapters that focused more on the social and political commentary and also the  epilogue with Alba as narrator (honestly I would have preferred her as the main point of view).

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Racism, Rape, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Torture, Violence, Excrement, Vomit, Police brutality, Kidnapping, and Murder

Moderate: Ableism, Animal cruelty, Cursing, Drug use, Fatphobia, Gore, Homophobia, Infidelity, Miscarriage, Blood, Medical content, Religious bigotry, Abortion, and Lesbophobia

Minor: Suicide, Antisemitism, Stalking, Car accident, and Fire/Fire injury

veronicachp's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious tense slow-paced

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

2.75

I appreciate the author's dedication and talent and will probably try some of her other works, but this one was just not really for me. I skimmed the last 3 or 4 chapters, but didn't really properly read them because I figured if I wasn't engaged with and invested in the characters by the climax of the story I never would be. I haven't read much magical realism, but turns out I prefer my books more on the magical side, less on the realism. I definitely can see where she was inspired by Marquez' A Hundred Years of Solitude, but I found the family in this book harder to read about. 

The male lead, Esteban, is revealed to be a /bad/ man within the first 100 pages and a shallow summary of this book is him doing /bad/ things for almost 500 pages while everyone else just kind of shrugs and lets him get away with it. And I understand that it's meant to be a broad overarching story about him digging his own grave, but even in the climax, it's not Esteban who truly faces the consequences of his actions, but his poor granddaughter, Alba. His taking what happens to her so personally is just another way he assumes ownership of every single other character in the novel, particularly the female ones. They're reduced to hollow, often infantilized shells of people who float along seemingly indifferent to all the bad things he's done, silently bearing whatever punishment he chooses to award. I struggle to real stories where people could leave their abusive relatives and decaying homes but choose not to for reasons that are never really explained, and this story falls pretty solidly into those margins. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Animal death, Death, Rape, Torture, Violence, and Abortion

Minor: Animal cruelty, Homophobia, and Vomit

emilyclairem's review against another edition

emotional hopeful mysterious reflective slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, and Death

Moderate: Rape and Torture

thelibraryofalexandra's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense slow-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Domestic abuse, Homophobia, Racial slurs, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, and Violence

Moderate: Pedophilia

lowkeymarie's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense slow-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Police brutality, and Abortion

Moderate: Ableism, Addiction, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child abuse, Confinement, Death, Gun violence, Pedophilia, Racism, and Car accident

rosehatton's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.25

The reason I said it's complicated is that the cast is very politically diverse, but almost everyone is related so definitely not very racially diverse. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Pedophilia and Rape

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, and Torture