Reviews tagging 'Child abuse'

The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafón

27 reviews

florafauna's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense slow-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Incest, Misogyny, Miscarriage, Death, Homophobia, Police brutality, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Addiction, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Antisemitism, Blood, Body horror, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, and Confinement

Minor: Chronic illness, Excrement, Gore, Grief, Infidelity, Medical trauma, Outing, Pregnancy, Rape, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Stalking, Suicide attempt, Terminal illness, Toxic friendship, Torture, and War

mesi_reads's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious medium-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Emotional abuse, Miscarriage, Murder, Physical abuse, War, Violence, Torture, Sexual assault, Misogyny, Homophobia, Grief, Child death, Child abuse, and Rape

Minor: Abortion, Incest, and Bullying

cewritespoems's review against another edition

This book is just jarringly sexist and once the narrator turns 16, I couldn’t read more than a page and a half before running into another description along the lines of undressing a woman is “like peeling a sweet potato on a winter’s night” or lengthy descriptions of breasts. At first I thought the author was just trying to characterize a few characters as womanizers… but every single man except one minor character in this novel can’t speak one sentence without objectifying every woman around them. I just want to read the actual mystery and the gothic elements but it’s impossible. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexism, Sexual harassment, and Sexual content

Moderate: Homophobia and Mental illness

Minor: Racial slurs, Pedophilia, Incest, Child abuse, and Excrement

distilledreads's review against another edition

emotional mysterious sad medium-paced

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

3.5

I really struggled with this book. I went into it with really high expectations, and therefore for the first two-thirds of it I was anxiously anticipating what makes this such a highly acclaimed read. The answer, for me at least, was the ending. The last third, and really the shift into Nuria’s perspective, saved this book for me and I found myself finally enjoying the story. While I could appreciate the writing and the plot up until that point, I wasn’t particularly entranced by the mystery and it felt like I was just plodding along; for that reason, I would give this book 3 ½ stars. 

The perspective is that of a teenage boy and is told in first-person, which at least partially was the reason I found it so hard to get sucked into this book. Since I felt distanced from the characters and the goings-on, it didn’t take much to jar me while reading and throw me out of the plot. Every asinine opinion on women, the fetishization of a “mulatto” woman, or the dismissive way sexual assault was casually sprinkled throughout the book was enough to disrupt my reading and fuel my distaste. 

Again, like I said, I can appreciate what Zafón was trying to achieve here in a literary sense. I would love to have properly analyzed this book in a classroom setting to better understand the nuance of mid-twentieth century Spain, rather than rely on my own haphazard understanding and research. 

“Wars have no memory, and nobody has the courage to understand them until there are no voices left to tell what happened, until the moment comes when we no longer recognize them and they return, with another face and another name, to devour what they left behind.” 

This is a multi-generational story, with the actions of 20/30 years ago affecting and mirroring a younger generation. At its heart, there is a cautionary tale of second chances and the destruction that hate and prejudices carry. As well, there are beautiful and evocative lines. This is a book largely about a book, which naturally leads to beautiful phrases about storytelling, reading, and human nature. 

“The words with which a child’s heart is poisoned, through malice or through ignorance, remain branded in his memory, and sooner or later they burn his soul.” 

Despite my mixed experience of it, I am glad that I finally read The Shadow of the Wind. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Chronic illness, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Excrement, Fire/Fire injury, Forced institutionalization, Grief, Gun violence, Hate crime, Homophobia, Incest, Infidelity, Mental illness, Misogyny, Murder, Physical abuse, Police brutality, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, and Vomit

megarowsey's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad slow-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Death, and Child death

TW: incest, death of a baby

juph's review against another edition

mysterious tense slow-paced

• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Blood, Violence, Torture, Sexual violence, Sexual assault, Sexism, Police brutality, Physical abuse, Misogyny, Miscarriage, Infertility, Incest, Homophobia, Excrement, Domestic abuse, Death, Child death, Child abuse, and Bullying

laurenleigh's review against another edition

dark emotional inspiring reflective medium-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? Yes

5.0

I don’t even know what number reread this is, but it hits me every damn time. This is one of the most powerful pieces of literature ever.  I dare say it’s my favorite book of all time. Like if my desert island library could only have one book, I can’t think of anything I’d pick over this one. Can you tell how much I love this novel? I don’t think I’ve talked much on Insta about how this book changed my life, but in short, it set me on the path that brought me to Cal and the Bay Area. Which brought me to Ben! I’m forever in debt to Zafón. This book has everything I love. Mysterious intrigue, gothic settings, characters that jump off the page, a bit of heartfelt romance, friendships that become family, and above all, a true devotion to the magic of storytelling. The reason this story changed my life is because it reminded me of the power of books. The written word can uniquely touch the heart in a way unlike any other art form. My number one dream destination for almost a decade now has been Barcelona, because of this book. Fingers crossed I finally get to visit next spring! You better believe I’m dedicating at least half a day to the Barcelona walking tour included in the back of the US print edition. If you haven’t read this, what are you waiting for?? For this one, I recommend print or ebook over audiobook.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Fire/Fire injury, Death, Murder, and Child abuse

Moderate: Incest

Minor: Death of parent