Reviews tagging 'Rape'

The Japanese Lover by Isabel Allende

3 reviews

thereaderinshades's review against another edition

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emotional reflective sad medium-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

3.75


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jinmichae's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful mysterious slow-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? Yes

5.0

I just really enjoyed this book.

It was satisfying to keep reading to find all the pieces and how they fit together throughout the narrative, and to learn more about the characters. I liked the different expressions of love and friendship, the hint of something that lasts beyond death, and the exploration of what it means to grow old.

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marcella's review against another edition

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dark emotional medium-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

3.0

This was a lovely, slowly revealed biopic. 

The least charitable way to read this is a thin narrative of attraction shuffled along by a series of ghastly horrors. I found the depictions of the Japanese internment camps compelling (stripping away dignity and freedom from a huge and arbitrary group), but the
brutal child abuse scenes
came out of nowhere and felt gratuitously awful. 

I liked the prose and the narrator, though. And I liked all the old folks with rich inner selves, living life with various degrees of independence, and learning to accept new limitations without caving into them. Perhaps some of the various misfortunes that befell the characters felt overwrought because it covered multiple long lives compressed into one book. 

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