Reviews with content warning for Sexual assault - La comunidad secreta

Reviews tagging 'Sexual assault'

La comunidad secreta by Philip Pullman

129 reviews

laura_m's review against another edition

3.5

Content Warnings

amehlia's review against another edition

3.5

adventurous mysterious medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Complicated

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

“Evil can be unscrupulous, and good can’t. Evil has nothing to stop it doing what it wants, while good has one hand tied behind its back. To do the things it needs to do to win, it’d have to become evil to do ‘em.”

After reading La Bell Sauvage, I was excited to continue my journey through The Book of Dust with Pullman’s second instalment in the series, The Secret Commonwealth. This story reunites us with Lyra, now 20-years old and studying at St Sophia’s College, whose relationship with her dæmon Pantalaimon has become strained by her interest in the works of philosopher Simon Talbot and novelist Gottfried Brande, who both argue that dæmons are merely figments of the imagination and denounce anything that isn’t logical or attributable to pure reason. Meanwhile, the Magisterium remains a powerful enemy, and trouble is brewing further east over a rare rose known only to grow in the desert of Karamakan, and the industry of growing the roses and extracting their oil is under threat from mysterious men from the mountains.

The story opens with Lyra in Oxford, and although Lyra is different in many ways to her child self, it was enchanting to be reunited with her in a familiar setting, and I quickly became immersed in the book. Lyra and Pan’s difficult relationship was portrayed very well, and was interesting to read about because it echoed that relationship you sometimes have with yourself when you’re going through something difficult or a period of change. You feel disconnected and dissatisfied, but you can’t pinpoint why. I thought Pullman portrayed this feeling very well through Lyra and Pan as they begin another adventure that places new demands on each of them. I enjoyed the plot, and whilst others have criticised it for being too complicated or containing too many characters and side plots, I don’t think this detracts too much from the overall feel of the book. I read it quite quickly considering it’s over 700 pages long, so the plot and characters were always fresh in my mind and I didn’t find it too difficult to follow. If you’re taking this book at a slower pace, you might find the plot and it’s sub-narratives quite confusing. Compared to La Belle Sauvage, I felt that the pace and plot was more consistent, but less interesting in places. With the first book, I was hooked in the first half but found the second half a bit of a drag, whereas with this book my intrigue was satisfied throughout the whole thing, but I wasn’t enthralled by it.

This book started out as a strong 5⭐️, but there are a number of things I really didn’t like about this book. There’s a pretty unnecessary love story underlying parts of the narrative, which I’ll go into more detail here:

I loved Malcom Polstead in the first book, and was excited to see him reintroduced, but why, oh why did Pullman have to make him fall in love with Lyra? She is 11-years his junior, he knew her as a baby, and mentored her as a teenager. This aspect of the book I absolutely hate. Malcom should be a guardian figure to Lyra, more of an older-brother, not someone with a creepy infatuation with, essentially, a child. Pullman has to convince the reader that this sort of relationship would be okay, but if you have to write an extended piece of dialogue justifying why you’ve chosen to make a 31-year old man fall in love with a 20-year old woman, you probably know that there’s something inherently wrong with it. Also, why does everyone else in this book seem to know about Malcolm’s feelings considering he only just recognised them himself? And why does no one condemn them? At least twice in the book someone, totally unprompted, comments something like “you’re in love with her, aren’t you?” as if it’s the most obvious thing in the world, as if they actually expected it. What was the point of reintroducing Alice in this story, writing her to be a widow just so that she could be Mrs. Lonsdale, and making it seem as if she and Malcom are involved in some way, just to flip the script and have Malcom develop a completely inappropriate infatuation with Lyra? This facet genuinely irritates me, and left it impossible for me to rate this book 5⭐️.

Secondly, there’s a pretty graphic sexual assault that takes place towards the end of the book. Maybe it’s because I recently finished reading another book with a sexual assault, but this part was upsetting for two reasons. First, it’s a reality many of us have experienced in our lives, and when your form of escapism serves to remind you of such experiences, it no longer serves its purpose. Second, fiction does not always have to reflect reality. Most women do not want to read about other women being assaulted by men. Can we at least let fictional women exist without the threat of violence by the hands of men?

Apart from those two aspects of the book, this probably would’ve been a strong 4.5⭐️ or maybe even a 5⭐️. Of course, the ending was pretty dissatisfying, but this book is a bridge between the first and the last, so that’s not necessarily a bad thing. I’m interested to see how Pullman is going to pull everything together in the final book of the trilogy. Overall, this was generally an enjoyable read apart from a couple of aspects, and I’m looking forward to the final instalment of The Book of Dust.

Content Warnings

tragedeke's review against another edition

2.25

slow-paced

Loveable characters: No

Diverse cast of characters: Complicated

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

I really tried to like this since I loved Malcolm in the previous book but I cannot get over the age gap between him and Lyra, and especially as he was her teacher as a teenager. I also hated the chapter where she nearly gets raped it served no purpose, as far as I could see, to the plot and the way its presented as "don't go to the middle east you will be attacked, oppressed and raped as a woman" is so bad.

Content Warnings

claudiajades's review against another edition

4.5

adventurous emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Plot

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Complicated

Flaws of characters a main focus: No

So gripping! Really loved it, so hooked. Devastated have to wait it out for the final book in the series though. Potentially recommend waiting to read until all are out :P

Content Warnings

marie_is_reading's review against another edition

4.0

adventurous dark mysterious fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: No

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: No

Content Warnings

sophie_visentin's review against another edition

4.0

adventurous challenging dark mysterious slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Content Warnings

cilly_karma's review against another edition

4.0

adventurous challenging dark fast-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

A very page turning adventure, with dark and adult themes, sometimes very dark. Feels very mature.

Content Warnings

skylacine's review against another edition

3.5

adventurous challenging dark mysterious slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Complicated

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Another needlessly dark addition to the His Dark Materials trilogy.

Full review at: https://skybookcorner.blogspot.com/2021/11/book-review-secret-commonwealth-by.html

Content Warnings

fqwatkins's review against another edition

3.0

adventurous dark fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: No

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Complicated

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Content Warnings

jasmineehare's review against another edition

3.25

dark emotional mysterious reflective sad medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

This book feels like a betrayal to me. I’ve read it twice; the second time I listened to the audiobook narrated by Michael Sheen, which I preferred over reading the hard copy. I found it boring and convoluted - overly complicated in an attempt to seem intellectual.

The pain I felt over Lyra and Pan’s relationship was intense and really disheartening. But the worst part was the

sexual assault. It felt wholly unnecessary, and felt like it had to be in there because that’s what happens in grown-up books. I did not need to see a beloved, fiery, strong female character be assaulted in that way. It truly felt personal, and maybe I’m unable to separate my feelings toward the characters from a recognition of good storytelling, but it did not feel like good storytelling to me. It felt lazy and uncreative and I can’t really forgive Pullman for it

Content Warnings

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