Reviews tagging 'Child death'

The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafón

44 reviews

panatheart's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny mysterious sad medium-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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Child death, Transphobia, Pregnancy, Physical abuse, Medical trauma, and Incest

pi_a_la_mode's review against another edition

mysterious reflective 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

4.25

A mystery that is also a love letter to books and their readers.  Despite being a dark tale overall, Zafon’s beautiful prose builds an intoxicating mystery.  His characters are complex and three-dimensional.  I felt fully invested in each of them.  The novel dragged a bit in places, but I’m more inclined to blame my own reading rut than Zafron’a storytelling.  

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Content Warnings

Minor: Incest, Child death, and Death

bookish_venus's review

dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense 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? It's complicated

5.0

Absolutely loved it . I’m so happy that I picked this book up it raised all the emotions in me. There is no enough words with me to describe this book or how beautiful it is or how it affected me emotionally…

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Abandonment, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Grief, Miscarriage, Physical abuse, Police brutality, and War

onmalsshelf's review against another edition

challenging mysterious sad tense fast-paced

• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

You beautiful son of a bitch - you made me cry.

*adds to all time favorite list*

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Domestic abuse, and Child death

jmconway's review

mysterious slow-paced

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

2.0

4/10 - Underwhelming. The reviews of this book are so good, but I just couldn't get into it. I think the story is really interesting but it's quite waffley at times, and really didn't need to be 500 pages. I also found that there were some bits that REALLy didn’t age well even though it’s not that old. I tend to rate mostly based on enjoyment and unfortunately I was pretty bored by this.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Death, Physical abuse, and Pregnancy

Moderate: Child death, Incest, Infidelity, Sexual content, and Rape

Minor: Suicide

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

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

cryptogay's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious reflective sad medium-paced

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

4.0

Despite myself, I love this book. It is very much a book by Zafón, and has all of the flaws and difficulties of his writing, which I could certainly list for you in warning. 
The themes are very similar to that of Marina, and in many ways this feels like a retelling of that same story. A deep, ghostly, otherworldly mystery is the centerpiece, a young man who falls in love easily dedicates himself to trying to unravel it. The women are pale, beautiful, and largely absent. A kindly and broken hearted father figure is present, but rarely spoken to. It all takes place in an older, more secretive, more ruinous version of Barcelona. The protagonist is reflecting on and writing down the experiences of his youth many years later. It becomes somewhat easy to predict aspects of the mystery, if you've read Zafón before. 
But, his writing is a pleasure to read, his skill in crafting suspense and mystery keeps you reading, and much of the horror is genuinely chilling. The story is intricately crafted, but somehow seems to have sprung up naturally. The humanity of other people is a strong focus. Its an interesting book, and one I cannot help but feel an affection towards. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Chronic illness, Confinement, Death, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Hate crime, Homophobia, Incest, Misogyny, Murder, Physical abuse, Police brutality, Pregnancy, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Stalking, Torture, and Violence

Moderate: Antisemitism, Miscarriage, and Xenophobia

texassizedreads's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious reflective sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No

3.5

The story is beautiful, but I felt like certain anecdotes were unnecessary and dragged the book on for too long.

Also, I was kind of weirded out by the whole incest thing, so a star was taken off for that.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Physical abuse, Gore, Forced institutionalization, Domestic abuse, Death of parent, and Confinement

Minor: Ableism, Abortion, Sexual assault, Sexism, Pregnancy, Torture, Infidelity, Miscarriage, Murder, Homophobia, Hate crime, and Child death

sawshiwen's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense 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

4.0

i knew by the first 100 pages that i would enjoy this book, and i did, mostly. however, the way carlos writes women, and the men in this book are all dog shit, literally except Daniel, Fermin and his dad. The writing is so captivating and beautiful, so many quotes i want to remember forever. One major flaw in this book is the ending. Lol Nuria be explaining everything through a letter?? a superrrr long letter? i would rather see it myself and not be told. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Violence, Toxic relationship, Sexual assault, Murder, Miscarriage, Incest, Grief, Emotional abuse, Child death, and Adult/minor relationship

Moderate: Incest

Minor: Adult/minor relationship