Reviews tagging 'Emotional abuse'

The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafón

31 reviews

cheyrohm's review against another edition

emotional mysterious tense slow-paced

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

2.0

Confused by the number of five star reviews on this. Did we read the same book? Although it has a couple of exciting parts, most of the plot is obscured by overly flowery prose. I just wanted the author to get to the point already! 

And the misogyny... Ugh. I get it's set in the 40s/50s but there is literally not one female character in here that is described by something other than their beauty, youth, or fertility. Gross. And they exist solely to develop the character of Daniel, of course.

Also, the mystery is finally revealed by way of...someone writing it all out in a letter? Now that's a cheap writing trick if I ever heard one. Seems like the author didn't know how to wrap it up so threw this in at the last quarter of the book.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Police brutality and Violence

Moderate: Sexism, Homophobia, Emotional abuse, and Misogyny

Minor: Death, Child death, Death of parent, and Pregnancy

jeanniea's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark mysterious reflective sad tense slow-paced

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

4.75

Great storytelling. Similar storytelling style to that of erin morgenstern. Story picks up about halfway thru. I enjoyed the ending of the book! There were a few unexpected surprises in the plot.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Grief, Murder, Pregnancy, Torture, and Violence

Minor: Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, Rape, Torture, Abortion, Domestic abuse, Forced institutionalization, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Stalking, Abandonment, Alcohol, Child death, Chronic illness, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Sexual content, and Gun violence

bluejay21's review

dark emotional mysterious 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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Hate crime, Homophobia, Incest, Injury/Injury detail, Misogyny, and Police brutality

Moderate: Blood, Confinement, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Forced institutionalization, Infidelity, Miscarriage, Murder, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, and Torture

francine_is_reading's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad tense 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? N/A

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Incest, Injury/Injury detail, Physical abuse, and Sexism

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

aydaybay's review against another edition

There are more problems than I realized upon a first read. I couldn't get past how misogynistic the main character was and how much he fantasized about the women he encountered. And it was EVERY woman.

Also, the fact of the underaged sex when he was 19 years old grossed me out. Even if Bea was unhappy with her fiance, he did everything possible to coerce her rather than trying to help her. I couldn't get past the line about her being 17 right before they had sex.

The people aren't as dynamic as I had remembered. The good people were basically angels in Daniel's eyes while the villains were as evil a person as you could possibly get. I understand why I enjoyed it before. But there are things upon further reread that I just can't look past.

First Read (2018):
Without a shadow of a doubt, this is my favorite book of all time. I have never felt this passionately about a book before in my entire life. There were so many twists and turns. The characters had so much depth and I never wanted this book to end. I'm so happy that I read this book and that I can now recommend it to others. This book is absolutely beautiful.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Toxic relationship, Sexism, Sexual content, Emotional abuse, Police brutality, and Adult/minor relationship

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

cleiona's review

dark emotional funny mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• 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

Minor: Homophobia, Emotional abuse, Police brutality, Domestic abuse, Rape, and Sexual assault

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