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Graphic: Violence, Grief
Moderate: Death, Domestic abuse, Gun violence, Grief, Murder, Pregnancy
Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Child death, Emotional abuse, Hate crime, Torture, Forced institutionalization, Excrement, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Sexual harassment, War
Graphic: Torture, Police brutality
Moderate: Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Incest, Infidelity, Physical abuse, Torture, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Excrement, Murder, Sexual harassment, War, Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Death of parent
Graphic: Child death, Confinement, Gun violence, Police brutality, Fire/Fire injury
Moderate: Infidelity, Stalking, Sexual harassment
Minor: Incest, War
When Daniel visits the Cemetery of Forgotten Books he picks The Shadow of the Wind to take custodianship of after it calls to him. Little does he know what an impact this will have on his life. We see the parallels between his life and the author's life as he tries to find out why someone wants to burn the book.
I have very mixed opinions on this book. While I loved the setting and idea and did enjoy parts, overall I wasn't all that invested. The author often over describes things and it started to feel repetitive. This didn't help with how similar Daniel and Carax (the author of the fictional Shadow of the Wind and their experiences) were an the plot sometimes got a bit lost in itself, especially with how many side characters and tangents were added in. I do know the style works well for others though! The discussion and treatment of female characters was also frustrating. Although large parts of this book were frustrating, I will say that I liked the final scene. I just wish we had gotten there a bit faster an more smoothly.
Graphic: Gun violence, Misogyny, Violence, Police brutality, Stalking
Moderate: Death, Sexual assault, Fire/Fire injury, Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Homophobia, Pedophilia, Sexual content, Blood, Death of parent, Alcohol
There is barely a content warning to be found that does not apply to this book. The story is full of graphic portrayals of all kinds of violence and abuse. None of the characters are likeable. In the case of “The Shadow of the Wind“, this is a blessing, since everything that happens to the characters is bad.
The sexism and misogyny is blatant throughout the book. It would have been one thing to portray these as part of the era in which the book is set, but “The Shadow of the Wind” contains multiple characters whose only role is to enact and spew sexist, misogynist poison. This is taken so far that several characters introduce themselves through bigoted statements, as if this philosophy was the most important and first thing you need to know about them. This book does not pass the Bechdel test. The book is barely worthy of the phrase “portrayal of women”, since there are only portrayals of objects of desire, self-sacrificial lovers and devout mothers.
Before you read this book, please take a look at the content warnings to see how vile it is. I’m shocked and disappointed to see that the average rating is above 4 stars. The content of the book deserves zero stars, however, the well-constructed mystery and beautiful writing elevate it to one or two stars.
Graphic: Confinement, Domestic abuse, Gun violence, Misogyny, Rape, Sexism, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Medical trauma, Fire/Fire injury, Sexual harassment, Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Hate crime, Homophobia, Terminal illness, Pregnancy
Minor: Animal cruelty, Child abuse, Child death, Gore, Miscarriage, Forced institutionalization, Antisemitism, Grief, Mass/school shootings, Death of parent, War, Classism
Moderate: Child death, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Gun violence, Incest, Torture, Violence, Blood, Police brutality, Medical content, Grief, Stalking, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, War, Injury/Injury detail, Classism
Graphic: Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Incest, Mental illness, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Sexism, Sexual content, Terminal illness, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Police brutality, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Stalking, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, War, Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Bullying, Child abuse, Confinement, Cursing, Hate crime, Homophobia, Infertility, Infidelity, Rape, Sexual assault, Torture, Toxic relationship, Excrement, Pregnancy, Classism
Minor: Ableism, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Vomit, Antisemitism, Abortion
Graphic: Domestic abuse, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Police brutality, Sexual harassment
Moderate: Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Homophobia, Incest, Mental illness, Racial slurs, Rape, Sexual violence, Torture, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Grief, Murder, Pregnancy
Minor: War
Graphic: Child death, Domestic abuse, Gun violence, Homophobia, Incest, Infidelity, Mental illness, Toxic relationship, Excrement, Dementia, Grief, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Toxic friendship, Injury/Injury detail
Graphic: Child death, Confinement, Death, Gun violence, Hate crime, Infidelity, Miscarriage, Sexual content, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Police brutality, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury
Moderate: War