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Graphic: Hate crime, Homophobia, Incest, Misogyny, Police brutality, Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Confinement, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Miscarriage, Sexual assault, Torture, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Sexual harassment
🇬🇧 Written in the 1st person, past tense. Set in the 1st half of the 20th century, Franco's regime
Intrigue, mystery, books, Barcelona. What's there not to like? Or so I thought, but I ended with mixed feelings.
It's historical fiction. There are scenes that reflect the chauvinist times, things that happen to women that are part of plot points.
Except, there's language & violence used against women that doesn't add anything to the story, so it seems the author is taking pleasure out of tormenting women.
A male character is physically & s exually assaulted, yet it's told in a ridiculous tone. I was intrigued, which is why I kept reading, but I can't ignore these recurring themes.
Mc instantly falls in love with the women he's attracted to, no importance given to knowing them. These are all enigmatic, inscrutable, meaning they are as deep as a leaf.
Otherwise, they are a reason for ridicule.
Beware of Stereotype: blind person asks to touch strangers' faces 🙄
Mystery is almost entirely revealed in a letter conveniently left to the mc.
Writing plays with the frontier between beautiful & pretentious to the point of eyeroll.
🇵🇹 Escrito na 1ª pessoa, passado. Situado na 1ª metade do Séc. XX, Espanha Franquista
Intriga, mistério, livros, Barcelona. O que há para não gostar? Pensei eu, mas no fim fiquei dividida.
É ficção histórica. Há cenas que refletem os tempos machistas, coisas que acontecem a mulheres que fazem parte da trama.
Excepto que há linguagem e violência usadas contra mulheres que não acrescentam nada à história, parece que o autor tirou prazer de atormentar mulheres.
Um personagem masculino é agredido física & sexualmente, sendo tal contado em tom jocoso. Estava intrigada, por isso persisti, mas não posso simplesmente ignorar estes tópicos recorrentes.
Cuidado com Estereótipo: pessoa cega pede para tocar na cara de estranhos 🙄
Protagonista apaixona-se instantaneamente pelas mulheres que lhe são atraentes, e pouca importa conhecê-las. Essas são todas enigmáticas, imperscrutáveis, ou seja têm a profundidade de uma folha.
De contrário, são motivo de ridículo.
Mistério é revelado quase todo numa carta convenientemente deixada ao protagonista.
A escrita brinca com a fronteira entre bela e pretensiosa a ponto de rolar os olhos.
Graphic: Homophobia, Transphobia
Moderate: Domestic abuse, Incest, Physical abuse, Sexism, Torture, Sexual harassment
Minor: Sexual assault, Sexual violence
Graphic: Ableism, Death, Homophobia, Incest, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Police brutality, Fire/Fire injury, Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Body horror, Child abuse, Confinement, Emotional abuse, Blood, Antisemitism, Alcohol
Minor: Chronic illness, Gore, Infidelity, Rape, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Terminal illness, Torture, Excrement, Grief, Medical trauma, Stalking, Suicide attempt, Pregnancy, Outing, Toxic friendship, War
Graphic: Rape
Moderate: Homophobia, Physical abuse, Torture, Violence
Minor: Vomit
Moderate: Child abuse, Child death, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Torture, Violence, Grief, Murder, War
Minor: Bullying, Incest, Abortion
Graphic: Miscarriage, Torture, Violence, Police brutality, Murder
Moderate: Incest, Infidelity, Misogyny, Kidnapping
Minor: Homophobia, Death of parent
Graphic: Violence, Police brutality
Minor: Torture, Excrement
Graphic: Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Chronic illness, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Hate crime, Homophobia, Incest, Infidelity, Mental illness, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Excrement, Vomit, Police brutality, Grief, Murder, Fire/Fire injury
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.
Graphic: Child death, Chronic illness, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Hate crime, Homophobia, Incest, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Torture, Violence, Police brutality, Stalking, Death of parent, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Pregnancy
Moderate: Miscarriage, Xenophobia, Antisemitism
Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Confinement, Domestic abuse, Gore, Physical abuse, Forced institutionalization, Death of parent
Minor: Ableism, Child death, Hate crime, Homophobia, Infidelity, Miscarriage, Sexism, Sexual assault, Torture, Abortion, Murder, Pregnancy