Reviews tagging 'Forced institutionalization'

L'Ombra Del Vent by Carlos Ruiz Zafón

47 reviews

adventurous dark emotional funny hopeful mysterious medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Complicated
Diverse cast of characters: No
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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adventurous emotional 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

This book travels with me under my skin, a constant companion.

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challenging dark mysterious tense slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Loveable characters: No

Atrocious. “The Shadow of the Wind“ is nothing but a series of horrible events. The plot seems like a competition between the characters: “Whose misfortune is the worst?”

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.

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adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad tense 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: No

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adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Plot
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: No
Diverse cast of characters: No
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Although I loved the literary mystery and setting,  the ubiquitous misogyny and violence is hard to handle. Women are not treated well in this book…

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adventurous dark mysterious tense
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Loveable characters: Yes

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adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense slow-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

what started as an intriguing mystery novel soon gripped me completely with its characters and setting and writing. I loved every moment of it, even the parts I didn't like. 

Expand filter menu Content Warnings
emotional mysterious sad slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Complicated
Diverse cast of characters: No
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Expand filter menu Content Warnings
adventurous mysterious fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Complicated
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus: No

This isn't my sort of book - historical fiction, mystery, metafiction, fatefully doomed romances - but it came as a recommendation so I thought I'd give it a go.

The writing style walks a dangerous line between vivid and beautiful description and pretentious sentimentality. I have a real aversion to flowery writing, but I let myself be convinced by Zafon's verbosity, which only occasionally grated me.

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adventurous dark emotional funny hopeful mysterious 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: Yes

Superbement bien écrit. Les premiers chapitres sont tellement beaux que je les ai lus par petits bouts, pour les savourer pleinement.

Les éléments gothiques sont parfois trop présents à mon goût. De plus, certaines scènes m'ont fait tellement peur que j'en ai fait des cauchemars (d'où les 4,5 étoiles et non 5).

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