Reviews tagging 'Gaslighting'

L'Ombra Del Vent by Carlos Ruiz Zafón

5 reviews

waytoomanybooks's review against another edition

5.0

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious reflective tense fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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What a blessing and a treat it is to come across a five-star book that captured my heart and attention on page one! I was blown away by the beautiful writing, the rich characters, the detailed settings, the intrigue, the mysteries, the murders, everything! I was enthralled. Each character felt like a real person. And each twist and turn felt entirely believable, though extreme. Very much a “our world, but more.”

You can’t help but feel for Daniel the whole way through as he searches not only for Julian and his works, but also for himself. We see him grow up and learn what it is to be an adult, what his values are, what is right and fair. You can’t help but root for him and the people he befriends along the way. I couldn’t help but feel as though he were a good friend of mine by the time I got to the last page. 

And the cherry on top is that it’s a book about books, a trope that is difficult to do well, but which is done superbly well here!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Gun violence, Hate crime, Homophobia, Incest, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Rape, Sexism, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Excrement, Police brutality, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, Outing, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail, Classism

kalafern's review against another edition

2.5

dark mysterious sad tense medium-paced

Loveable characters: No

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Homophobia, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Sexism, Sexual violence, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Police brutality, Grief, Fire/Fire injury, Sexual harassment, Classism

Moderate: Bullying, Cancer, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Drug use, Incest, Infertility, Infidelity, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Terminal illness, Violence, Excrement, Vomit, Police brutality, Dementia, Kidnapping, Religious bigotry, Stalking, Death of parent, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Lesbophobia, Gaslighting, Sexual harassment, War, Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Acephobia/Arophobia, Colonisation

ghostinthewalls's review against another edition

4.25

adventurous dark funny mysterious reflective 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Body shaming, Child abuse, Child death, Chronic illness, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Hate crime, Homophobia, Incest, Infidelity, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Terminal illness, Torture, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Excrement, Police brutality, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Stalking, Abortion, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Lesbophobia, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Abandonment, Sexual harassment, Injury/Injury detail, Classism

Moderate: Toxic relationship, Xenophobia, Toxic friendship, War

mikarala's review against another edition

4.0

adventurous dark funny mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Plot

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: No

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This book was hard for me to rate. There are definitely some real strengths: I think the writing style is beautifully lyrical and engaging, the plot is overall really good, some of the characters are really entertaining, and I enjoy the setting of post-Civil War Spain. However, I do think there are some pacing issues (the first half is quite slow imo), there's no fresh takes of the themes or interesting messages, and I never really fell in love with any of the characters, or even really had strong feelings towards them. What got me really turning the pages in the second half of the novel (which was much quicker paced than the first) was just an eagerness to figure out what was going to happen. And while that's certainly not an issue, it's not what I look for from a book and it prevent me from rating it higher even though I highly recommend reading this.

Ultimately I feel like this is a story that follows the conventions of story-telling extremely well, but without any very interesting twists to make it unique.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Gaslighting, War

Minor: Incest, Rape, Forced institutionalization

frenandjen's review against another edition

3.0

adventurous challenging dark mysterious sad tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: No

Loveable characters: No

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: No

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Biphobia, Body shaming, Child abuse, Child death, Chronic illness, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Gun violence, Hate crime, Homophobia, Incest, Mental illness, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexism, Torture, Transphobia, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Excrement, Police brutality, Dementia, Kidnapping, Grief, Stalking, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Lesbophobia, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Sexual harassment, Colonisation, Injury/Injury detail, Classism