A review by beastmomma38
The Paper Palace by Miranda Cowley Heller

challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.0

This book is not exactly as described. Yes, it's about a woman struggling with her past and what to do about her infidelity with her first love. What I wish I would have known ahead of time is that the first half of the book involves so much talk of past sexual abuse from family members to adults and children. The only thing that kept me going was the wonderful writing style and the hope the explicit sexual  abuse stops, which it does. 
I would have loved to give this book 5 stars but the first half of this book made me so uncomfortable, the best I can do is 3. So if you love family drama, back and forth in time stories, and are not triggered by sexual abuse, definitely give it a shot. But please be warned majority of sexual abuse happens to children of varying ages.
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