Reviews with content warning for Sexual assault - The Tortilla Curtain

Reviews tagging 'Sexual assault'

The Tortilla Curtain by T.C. Boyle

6 reviews

lavalierre's review against another edition

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emotional tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.25

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svao78's review against another edition

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dark sad slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

1.5

I wish I could say that this is an insightful or thought-provoking piece on the Mexican/Latin American immigrant experience in the US. Sadly, this book presents a stereotypical depiction of undocumented migrants and their experiences within American and Mexican-American communities. The only chapters that might have something of value to say are the torturous sections regarding América's violent and demeaning experiences as a housekeeper. Yet even these chapters are littered with exploitative and vivid violence used to shock rather than provide any form of commentary. On a worse note, almost every chapter that focuses on Delayne is a meandering dive into the mind of an emasculated bigot, who believes doesn't have a biased bone in his body. The idea of dissecting the performative nature of immigration politics among the privileged in California is so interesting and could create such amazing conversations. But Delaney's story presents this issue and says nothing and goes nowhere. I don't mind violence when used within the context of a story, or unlikable characters when there are narrative or thematic reasons for their irredeemable nature. Without narrative justification, you're left feeling cheated and uncomfortable.

It is reductive and simplistic in its analysis of the relationship between undocumented migrants and the American middle class to a degree that leaves the reader wishing that they had spent their time reading something else.

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yodamordecai's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional reflective sad slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

1.5

Reading this book was painful. Nothung happened until the last 5 pages and then it was so poorly written I couldn’t figure out what was happening. The themes are straight up incoherent and the ending made no sense. I don’t know what the point of this book was.

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naiu_cs's review against another edition

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dark tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? N/A
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

1.0

Not once has a boom ever managed to ignite this rage in me, and that is not a compliment.

I get that it is supposed to be socially critical and all that but if you want to accurately protray the suffering a minority actually has to go through in order to point out white privelege and prejudiced racist thinking, I don't think this is the way to go.
All the respect for social novels, I think Boyle went to far with this one.

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njauf's review against another edition

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3.0

idk dude.. this book had some interesting ideas and imagery but it just made me feel bad

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februaryfriday's review against another edition

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challenging dark slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

1.5

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