Reviews tagging 'Torture'

All The Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr

51 reviews

christiemaple's review against another edition

adventurous emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Death, Gun violence, Panic attacks/disorders, Rape, Sexual violence, Torture, Violence, Excrement, Death of parent, Murder, War, and Injury/Injury detail

amblewithme's review against another edition

adventurous sad slow-paced

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

2.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence and War

Moderate: Rape and Torture

Minor: Vomit

craftyanty's review against another edition

challenging emotional hopeful mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

4.25

I put off reading this book for years. I was intimidated by it and a bit afraid it wouldn't live up to its rating. I'm so glad I finally took the time to read it. It took me a little while to get used to the third person omniscient point of view... it confused me a bit sometimes. It is a beautiful, multi-layered story. The characters are well-developed and I fell in love with them. I truly appreciated reading this one on my Kindle. I used the translation and dictionary a lot. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Torture

Moderate: War

Minor: Rape

steffieras's review against another edition

dark emotional inspiring reflective sad medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Genocide, Hate crime, Physical abuse, Violence, Antisemitism, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Torture

Minor: Rape

read33r's review against another edition

5.0

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Content Warnings

Minor: Death, Hate crime, Sexual assault, Torture, Violence, Antisemitism, and War

macsuga's review against another edition

reflective medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Physical abuse and War

Minor: Sexual assault, Torture, and Violence

kelly_e's review against another edition

challenging emotional sad slow-paced

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

3.0

Title: All the Light We Cannot See
Author: Anthony Doerr
Genre: Historical Fiction
Rating: 3.00
Pub Date: May 6, 2014

T H R E E • W O R D S

Daring • Vivid • Dense

📖 S Y N O P S I S

Marie-Laure lives with her father in Paris near the Museum of Natural History, where he works as the master of its thousands of locks. When she is six, Marie-Laure goes blind and her father builds a perfect miniature of their neighborhood so she can memorize it by touch and navigate her way home. When she is twelve, the Nazis occupy Paris and father and daughter flee to the walled citadel of Saint-Malo, where Marie-Laure's reclusive great-uncle lives in a tall house by the sea. With them they carry what might be the museum's most valuable and dangerous jewel.

In a mining town in Germany, the orphan Werner grows up with his younger sister, enchanted by a crude radio they find. Werner becomes an expert at building and fixing these crucial new instruments, a talent that wins him a place at a brutal academy for Hitler Youth, then a special assignment to track the resistance. More and more aware of the human cost of his intelligence, Werner travels through the heart of the war and, finally, into Saint-Malo, where his story and Marie- Laure's converge.

💭 T H O U G H T S

All the Light We Cannot See has sat unread on my shelf for far too long, yet with the release of the mini-series slated for December, I knew there was no better time to finally dive in. My expectations were incredibly high knowing it's beloved by so many, yet the size really had me hesitating. Unfortunately, the timing just wasn't right and my sky high expectations left me feeling unsatisfied and disappointed.

I'll start out by saying the imagery was stunning, the writing was evocative, and the relationship between Marie-Laure and her father was beautiful. I greatly appreciated the way she learned to find her own way in the world. It also paints a realistic depiction of young men being drawn into the Hitler Youth. However, the structure made it hard to follow the story at times, which made it unnecessarily long.

Even though I enjoyed the story overall, I never found myself totally invested. I know part of that was the timing and my expectations, but another part is just poor execution in putting the story onto paper. This is one case where I think I may enjoy the movie more than I did the book and I look forward to watching it sometime soon.

📚 R E C O M M E N D • T O
• WWII historical fiction buffs

🔖 F A V O U R I T E • Q U O T E S

"But it is not bravery; I have no choice. I wake up and live my life. Don't you do the same?"

"It's embarrassingly plain how inadequate language is." 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Genocide, Gun violence, Hate crime, Physical abuse, Racism, Torture, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Antisemitism, Murder, and War

Moderate: Bullying, Confinement, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Grief, and Abandonment

Minor: Ableism, Cancer, Child death, Mental illness, and Death of parent

PTSD

miaaa_lenaaa's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful informative sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

‘Does she grieve over his absence? Or has she calcified her feelings, protected herself, as he is learning to do?’

‘Thats how it feels… as though his love for his daughter will outstrip the limits of his body’

‘Silence is the fruit of occupation; it hangs in branches, steps from gutters.’

The fucking ending are you kidding me im gonna scream

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Cancer, Child death, Confinement, Death, Mental illness, Torture, Blood, Antisemitism, Grief, Death of parent, and War

esjackson's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

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

4.5

The jumping time periods was very confusing at times

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Genocide, Physical abuse, Violence, Antisemitism, and War

Moderate: Ableism, Cancer, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, Torture, Murder, and Abandonment

Minor: Cursing and Death of parent

kim_lommaert's review against another edition

emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Hate crime, Racism, Torture, Xenophobia, Antisemitism, Murder, and War

Moderate: Genocide, Blood, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Injury/Injury detail, and Deportation

Minor: Gun violence, Infertility, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Violence, and Alcohol