Reviews tagging 'Sexual violence'

The Alienist by Caleb Carr

31 reviews

50shadesofrae's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious tense slow-paced

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

4.0

Love the show, and had a fun time finding the differences. 

I think there are some slower or clunkier moments that drag the pace a bit, but the characters are delightful and it’s a fun ride through the Victorian era. The imagined characters in a clearly well researched cast of real historical figures just does it for me. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Death, Gun violence, Homophobia, Mental illness, Misogyny, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Torture, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Medical content, Kidnapping, Medical trauma, and Murder

Moderate: Alcohol

yliana's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense slow-paced

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

3.75

i watched the show earlier this year and when I realized that it was based on a book, i knew i had to read it. i enjoyed the show a lot more tbh, which completely shocked me. i think that this book so interesting and one thing i think that was missed from the show was the in-depth conversations about the killer, his potential motives, and his way of thinking. that's definitely something that can be hard to translate organically into a show and i found that it was better done in the book.
the reason i liked the show more is because i feel like i got to know the characters better and felt much more deeply for them. i don't think that i would've enjoyed this book half as much if i didn't already like and care about these characters because of the show.
i still really enjoyed this and found it so interesting to see the thought process of all of the detectives (i also started watching criminal minds, FINALLY, last week so it was even better seeing the parallels between the way the detectives approach the cases). obviously this is just fiction but it's made me even more interested than i've already been in murder investigations from before more modern techniques were fully developed and accepted.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Death, Gun violence, Hate crime, Homophobia, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Rape, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Torture, Transphobia, Violence, Police brutality, Medical content, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Murder, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail

jhbandcats's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark informative mysterious reflective 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? Yes

5.0

As a fan of Caleb Carr, I was floored to see a recent interview where he announced he had terminal cancer. He was describing his newest book, My Beloved Monster, a memoir of his life with a semi-feral cat which also addressed his abusive childhood. Because I loved both cats and Carr, I had to read that book. 

I finished the memoir a few days ago and immediately started The Alienist. When I first read it, Google didn’t exist and I knew nothing of Carr’s history. Reading it now was a very different experience than in 1994. I understood Carr’s references and had images of old New York at my fingertips, able to see High Bridge Tower, Croton Reservoir, and other landmarks. 

I could see Carr’s childhood everywhere in the book. His knowledge about alcoholic and abusive parents clearly comes from experience. That and his study of New York City give a vivid feel to the whole book, despite its taking place a century earlier than when written. 

The Alienist is a page-turner but it’s not for the faint of heart looking for a beach read. It addresses class and wealth and education, power and corruption, mental illness and the care of the mentally ill, the desperation that drives children into prostitution, and the violence that results from continued abuse and bullying. It’s a beautifully written story about a terrible time when terrible things happened all too frequently. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Body horror, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Domestic abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Homophobia, Mental illness, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Torture, Violence, Blood, Excrement, Police brutality, Antisemitism, Grief, Medical trauma, Murder, Abandonment, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

sappypatheticm's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious 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? Yes

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Gore, Homophobia, Pedophilia, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Kidnapping, Religious bigotry, Death of parent, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Excrement, Police brutality, Antisemitism, and Cannibalism

tellingtragedy's review against another edition

dark informative mysterious reflective tense medium-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? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness, Pedophilia, Rape, Sexual violence, Forced institutionalization, Xenophobia, Blood, Police brutality, and Murder

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Racism, and Sexism

mirrorofneptune's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

2.0

This is an interesting book, but decidedly not for me. I found the premise interesting and liked the main cast of characters, but I found myself repeatedly “checking out” and then checking back in as the plot progressed– there were a couple plot detours I think the book could’ve done without that might’ve helped the pacing. I can’t speak to the historical accuracy of the methods used by the investigative team, but some of their leaps of psychological logic really tested my suspension of disbelief. I was honestly done long before we got to the big confrontation with the perpetrator. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Child death, Pedophilia, Sexual violence, Torture, and Murder

itsjadenbaby's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense fast-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

4.0

I liked the use of an Alienist and a journalist as the protagonists of the story. It takes the story to a new place where a cop protagonist couldn’t go. I really enjoyed it, the audiobook is a solid narration.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Violence, Trafficking, and Murder

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Gun violence, Hate crime, Homophobia, Torture, and Blood

Minor: Animal death, Police brutality, and Cannibalism

raginsagein's review against another edition

challenging dark informative mysterious slow-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? It's complicated

1.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Pedophilia, Sexual violence, and Violence

Moderate: Addiction, Animal cruelty, and Alcohol

Minor: Deadnaming, Drug use, Antisemitism, Cannibalism, Colonisation, and Classism

that_bookworm_guy's review against another edition

dark mysterious medium-paced

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

4.0

This is a dark story that has a pot of descriptions and explanation of the plot and the history. I've read reviews that have mentioned it's a lot of description and details, but I absolutely love that

The story is long but doesn’t feel as long as it looks. I was a little intimated by the length but it feels shorter than it is. 

I really enjoyed this

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Slavery, Torture, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Police brutality, Medical content, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Religious bigotry, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Injury/Injury detail

carlaabra's review against another edition

mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.0

This was surprisingly good, and I don’t like historical fiction usually. Our narrator is witty (I’ve chuckled) and self-aware, which makes sense given the story is being recollected by our narrator 15 years in the future. I’m not a big fan of the explicit foreshadowing at the end of chapters, eg (I’m making this up) “I felt as though XYZ was looking up, but as I would find out in a few days time, our troubles would only get worse”. Before reading I thought some of the psychoanalysis/profiling would be boring/repetitive (I’ve watched Criminal Minds so I’m basically an expert /s) but it’s been quite interesting. I liked all the main characters and how they bounced off eachother. One gripe is the author’s treatment of side characters, who seemingly exist to be in danger and create tension. Our main characters are too precious to harm, I guess. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Torture and Violence

Moderate: Sexual violence