Reviews tagging 'Death of parent'

The Alienist by Caleb Carr

5 reviews

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

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

jmross10's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative mysterious sad 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

4.0

The book was a bit drawn out.

The strongest part for me was the use of history to inform the story, particularly the criminology aspect. It was interesting to see how the characters drew certain conclusions based on early studies and new practices. I especially liked that they tried (at least one) scientific principle that had no real basis. It shows the trial and error aspect of research which suits the subject matter. 

It’s not a fast read by any means but it was an interesting one. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Gore, Homophobia, Mental illness, Racial slurs, Racism, Violence, Blood, Death of parent, and Murder

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Rape, Forced institutionalization, Excrement, Police brutality, and Grief

antonishapolitepeoples's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful informative mysterious reflective sad 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child abuse, Death, Gore, Homophobia, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Sexual violence, Violence, Blood, and Murder

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, and Death of parent

lilifane's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional informative mysterious tense medium-paced

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

5.0

 These were very dense 500 pages but worth it.
You definitely need at least some interest in the following, though: New York City (preferably it's history) and CSI/Criminal Minds (crime scene investigations and criminal profiling). Because there is a lot and I mean A LOT of words dedicated to these topics. Which means I loved it.

The story takes place in 1896 New York City and is a about an alienist (duh) trying to catch a serial killer. But it's not really a who done it, it focuses more on the psychological factor of such a crime, on the obsacles during that time to pursue such a goal and on all the methods of forensic science and criminal profiling that we take for granted now but that didn't really exist back then or were just being discovered.

I needed some time to get into the writing style and setting but once I was used to it, I really enjoyed it. To discover one of my favourite cities in such a historical setting was really cool and I appreciated how much time Carr spend on describing it in such a detailed and intimate way. (I wasn't that much interested in the political aspects though.)
The whole investigation process was amazing. Yes, it was very detailed and slow paced sometimes but... I didn't know that a whole chapter about the analysis of one letter could be this exciting. And discovering all those details with the protagonists little by little was absolutely rewarding.
Fell in love with the protagonists very quickly btw. The way they interacted with each other was just beautiful.

But... there are some things that bothered me, although most be attributed to the time the book was placed in. Sooo few women for example (although a very very cool one among the protagonists). And the way mentally ill people, queer people, sex worker were talked about even by some of the progressive protagonists (although one aspect of the book is to accept/respect these margialised groups more). I'm conflicted. Some deaths and the purpose they had make me angry. And this has nothing to do with the time period, this I just didn't like.

But as a whole I was really impressed by the book and how smart the plot was. And the author's note in my edition was hilatious. The story with the fake photo is my new fav thing. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Cursing, Deadnaming, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Hate crime, Homophobia, Mental illness, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexism, Torture, Transphobia, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Excrement, Vomit, Police brutality, Antisemitism, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Cannibalism, Religious bigotry, Medical trauma, Death of parent, and Murder