Reviews tagging 'Body horror'

The Rose Code by Kate Quinn

3 reviews

kailiyahknight's review against another edition

emotional inspiring 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Body horror, Bullying, Child death, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Grief, Alcohol, and War

Moderate: Racial slurs

Minor: Cancer, Cursing, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Terminal illness, Excrement, Vomit, Antisemitism, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

jencolumb0's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark informative inspiring mysterious medium-paced

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

4.25

A sweeping historical war-time novel; almost a math geek's League of Their Own. I enjoyed learning about an aspect of WWII history that I had not previously heard about. I also thoroughly enjoyed coming along for the ride of the (fictionalized) rise, fall, and rise again of a trio of war-time friends. As one would expect with a novel set in England during WWII, there is a fair amount of discussion around loss and violence. As the book is centered on a trio of women, the loss and violence they experience is, to a certain degree, reflective of their gender and the patriarchal constructs of the time, though I do appreciate the author's challenge to these experiences. There was just enough romance blended into the book and a solid HEA/HFN for each of the primary characters to keep it from being a complete, war-time downer, though please do read through the content warnings if you have any sensitivity to specific issues because, in more than 600 pages, pretty much every type of loss/traumatic experience is explored to some degree. I did not love that the character coded as autistic ends up spending

three and half years in a mental institution

, even if it was completely irrelevant to their neurodiversity. It just felt kind of ick. Though I, overall, enjoyed the character development, after about 500 pages, had to chuckle at the neat twists that had to snap into place to get to the HEA/HFN. While improbable on balance, those twists make for a satisfying (if not slightly madcap) outcome to an interesting corner of well-fictionalized history. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Body horror, Bullying, Cancer, Child death, Confinement, Death, Mental illness, Rape, Sexual violence, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Religious bigotry, Medical trauma, Gaslighting, Abandonment, Alcohol, War, and Classism

Moderate: Infidelity, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexism, Terminal illness, Torture, Xenophobia, Islamophobia, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Panic attacks/disorders, Vomit, Abortion, and Pregnancy

The racism and islamophobia are challenged to a degree. There is also a favorable depiction of an open marriage where criticism thereof is challenged.

_kathill's review against another edition

adventurous mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes

3.5

To me this book could have been like 200 pages shorter. I didn’t really care for anything that happened in the 1947 parts of the book until the last 100 pages and even then? Meh. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Abortion