Reviews tagging 'Sexual assault'

The House of the Spirits by Isabel Allende

157 reviews

alyssaakdefusco's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark hopeful mysterious reflective slow-paced

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

4.25

A whole journey! I absolutely love generational historical fiction like this. And I'll start backwards by saying the last several chapters absolutely FLOORED me. I was crying by the last page. The only reason I'm not giving 5 stars is that this book is loooong and it had me feeling confused by some of the character choices up until the very end! It took me a while to read. Parts of it were sluggish and a lot of really crappy stuff happens. Plus for most of the book you're bounced back and forth by a 3rd person narrator and then a 1st person narration by the main male character of the book who is a racist r*pist, so that really threw me off. But seriously, it is worth a read just to get to the end. I've never experienced that much of a turnaround with a book and so much justification for such a long and hard to read first 3/4 of a book! Phew. It's helpful to do some research about the historical context of Chile in the 1st half of the 20th century too because Allende is ultimately telling that story through the lens of this family. I didn't realize that until about half way through! My bad. Anyways, here's my favorite passage from the book that sums up what I loved so much about it and what was revealed to me at the very end:

"She was one of those stoical, practical women of our country, the kind of woman who has a child with every man who passes through her life and, on top of that, takes in other people's abandoned children, her own poor relatives, and anybody who needs a mother, sister, or an aunt; the kind of woman who's the pillar of many other lives, who raises children to grow up and leave her and lets men leave her too, without a word of reproach, because she has more pressing things to worry about. She looked like so many others I had met...I told her she had an enormous risk in rescuing me, and she smiled. It was then I understood that the days of the fascists were numbered, because they have not been able to destroy the spirit of these women."

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Confinement, Death, Genocide, Incest, Miscarriage, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Torture, Police brutality, Kidnapping, Abortion, and Murder

dollarsignimp's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• 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: Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Sexual content, Torture, Violence, Grief, and Classism

Moderate: Animal death, Confinement, Drug abuse, Infidelity, Pedophilia, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Violence, Trafficking, Car accident, Murder, Pregnancy, and War

certainlynotpolina's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• 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: Rape, Sexual assault, Torture, and Trafficking

Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Animal death, Incest, Miscarriage, Vomit, and Death of parent

alysereadsbooks's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense slow-paced

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

4.5

I read this as part of my local library reading challenge. I’m trying to branch out and this book was definitely out of my comfort zone. I really did enjoy it though and loved tracing the lineage of a family. I didn’t love the ending. And I think Esteban was possibly the worst fictional man to ever exist. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death and Torture

Moderate: Child abuse, Genocide, Pedophilia, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Religious bigotry, Car accident, Death of parent, and Pregnancy

ikiteahill's review against another edition

There are a lot of graphic scenes of rape and infidelity that I just couldn't stomach. One of the main characters is a classist, misogynistic tyrant and I legitimately felt ill listening to his thoughts about the people he takes advantage of and abuses. I wasn't getting any enjoyment out of the story and didn't feel like I could stand 14 more hours of it. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Chronic illness, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Misogyny, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Terminal illness, Kidnapping, Grief, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Sexual harassment, and Classism

clairebooo's review against another edition

dark reflective 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? Yes

2.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Rape, and Sexual assault

magicole's review against another edition

2.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Adult/minor relationship, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Violence, Blood, Excrement, Police brutality, Kidnapping, Medical trauma, Car accident, Abortion, Sexual harassment, Colonisation, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

thursdd4y's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring 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? It's complicated

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Chronic illness, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Incest, Infidelity, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Excrement, Police brutality, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Medical trauma, Car accident, Abortion, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Toxic friendship, Sexual harassment, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

agnela's review against another edition

challenging 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? Yes

1.0

dnfed at 50%. Poor Clara, and poor dog. This is a strange book, and even stranger to me how people like it. Characters are paper thin, except for the violent man, who somehow gets the most pov time, while being the most insufferable person from this book. Everyone is horny all the time, and the dog dies, and the first family, Clara's parents, so interesting and the light of this book, dies as well.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Violence, and Death of parent

dhernandez's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful reflective sad tense slow-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Torture, Violence, and War

Minor: Car accident