Reviews tagging 'Sexual violence'

Mis Últimos 10 Minutos y 38 Segundos en este Extraño Mundo by Elif Shafak

70 reviews

sarasantiagopires's review against another edition

adventurous emotional hopeful reflective sad 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? It's complicated

4.0

Elif Shafak is always a JOY to read!
I thoroughly enjoyed the first part of the book, when we meet Leila and read through her and her friends' stories. They are so tragic and so touching at the same time. 
It was also very interesting that Istambul was the backdrop of this book. All these characters ended up living in a city that also kind of despised them.
However, the second part of the book was less captivating and sometimes a bit too funny and shallow in contrast with the rest of the book. 
Still, I must say that I was sad the book ended as it was such a delightful read. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Sexual violence, and Violence

matmatmatty's review against another edition

emotional hopeful sad tense fast-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

4.5

This is the story of Leila, a sex worker in Istanbul, who while dying is remembering her life and the moments that led up to her death.

This is a very emotional story, with Leila going through a lot on her childhood and a lot as an adult. Through the story, we learn about her closest friends she met along the way and all the characters felt so real and so complex.

Spoiler:

The second part of the story follows Leila's friends deciding to give her a proper burial and did feel a bit like a different story. I think it could've flowed a bit better but I am glad that we got a happy end. Once we hear about Leila's story, the book could have ended there and it would have been a sad story.  But with this, we know she is a peace and everyone is a little closer because of that.

Overall, I really loved this story, it was very emotional at times and I felt for Leila at every point. Beautiful story ❤️

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Rape, Violence, and Murder

Moderate: Child death, Fatphobia, Incest, Self harm, Sexual violence, and Transphobia

deanna_c's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful reflective sad medium-paced

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

4.75

A really poignant and moving story about the importance of friendship and finding your own way in life in spite of your beginnings. I really felt for Tequila Leila and I wanted so badly for a twist of fate where

she doesn’t in fact end up dead in the bottom of a trash bin, but of course this isn’t possible given that she’s already dead when the novel begins.

I really love Shafak’s style - which has only gotten better with each novel shes written in my opinion. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual violence and Violence

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Pedophilia, Transphobia, Xenophobia, Trafficking, and Murder

Minor: Pregnancy

melina03's review against another edition

dark reflective sad slow-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Ableism, Child abuse, Incest, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Rape, Sexual violence, Transphobia, and Sexual harassment

sable222's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful reflective sad fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

3.5

I really don’t know how to feel about this book, in the end it just seems to me that it’s trying too hard to be diverse and inclusive in sort of a shallow way but then there’s some really beautiful genuine moments that made me feel something.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse and Sexual violence

eva_lesemaus's review against another edition

dark emotional inspiring sad fast-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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Death, Hate crime, Miscarriage, Rape, Sexual violence, Transphobia, Trafficking, and Murder

Moderate: Alcoholism, Death, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Self harm, Sexism, Grief, and Mass/school shootings

katrinarose's review against another edition

dark emotional sad 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

4.0

Shafak does such an a wonderful job of setting the scene in Istanbul and the other various settings in Turkey. Her way of bringing a character to life in just a chapter is amazing, and I felt so much for Leila that I became sadder each chapter knowing that she had died. The character study and friendship development is definitely the most important and impactful part of this book, not the plot. It’s a beautiful and tragic story.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Child abuse, Cursing, Death, Gun violence, Incest, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Rape, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Slavery, Transphobia, Violence, Trafficking, Grief, Religious bigotry, Murder, Pregnancy, and Injury/Injury detail

daniellekat's review against another edition

challenging emotional sad slow-paced

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

3.75

I loved part one (Mind) and thought this was on its way to 5 stars, but parts 2 (Body) and 3 (Soul) lost me. Shafak is a masterful writer and her descriptive style perfectly suits the novel's time and setting. My main criticism with this is the same for my last Shafak read (The Island of Missing Trees) - too much information is given to the reader. Especially in Part 2, there were too many perspectives and explicit details that I thought would have been more powerful left untold. I loved the found family aspect of this book and the way their grief manifested among them. I wish we were given more time with each of the friends but overall this was another well balanced blend of history and fiction. I highly recommend checking the content warnings on this one.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Incest, Pedophilia, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Grief, Murder, Gaslighting, and Sexual harassment

Moderate: Domestic abuse, Gun violence, Misogyny, Self harm, Transphobia, Trafficking, Religious bigotry, and Abandonment

Minor: Addiction, Bullying, Child death, Homophobia, Infertility, Infidelity, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Suicidal thoughts, Blood, Vomit, Police brutality, Kidnapping, Mass/school shootings, Pregnancy, and Alcohol

iambookmad's review against another edition

dark reflective sad slow-paced

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

4.0

This book started off as one thing and ended completely differently but it still had a massive effect on me especially as someone who’s lost a lot of family the last 18 months

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Self harm, Sexual violence, and Murder

ljpaatan's review against another edition

dark emotional funny reflective sad medium-paced

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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Sexual violence, Transphobia, and Trafficking