Reviews tagging 'Blood'

La Librairie de Téhéran by Marjan Kamali

22 reviews

schausjk's review against another edition

emotional sad medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Gun violence, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Police brutality, Grief, and Suicide attempt

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Gore, Racism, Sexism, Violence, Police brutality, Mass/school shootings, Abortion, Colonisation, War, and Classism

Minor: Cancer, Infertility, Blood, and Pregnancy

alexisgarcia's review against another edition

dark emotional 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? Yes

5.0

this absolutely wrecked me. i cried in public reading this. 

it was so enlightening on the tribulations many Iranian people faced during that time. i felt my heart break when the characters faced grief and loss.

i would recommend this 1000%, please just check trigger warnings!!!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Cancer, Child death, Chronic illness, Death, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Infertility, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Rape, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Vomit, Police brutality, Islamophobia, Medical content, Grief, Abortion, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, Abandonment, Colonisation, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

amandas_bookshelf's review against another edition

emotional 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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Toxic relationship, Colonisation, and Classism

Moderate: Gun violence, Miscarriage, Self harm, Sexism, Blood, Police brutality, Pregnancy, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Abortion

megelizabeth's review against another edition

2.0

This book pains me a little to review, because it has so many elements that I loved, but ultimately its flaws are too significant to merit a higher rating. The writing is brilliant, the sense of place and time is incredible, and there are so many great discussions about cultural differences, the reality of immigrant life, and the roles and expectations of women in Iran and the US. It presents a much more nuanced look at 1950s life than the stereotyped version you often see, and I just adored the sprawling, layered narrative and everything it has to say about love, loss, politics, and familial and societal expectations.

However, there are two things about this book that I just cannot forgive. The first is that it celebrates a character who grooms a child, and the second is that its representation of a mentally ill character feels lazy and one-dimensional and made me very uncomfortable. I'm not saying that mentally ill people can never be bad people, but to present the only mentally ill character as such and to leave very little space for any slight expectation of why they act the way they do is just irresponsible in my opinion. This book could've been incredible if these two elements had been dealt with differently, but instead I was just left feeling thoroughly frustrated and disappointed.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Death, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Sexual violence, Blood, Police brutality, Abortion, Suicide attempt, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Sexual harassment

marissasa's review against another edition

emotional hopeful 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

4.5

I never thought I would cry listening to an audiobook but boy did this one prove me wrong. The Stationery Shop was full of love and culture and humanity and sadness, so much so that it felt like the characters were real people and this was a true retelling of their lives rather than a historical fiction. The descriptive setting of a politically-charged Tehran, all the side characters full of personality, the themes of the pursuit of knowledge and truth through literature and social justice, and the mouthwatering descriptions of traditional Iranian food brought this story to life and helped to make it memorable to me as more than just a star-crossed lovers plot. Although it was slow in the start and I didn't immediately connect with Roya and Bahman's relationship because of how fast it happened, my mind changed by the end once I had seen all the angst, pain, yearning, heartbreak, and acceptance that they had to go through to get to the point when they would finally meet again 60 years later. With each detail of how Bahman's memory of Roya lived on in his heart and mind every single day, my own heart hurt. From the stationery shop he established in the US modeled after the place they first met, to his favorite poem from Rumi that he shared with Roya and exchanged letters through which his children then read at his funeral, I was tearing up. Just when I thought this sweet and sad story couldn't tear my heart out anymore, the epilogue started and the tears were just flowing. This book was a truly emotional one full of the losses, joys, and complexities of life that make up the human experience.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Gun violence, Mental illness, Violence, Blood, Police brutality, Grief, Suicide attempt, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Moderate: Abortion

alayamorning's review against another edition

emotional reflective sad slow-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Gun violence, Miscarriage, Blood, Grief, Abortion, and Suicide attempt

readbycarina's review against another edition

emotional 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? No

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Mental illness, Pregnancy, Gaslighting, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Emotional abuse, Self harm, Sexism, Terminal illness, Blood, Islamophobia, Grief, Abortion, and Fire/Fire injury

Minor: Cancer and War

nevermindthefall's review against another edition

emotional hopeful informative sad medium-paced

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

4.75

well it was a great reading. unfortunately i read this book in russian translation and it has some flaws. it doesn’t affect the storytelling or understanding of the plot but left me with strange taste in my mouth, so my review is kind of a trigger warning for those who’ll decide to read the book in russian 
overall the book depicts tehran in the 50s, it’s beautiful culture and complicated history. 100% recommend reading 

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Content Warnings

Minor: Cancer, Child death, Chronic illness, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Blood, Grief, and Abortion

the book will hit you with teenage boy and teenage girl relationship, the girl is 14 and the boy is older (don’t remember his age). their relationship went kinda explicit though there is no graphic description of it. just be aware

flameoflareon's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad medium-paced

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

3.0

Definitely not the slow-burn romance foregrounding historical political upheaval that I was expecting, but that's my own fault for jumping to conclusions based on the summary. Some writing choices were a bit odd

like chapters that are supposed to be letters to a character having dialogue and narration

, but the foreshadowing was strong, the story interesting all the way through, and the ending satisfying. If you like sad, messed up heterosexuals, consider this book.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Mental illness, Blood, Grief, and Suicide attempt

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Toxic relationship, Police brutality, and Medical content

Minor: Miscarriage, Misogyny, Racism, and Abortion

pipingplots's review against another edition

emotional hopeful medium-paced

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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Self harm, Blood, Abortion, and Suicide attempt

Moderate: Stalking

Minor: Cancer, Car accident, and Pregnancy