Reviews tagging 'Pandemic/Epidemic'

The Woman in the Library by Sulari Gentill

18 reviews

litbrett's review

dark tense medium-paced

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

2.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gun violence, Violence, Blood, Stalking, Murder, Gaslighting, Injury/Injury detail, and Pandemic/Epidemic

chelle22's review

challenging dark mysterious tense

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Child abuse, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gun violence, Infidelity, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Police brutality, Medical content, Stalking, Death of parent, Murder, Cultural appropriation, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail, Deportation, and Pandemic/Epidemic

maryconney's review

mysterious fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• 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: Cursing, Death, Gun violence, Violence, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Mental illness, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Blood, Medical content, Gaslighting, Classism, and Pandemic/Epidemic

mariposagal's review against another edition

adventurous dark tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Blood, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Confinement, Toxic relationship, Medical content, Stalking, Toxic friendship, and Pandemic/Epidemic

Minor: Addiction, Child abuse, Child death, Drug use, Physical abuse, and Sexual assault

gracescanlon's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Death, Gun violence, Sexual violence, Violence, Medical content, Death of parent, Murder, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Alcoholism, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Blood, Grief, Stalking, Gaslighting, Classism, and Pandemic/Epidemic

Minor: Racism

vanesst's review against another edition

dark mysterious

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder

Moderate: Gun violence, Racism, Sexual violence, Blood, Alcohol, and Pandemic/Epidemic

moonbasket's review

emotional funny mysterious tense slow-paced

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

3.0

To be honest, I found the book mostly boring. I only finished it because the audiobook was pretty short and I wanted to see how the real world storyline resolved. It wasn't too much of a mystery and the novel portion of the story was more of a supporting character to the narrative between Leo and Hannah than a full story on it's own.

Overall, I enjoyed the story and it's nuanced and less nuanced analyses of how a story is affected by the author and vice versa. Some parts were feather-light and I felt accomplished for seeing them and noticing the themes. Other parts were extremely heavy-handed and felt a little silly to read. 

I think having the "real world" elements be restricted entirely to correspondence was a really smart move and really pulled the book together. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Violence, Blood, Grief, and Toxic friendship

Moderate: Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Infidelity, Sexual content, Medical content, and Classism

Minor: Addiction, Child death, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Racism, Sexual violence, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail, Deportation, and Pandemic/Epidemic

One of the main characters describes and incident from their past where a younger sibling dies in an accident. Another describes a childhood incident where a beating from a parent has pedophilic overtones, but there is an intervention before anything beyond physical violence occurs.

tlaynejones's review against another edition

medium-paced

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

4.0

This is a cute twisty contemporary murder mystery. There is a bit of a book within a book plot which adds an extra layer of interest, and I enjoyed the idea of the book (that I’m reading) being critiqued chapter by chapter as a literary device. This is great for when you want something that will engage you and entertain you without too much effort. It’s not gory, and wasn’t particularly dark (considering it’s a murder mystery) in tone. There were a few chuckles; I figured out the murderer early on, but not how the murderer actually did the murder-y things, so the ending was still a good result. The character development and relationships aren’t very fleshed out, and one of the characters was so annoying, but I think that’s sort of the nature of this style/genre. No queer rep.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Domestic abuse, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Racism, Forced institutionalization, Vomit, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Minor: Sexual violence, Torture, and Pandemic/Epidemic

justagir1's review

challenging dark emotional mysterious medium-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Toxic relationship, Violence, Murder, Toxic friendship, and Classism

Moderate: Gun violence, Stalking, and Gaslighting

Minor: Racism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Blood, Grief, Cultural appropriation, Abandonment, Alcohol, and Pandemic/Epidemic

heidipretzel's review

mysterious fast-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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death and Murder

Moderate: Child abuse, Cursing, Violence, Medical content, Stalking, Injury/Injury detail, and Pandemic/Epidemic

Minor: Gun violence and Blood