Reviews tagging 'Pedophilia'

The Woman in the Library by Sulari Gentill

9 reviews

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.

librarymouse's review against another edition

funny mysterious fast-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

4.0

A book within a book within a book made for a wild and very engaging read. I finished it in a day.

the novel ending with Leo, whose storyline seemed to be constantly unfinished, waiting for Winifred and Marigold made the whole thing more meta. For Freddie to be seemingly stalked by the Leo that Leo the murderer praises Hannah the author for creating was such an interesting way to fold the layered universes in on themselves! Leo the murderer stalking the author who then wrote a Leo the character stalking Winifred the author character who was friends with Marigold, the stalker of Whit, who had done an unsettlingly large volume of research on Cain to try to exploit his mom's shoddy lawyering into a pullitzer makes for a very interesting web of morally gray people. I did want Leo the character's story to be tied up more. He's still characterized as helpful, which I think ads an interesting tilt to the story being told about Leo the murderer and Hannah the author and the impact of what he gave her on her writing. But I want to know more about the reasoning behind the cupcakes and the groceries. Is it flirting, stalking, or friendship? I wasn't expecting for Leo the murderer to be a racist, but using that racism and vitriol to show his descent into delusion was interesting, especially in how that morphed from what could be perceived as advice on US perceptions of race and how it impacts jnteracrjoms with the police.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gore, Gun violence, Mental illness, Racism, Sexual content, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Toxic friendship, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Addiction, Child abuse, Pedophilia, Violence, and Police brutality

tabookish's review against another edition

mysterious fast-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Death, Gun violence, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Racism, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Violence, Stalking, Death of parent, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, and Pandemic/Epidemic

falltumn's review against another edition

mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Racism and Stalking

Minor: Child death, Drug abuse, Incest, Pedophilia, and Sexual assault

bluecardinal's review against another edition

dark mysterious medium-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Gun violence, Homophobia, Infidelity, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Racism, Rape, Kidnapping, Death of parent, Murder, Alcohol, and Classism

amberinpieces's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Cursing, Death, Medical content, Stalking, and Murder

Minor: Addiction, Body horror, Child abuse, Drug abuse, Gun violence, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Racism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Violence, Alcohol, and Classism

flyoverzoner's review

mysterious medium-paced

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

2.75

I will start by saying I listened to this on audiobook, so sorry if I spell names wrong. 

I found this book to be really off-putting at times. I didn't like the story within the story, I don't think it was executed well, nor did it add much to the book. 

The portion of the book dedicated to Hannah was my least favorite part. Having her be explained simple concepts by Leo, and then /that/ whole plot doing a 180, seemed completely unnecessary. Maybe Leo's annoying mansplaining was supposed to be telling of his lack of expertise, but it was a struggle to get through. 

In the part of the story involving Freddie, I didn't particularly bond with any of the characters, nor was I invested in their relationships, because they kept making incredibly stupid decisions. Freddie and Cain were not interesting enough to take up so much time in this story, but I guess they were needed to continue the plot. 

The murder mystery itself kept me interested enough to listen until the end, since I was invested in the whodunit and their reasoning. 

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Content Warnings

Minor: Pedophilia, Rape, and Violence

ckraney's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.5

3.5 stars. I loved the format of this book—the book within a book. I thought the crimes and clues were well plotted and I was prepared for a masterful reveal. I was disappointed by the twist at the end and it felt like it cheapened all of the previous work. Such crimes seemed more intricate than how they were tied up in the end. (It’s hard to explain without spoilers!) I wish the ending had been as well thought out and crafted as the rest of the story. It would have been a 4 star book in that case.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Sexual assault

Minor: Addiction, Child abuse, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Gun violence, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Violence, Medical content, Stalking, and Murder

booksnbones13's review

dark mysterious tense slow-paced

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

2.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Incest, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, and Sexual violence