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cursedepub's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Quiet in Her Bones is an enjoyable and suspenseful read, but ultimately isn't very fulfilling. The prose is great - tense and action-packed, while providing a lot of emotional appeal and insight into main character Aarav's personal psyche, and the book is populated with the perfect cast of dramatic, trashy, filthy rich people that make for the most fun mysteries and thrillers. It starts off strong and the pace picks up very nicely, but towards the end I was beginning to grow impatient with the almost never-ending addition of new possibilities to explore and how nothing we had previously discovered seemed to be coming together. The final reveal of the culprit and of the circumstances of Nina Rai's disappearance and death was very unsatisfying for me, and the way it was all hinged on a completely different disappearance and death came off as cheap and sloppy. I think more should have been done to establish the connection earlier in the novel, rather than spending time on points and hints that would eventually fade away or not end up particularly important.
One thing that definitely detracted from my enjoyment of the novel is how egregious the sexually objectifying male gaze was in the narration. I think genuinely every woman above the age of 18 in the novel was described in terms of her sexuality and/or physical attributes, to a degree I found gross and uncomfortable.
One thing that definitely detracted from my enjoyment of the novel is how egregious the sexually objectifying male gaze was in the narration. I think genuinely every woman above the age of 18 in the novel was described in terms of her sexuality and/or physical attributes, to a degree I found gross and uncomfortable.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Alcoholism, Animal death, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Violence, Medical content, and Death of parent
Moderate: Drug use
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