Reviews tagging 'Domestic abuse'

The Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett

43 reviews

va_hobbit's review against another edition

medium-paced

• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A

1.0

How many rape scenes can you fit in one book? Flat characters (unless you’re talking about breasts, which the author does A LOT), repetitive plot and prose, literally reminding us what we read about earlier. But with an overstuffed 900+ pages, maybe he thought we would need the reminders? There are far, far better historical novels out there. The title may be the best part of the book. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse and Rape

drsquared's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Gore, Physical abuse, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Violence, Blood, Death of parent, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

heartfelthullabaloo's review against another edition

challenging tense medium-paced

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

4.0

I honestly am struggling with what to rate this because on one hand I want to give it five stars for an epic tale, but on the other I want to give it two for all the rape. Oh my gosh! I’ve never experienced so much rape before in my whole life! I bet if you took every single movie I’ve watched, every book I’ve read, every person whose told me they were raped and put them together it still wouldn’t add up to all the rape that happened in this book. It was crazy! And descriptive! Like super descriptive! Also, the author is clearly a tits guy. He looooves to talk about big tits, and nipples and how heavy they are, and soft and the way they hang and sway and move and feel. There was a lot of sexual stuff going on for a book about monks. Maybe the author was fascinated enough about the way cathedrals were built to write a book, but he’s equally fascinated with top heavy women. 

William was the WORST bad guy! I absolutely loathed him and I cannot believe how much he got away with, it was OUTRAGEOUS!!!!!!! So, kudos to the author for writing someone to root against. 

The politics of the Catholic Church! The things that they sanctioned is sickening and infuriating. Trying to play a giant chess game to rise to power and using God as a tool to justify your actions is awful. I can’t imagine why anyone is still catholic to this day. Sure, they’re not all like that and they did some good and helped some people but man, the corruption is hard to look past. 

The actual story itself, was great. Will I read the next one? Sure will because we’re about to go on a plague kick and I’ve heard that’s coming up next.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Death, Domestic abuse, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual violence, Violence, Religious bigotry, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Abandonment, and Alcohol

jessiekind_'s review against another edition

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Domestic abuse, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Violence, Grief, Murder, and War

basbleu_dans_labiblioteque's review against another edition

slow-paced

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

1.0

im a huge fan of historical fiction, especially medieval historical fiction. I was really excited for this book, because it was in a setting I find fascinating and was clearly accurate and well-researched, but this guy did not pull it off. Some of the book was boring, and there was quite a bit that was downright painful to read.

Also, that bearbaiting scene absolutely did not need to take around 5 pages!

I couldn’t care about any of the characters, and the book was so. Repetitive.

The “good guys”(Aliena, Jack, Phillip, etc.) would do something good, Waleran Bigod would make a plan, Hamleigh would show up, murder some people and rape somebody, and we’d be back to the beginning.

For 975 pages. All in all, I ended up reading it out of obligation: I felt like I was already into it so I might as well finish.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Misogyny, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Pregnancy, and Sexual harassment

Minor: Alcoholism, Gore, Suicidal thoughts, Excrement, Antisemitism, Alcohol, and Classism

ghostofchristmaspast's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional hopeful informative medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Domestic abuse, Rape, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Medical trauma, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Abandonment, and War

aether_seawo1f's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative mysterious reflective tense slow-paced

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

3.0

Glacial pacing for the first 600 pages, the last 400 are decent. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Bullying, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Infertility, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Antisemitism, Grief, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, Abandonment, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

christina_chen's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark informative inspiring medium-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Rape, Sexual violence, Murder, and Sexual harassment

Moderate: Domestic abuse, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Sexual violence, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail

motobart's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful informative inspiring mysterious reflective relaxing sad tense medium-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? Yes

5.0

This is a long read, but it flows well and the verse is economical and simple in the best ways. Folletts writing style is very minimal, but used to great effect. It took me a bit before I realized how brilliant it was. This book is unlike anything I've read before, and has many elements that make it a  remarkable achievement in modern literature.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Rape, Sexism, Sexual violence, Violence, Grief, Religious bigotry, Death of parent, Pregnancy, War, and Classism

This book takes place in the 1100s, and some things that were commonplace then will seem abhorrent by today's standards. It is best to be open-minded reading this as historical fiction, with the understanding that the world was a different, though often similar, place.

lanternheart's review against another edition

adventurous emotional hopeful inspiring reflective tense slow-paced

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

4.75

A sprawling, enchanting epic that was, for all the time it took me, hard to ever fully put down — I found myself deeply invested in its characters, especially Aliena and Jack, and was devastated at the

death of Tom Builder in William's raid

. If there's one thing that was truly difficult about this book, it was being in William's head as he ages — as a young man, he is quickly shown to be spoilt and cruel, and only ever comes a

rapist and warmongerer

before actively turning his hatred to the

murder of Thomas Beckett

. (The latter is historical event, but spoilered for the sake of its role in the story for the unfamiliar.)

I've always been a deep lover of historical fiction, and watching Jack's explorations across medieval Europe and Spain as he became an adult were especially interesting — I wish we'd spent more time with him then! Aliena's perspective was always riveting, and her story was such a wild run of twists and turns, falls and triumphs. Despite not being a religious man myself, at least not a Christian one, I also found deep empathy for Prior Philip, and loved the way his story illuminates the politics and zeal of the medieval church. 

I'm borrowing the next one from a relative, and I know I'll start it soon!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault, Violence, Grief, Death of parent, and Murder

Moderate: Domestic abuse