Reviews tagging 'Rape'

The Rose Code by Kate Quinn

32 reviews

jencolumb0's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark informative inspiring mysterious medium-paced

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

4.25

A sweeping historical war-time novel; almost a math geek's League of Their Own. I enjoyed learning about an aspect of WWII history that I had not previously heard about. I also thoroughly enjoyed coming along for the ride of the (fictionalized) rise, fall, and rise again of a trio of war-time friends. As one would expect with a novel set in England during WWII, there is a fair amount of discussion around loss and violence. As the book is centered on a trio of women, the loss and violence they experience is, to a certain degree, reflective of their gender and the patriarchal constructs of the time, though I do appreciate the author's challenge to these experiences. There was just enough romance blended into the book and a solid HEA/HFN for each of the primary characters to keep it from being a complete, war-time downer, though please do read through the content warnings if you have any sensitivity to specific issues because, in more than 600 pages, pretty much every type of loss/traumatic experience is explored to some degree. I did not love that the character coded as autistic ends up spending

three and half years in a mental institution

, even if it was completely irrelevant to their neurodiversity. It just felt kind of ick. Though I, overall, enjoyed the character development, after about 500 pages, had to chuckle at the neat twists that had to snap into place to get to the HEA/HFN. While improbable on balance, those twists make for a satisfying (if not slightly madcap) outcome to an interesting corner of well-fictionalized history. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Body horror, Bullying, Cancer, Child death, Confinement, Death, Mental illness, Rape, Sexual violence, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Religious bigotry, Medical trauma, Gaslighting, Abandonment, Alcohol, War, and Classism

Moderate: Infidelity, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexism, Terminal illness, Torture, Xenophobia, Islamophobia, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Panic attacks/disorders, Vomit, Abortion, and Pregnancy

The racism and islamophobia are challenged to a degree. There is also a favorable depiction of an open marriage where criticism thereof is challenged.

mariberries's review against another edition

adventurous informative inspiring mysterious 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? No

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape

jenn_reads's review against another edition

adventurous emotional medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Forced institutionalization, and War

Moderate: Child death, Infidelity, Rape, and Alcohol

Gang rape, bombings, lobotomy

sedonaschiek's review against another edition

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Rape and Sexual content

zas9's review against another edition

emotional inspiring reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Minor: Addiction, Child death, Death, Rape, and Sexual assault

lolaslalaland's review against another edition

challenging emotional informative sad slow-paced

4.0

It's World War II and three brilliant women have been recruited to work at Bletchley Park. They cannot share anything they do for the military outside of the park or even amongst each other which makes it difficult to forge and maintain relationships and not succumb to utter paranoia. 

I don't usually read historical fiction. I often find it quite repetitive and boring ("if you've read one World War II book, you've read them all" kind of mindset), but this book really made me reconsider my view on historical fiction. These three women were so unique and different and their friendship was genuine and filled with hurdles and arguments, but also trust and love and dedication. They were brilliant and smart in a time where women were not meant to be recognized for those talents and you could feel just how much that weighed on them on top of the war and the secrecies they needed to keep. I loved each of them so much and felt horribly sad for the many injustices they suffered.

If you've watched the movie The Imitation Game with Benedict Cumberbatch, then you will probably see a lot of parallels with the movie, but the fact is that hundreds of brilliant minds worked at Bletchley Park and not all of them shared their experiences from it. Again, due to their government bullying them and threatening them to secrecy. The author's note at the end of this book clarifies a lot of why she chose to write this book and I think she did a phenomenal job.

I also recommend the audiobook highly! The narrator did a phenomenal job with all the characters, translating their personalities into her voice acting and she performed so many accents. Can we nominate her for some kind of academy award? Wow! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Medical trauma

Moderate: Misogyny, Sexism, and War

Minor: Rape and Sexual assault

mel_s_bookshelf's review against another edition

informative inspiring mysterious medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Forced institutionalization, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Cancer, Rape, Terminal illness, and Abortion

shortshortreads's review against another edition

inspiring mysterious reflective 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

4.25

Revolving around the lives of three women at beltchley park we get an insight into three different compartments that made the clockwork of the park tick.
We were also given the POV of the women post war hinting at the scars and perhaps an unsolved mystery still lingering. This was really well written but I did have to wait for the pace to pick up around 50%. We got to see the women develop and learn their strengths and show they too could contribute to the war.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: War

Minor: Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Racial slurs, Rape, and Forced institutionalization

daniallreads's review against another edition

emotional informative inspiring sad 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? N/A

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Child death, Death, Rape, Sexual assault, and Grief

Moderate: Mental illness and Sexual content

time4tori2read's review against another edition

adventurous emotional mysterious medium-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness and War

Moderate: Child death, Death, Infidelity, Rape, and Sexual assault