Reviews tagging 'Gore'

The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafón

16 reviews

theglossreview's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Loveable characters? No

2.0

Atrocious. “The Shadow of the Wind“ is nothing but a series of horrible events. The plot seems like a competition between the characters: “Whose misfortune is the worst?”

There is barely a content warning to be found that does not apply to this book. The story is full of graphic portrayals of all kinds of violence and abuse. None of the characters are likeable. In the case of “The Shadow of the Wind“, this is a blessing, since everything that happens to the characters is bad. 

The sexism and misogyny is blatant throughout the book. It would have been one thing to portray these as part of the era in  which the book is set, but “The Shadow of the Wind” contains multiple characters whose only role is to enact and spew sexist, misogynist poison. This is taken so far that several characters introduce themselves through bigoted statements, as if this philosophy was the most important and first thing you need to know about them. This book does not pass the Bechdel test. The book is barely worthy of the phrase “portrayal of women”, since there are only portrayals of objects of desire, self-sacrificial lovers and devout mothers. 

Before you read this book, please take a look at the content warnings to see how vile it is. I’m shocked and disappointed to see that the average rating is above 4 stars. The content of the book deserves zero stars, however, the well-constructed mystery and beautiful writing elevate it to 2 stars. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Domestic abuse, Gun violence, Misogyny, Rape, Sexism, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Medical trauma, Fire/Fire injury, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Hate crime, Homophobia, Terminal illness, and Pregnancy

Minor: Animal cruelty, Child abuse, Child death, Gore, Miscarriage, Forced institutionalization, Antisemitism, Grief, Mass/school shootings, Death of parent, War, and Classism

gillian_aftanas's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Incest, Mental illness, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Sexism, Sexual content, Terminal illness, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Police brutality, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Stalking, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Bullying, Child abuse, Confinement, Cursing, Hate crime, Homophobia, Infertility, Infidelity, Rape, Sexual assault, Torture, Toxic relationship, Excrement, Pregnancy, and Classism

Minor: Ableism, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Vomit, Antisemitism, and Abortion

vb_marie's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny hopeful mysterious tense 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? Yes

4.5

Superbement bien écrit. Les premiers chapitres sont tellement beaux que je les ai lus par petits bouts, pour les savourer pleinement.

Les éléments gothiques sont parfois trop présents à mon goût. De plus, certaines scènes m'ont fait tellement peur que j'en ai fait des cauchemars (d'où les 4,5 étoiles et non 5).

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Homophobia, Incest, Infidelity, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Excrement, Police brutality, Religious bigotry, Murder, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Bullying, Child abuse, Cursing, Emotional abuse, Terminal illness, Medical content, Grief, Stalking, Death of parent, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, and War

flutterfly222's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad slow-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore and Violence

Moderate: Sexual violence

booknerdwithlipstick's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny inspiring mysterious sad 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? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Domestic abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Violence, Police brutality, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Pregnancy, and Fire/Fire injury

Moderate: Bullying, Child death, Confinement, Incest, Sexism, Sexual content, Torture, Vomit, Dementia, and Alcohol

Minor: Forced institutionalization

corrin_takara's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense slow-paced

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

4.5

At times was a struggle to read partly because of the slow pace as well as a long list of possible triggering topics which lead to hard to read passages. Picked up towards the end and grabbed my attention with a satisfying twist 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Child abuse, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Hate crime, Homophobia, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Racism, Rape, Sexism, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Police brutality, Antisemitism, Murder, War, and Classism

Moderate: Ableism, Adult/minor relationship, Dementia, and Fire/Fire injury

seforana's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective medium-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

2.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child death, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Incest, Infertility, Torture, Violence, Blood, Police brutality, Grief, Stalking, Abortion, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Sexual harassment, War, and Injury/Injury detail

chrisljm's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious medium-paced

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

3.5

1. this book would not pass the bechdel test.
2. the twist almost made me shit myself. 
3. “the day was turning out to be longer than The Brothers Karamazov” is so funny. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child death, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Hate crime, Homophobia, Misogyny, Sexism, Toxic relationship, Violence, Excrement, Police brutality, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Child abuse, Cursing, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Incest, Infertility, Infidelity, Miscarriage, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Terminal illness, Torture, Blood, Medical content, Religious bigotry, Stalking, Lesbophobia, Abandonment, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, and War

Minor: Ableism, Adult/minor relationship, Animal death, Bullying, Racial slurs, Rape, Antisemitism, Abortion, and Classism

ling_prof's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death, Gore, Misogyny, Sexism, Violence, Blood, War, and Injury/Injury detail

lovelessreader's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny mysterious tense slow-paced

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

4.0

What a book. It took me around 100 pages to get into the it because the pacing is excruciatingly slow, but it was absolutely worth it. The story was completely unpredictable and really fun, and nerve-wracking at certain parts, to read. 10/10 would reccommend

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Gore, Infidelity, Physical abuse, Torture, Violence, Police brutality, Murder, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail