Reviews tagging 'Cursing'

Η Ελένα ξέρει by Claudia Piñeiro

10 reviews

ericj32's review against another edition

challenging emotional mysterious reflective sad tense slow-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

3.75

This novel opens with the mystery of Elena’s daughter’s suspicious death - she’s found hanging in the belfry of the local church.  The death is ruled a suicide by the police, but that doesn’t make any sense to Elena, so she’s determined to figure out what really happened.  The chapters alternate between Elena’s current search for answers and flashbacks that provide context.  The whole narrative encompasses just one day, following Elena’s excruciatingly slow journey via multiple modes of transportation to ask an old acquaintance for assistance in investigating her daughter’s death.  The identity of this acquaintance and Elena’s connection to her is kept a secret from the reader until the end of the novel, when Elena finally arrives on her doorstep.  The ending is somewhat surprising and emotionally heavy.  In some ways, it seemed to introduce new themes that didn’t feel very connected to the rest of the narrative.  But overall, the story was engaging and the characters felt frustratingly lifelike in their flaws and contradictions.  It also gives you an intimate insight into the experiences of living with Parkinson’s disease and also the rationale of why a woman may want and need access to abortion services.  

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Chronic illness, Terminal illness, and Vomit

Moderate: Death, Emotional abuse, Rape, Sexual violence, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Medical content, Grief, Abortion, and Pregnancy

Minor: Confinement, Cursing, Domestic abuse, Infidelity, and Excrement

srgreen's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Chronic illness, Cursing, Emotional abuse, Suicide, and Terminal illness

Moderate: Death, Physical abuse, and Gaslighting

Minor: Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Violence, and Abortion

bibliomania_express's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Body horror, Bullying, Chronic illness, Cursing, Misogyny, Religious bigotry, and Medical trauma

Moderate: Death, Emotional abuse, Sexism, Sexual violence, Suicide, Terminal illness, and Grief

Minor: Infertility, Rape, Sexual assault, Excrement, and Pregnancy

jaiari12's review against another edition

challenging emotional sad medium-paced

• Loveable characters? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Chronic illness, Cursing, Death, Suicide, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Medical content, and Grief

Moderate: Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Vomit, Medical trauma, Abortion, and Pregnancy

bethantg's review against another edition

challenging mysterious reflective sad medium-paced

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

3.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Body shaming, Chronic illness, Cursing, Death, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Sexism, Sexual violence, Suicide, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Medical content, Grief, Religious bigotry, Medical trauma, and Abortion

Minor: Violence, Excrement, Vomit, and Pregnancy

annemaries_shelves's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad medium-paced

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

4.0

On the surface, Elena Knows is a novel about a woman determined to find out who killed her daughter. Within the text is a piercing exploration of complex and difficult mother-daughter relationships, disability and navigating the world and its bureaucracies with a degenerative disease, and a indictment against the Catholic church's dogma and control of women's bodies.

I loved how Piñeiro writes her characters and their interactions with each other and the world - she doesn't shy away from uncomfortable topics, opinions, or difficult characters. Her writing itself is gorgeous and I appreciated the cyclical writing of the litanies Elena employed.

I don't have Parkinson's or other disabilities that make living in our current world so difficult, but I appreciate how she explored those themes and highlighted the indignities people experience (especially those of intersecting identities such as gender and age).

Elena thinks she knows her daughter, but as the title ironically shows, she really doesn't. She seems to grasp the hypocrisies of some of her daughter's behaviour, but it takes a lot of unlearning for her to realize the mistakes she and Rita have made, and that she doesn't know Rita all that well in the end. Rita's behaviour to Isabelle - insisting she have a child and will regret the abortion decision - despite not having children herself (or necessarily the inclination) and the medical trauma of being inspected for a uterus - really highlights how pervasive the Catholic church's worldview is within Argentinian (and other) societies. In the end, the person who killed Rita was herself and by extension the society in which she lived. She's unable to face caregiving for her mother with little to no love for her remaining or support from her community. It's another way to demonstrate how society often devalues disabled lives and those of the people giving care. And yet, Elena wants to live. Her life has value.

Piñeiro packed a lot in this book and I'm looking forward to exploring more of her works. She seems to be a crime/literary crime writer tackling social issues and ethics from a perspective that I haven't read a lot. 

CW: abortion discussions, descriptions of bodily functions and disability relating to Parkinson's, medical trauma, abusive relationships, forced pregnancy, suicide, strained mother-daughter relationships. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Chronic illness, Cursing, Suicide, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Medical content, and Medical trauma

Moderate: Ableism, Domestic abuse, Abortion, and Pregnancy

kaislea's review against another edition

dark mysterious sad fast-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Sexual violence, Suicide, Terminal illness, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, and Abortion

Moderate: Alcoholism, Sexual assault, Vomit, Religious bigotry, and Pregnancy

Minor: Body shaming, Bullying, Confinement, Cursing, Domestic abuse, Infertility, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Dementia, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail

someonelikeblue's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Chronic illness, Death, Suicide, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Medical content, Religious bigotry, and Pregnancy

Moderate: Alcoholism, Body horror, Cursing, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Misogyny, Rape, Sexism, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Excrement, Vomit, and Abortion

Minor: Body shaming, Infertility, Infidelity, Miscarriage, Xenophobia, Blood, Dementia, and Injury/Injury detail

nialiversuch's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Child death, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Suicide, Terminal illness, Medical content, Grief, Religious bigotry, Abortion, Pregnancy, and Classism

Moderate: Cursing

Minor: Vomit

town_scar's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious slow-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Body shaming, Chronic illness, Cursing, Death, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Vomit, Medical content, Religious bigotry, Medical trauma, and Abortion