Reviews tagging 'Sexual assault'

Η Ελένα ξέρει by Claudia Piñeiro

29 reviews

pyronautphea's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide, Abortion, Body shaming, Rape, Sexual violence, Sexual assault, Ableism, Pregnancy, and Emotional abuse

Moderate: Infidelity, Infertility, Mental illness, Sexual violence, and Vomit

Minor: Religious bigotry, Dementia, and Alcoholism

stellarkai's review against another edition

emotional mysterious reflective sad slow-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide, Terminal illness, Ableism, and Religious bigotry

Moderate: Abortion and Sexual assault

mecmccann's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad fast-paced

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

5.0

 

I haven’t walked away from a book saying, “wow, wow, wow, that was a good book” in a long time. But I did with this one. 
 
 Elena is a Parkinson’s patient, and her daughter Rita is her caretaker. But one rainy day, Rita is found hanging, dead, in the church belfry. The police have ruled it a suicide, but Elena disagrees, it was raining that day, and Rita would never go into the church in the rain. She is determined to find her daughter’s murderer. “Elena Knows” follows Elena through a day, as she trembles through her relationship with her daughter, their relationships with religion, and how their individual values impacted those around them. 
 
 This book is about mother-daughter relationships, caregivers, and religious dogma. Rita takes care of her mother, but resents her for how she presents herself, even though Elena is disabled and declining rapidly. Through this story, as you watch Elena struggle, you simultaneously root for her to find out what happened, while considering that Rita was not kind to her mother or to those around her. Before her death, she made Elena go to the hair salon because she didn’t like how she looked since she could no longer do her hair, and she would yell at her for drooling. Throughout her day, Elena attempts to utilize other people’s bodies to find out what happened the day Rita died, from the police to the taxi driver, until she is confronted with someone Rita once impacted. These events lead up to a climax where Elena is forced to confront the effects of Rita’s worldview on outside individuals. 

 

This book was so culturally relevant, not only in Argentina, but in the United States as well. As feminism is overcome by evangelism and religious dogma, we can see the parallels between how we use other people’s bodies to achieve our own personal agenda in this book and in the world. “Elena Knows” is a must read. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Abortion, Infertility, Religious bigotry, Sexual assault, and Suicide

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

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

your_true_shelf's review against another edition

challenging dark sad slow-paced

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

3.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide, Terminal illness, Medical content, and Chronic illness

Moderate: Rape, Sexual assault, and Grief

Minor: Vomit

sammilynnebob's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense slow-paced

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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Suicide, Chronic illness, Abortion, Medical trauma, and Sexual assault

allapaz's review against another edition

5.0

holy shit, I'm gonna have to sit with this one for a bit

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Medical trauma, Abortion, Suicide, Misogyny, Religious bigotry, Sexism, and Terminal illness

Moderate: Rape and Sexual assault

kimberlyds's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional 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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Sexual assault, Abortion, Medical trauma, and Suicide

christopher_shiprack's review against another edition

challenging emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Terminal illness

Moderate: Sexual assault and Abortion

jordansingletary's review against another edition

dark mysterious reflective medium-paced

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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Suicide, Chronic illness, Abortion, Rape, and Sexual assault