Reviews tagging 'Sexual assault'

The Devil of Nanking by Mo Hayder

7 reviews

ourvelvetscars's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Racial slurs, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Cannibalism, Murder, Pregnancy, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, and War

hanyaya's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious tense slow-paced

3.75

Starts slow but gets extremely violent. Kept catching myself saying "oh there's no way it's going to go there..." before it absolutely did. Not even just in 1937 Nanjing, which was, unfortunately, expected. Just because it was obvious what the medicine was doesn't mean it wasn't a horrible march towards the reveal.

I found Grey and Jason just so uninteresting that I didn't want to spend time with them, and the idea that she'd become the most popular hostess by talking about her studies of Nanjing and asking the men if their families had committed war crimes there was strange, but whatever. Grey felt a little like she wasn't a character so much as whatever she needed to be in the moment -- rash and emotional at one moment, calm and rational the next. Patient enough to wait years, impatient enough to be incapable of a conversation that gives us information. Smart enough to study this for so long and figure out the puzzle, that the twist of her ignorance no longer felt genuine but rather just convincing herself, and maybe that's the point.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Child death, Death, Gore, Miscarriage, Torture, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Cannibalism, Abortion, Murder, Colonisation, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Body horror, Emotional abuse, Xenophobia, Blood, and Mass/school shootings

Minor: Sexual assault

cappitak's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense 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? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child death, Death, Genocide, Gore, Miscarriage, Violence, Blood, Cannibalism, Murder, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Mental illness, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Forced institutionalization, and Pregnancy

Minor: Animal cruelty and Animal death

wyabook234's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious slow-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Genocide and Sexual assault

Moderate: Child death, Misogyny, and Murder

Minor: Abortion

e_gracereads's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.5

I enjoyed this book, more than I even expected to. It was horrific — which is to be expected, considering it’s a historical fiction about the Rape of Nanking — but it was incredibly well written, haunting, and mysterious. It’s going to sit with me for a while, I think, especially this: is ignorance forgivable? 

Incredibly poignant. Highly recommend. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Genocide, Gore, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Torture, Violence, Blood, Grief, Cannibalism, Abortion, Murder, Pregnancy, War, and Injury/Injury detail

angela_iseli's review

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

2.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death, Genocide, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Violence, Cannibalism, Murder, and War

Moderate: Forced institutionalization

alerasaul0's review against another edition

dark mysterious sad tense fast-paced

• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

I was a weird kid growing up and was kind of fascinated by World War 2, so when I found this book I was pretty excited. I was an adult when I read it but I wish someone had stopped me and been like you are too young for this book you delicate flower. I had only really dealt with the kind of sanitized history they teach in schools in America. Not some of the truly messed up things that happened.  The truth is, this is an extremely disturbing and well written piece of historical fiction. In fact it would not have bothered me half so much as it did, if it was entirely fictional. Also, in honor of complete disclosure, I did a lot of skipping around in the book so I could avoid the worst parts of the violence. None of it is there to simply disturb the reader. It serves a purpose for the plot. I just felt it was one bit I could skip over and still enjoy the book 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Gore, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, and Medical trauma

Minor: Cannibalism