Reviews tagging 'Sexual assault'

La casa degli spiriti by Isabel Allende

162 reviews

nie_fertig's review against another edition

I cannot think of a single good thing to say about this novel. This is all coming from personal taste, but I thought the stream of consciousness narration was terribly boring, I didn't like the plot or really any of the characters, and I especially hated the character Esteban Trueba. He literally r*pes HUNDREDS of women all cause he's bored and upset, and I was 100% done with this novel because of his sexism, terrible physical and emotional assaults against SO many people, and homophobia. He also kicks his sister out of the house for being a lesbian (yes, she was attracted to his wife, but literally talk it out?? Let her have a wife of her own???), which also pissed me off. Anyway, I can understand why this novel is important culturally and historically, but it is definitely not for my personal taste. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Grief, Pregnancy, Lesbophobia, and Sexual harassment

amberacks12's review against another edition

This really pains me because this book has been on my shelves forever, and I thought for sure I would love it. I really do love Allende’s writing. It’s beautiful and lyrical and stylistically very unique compared to anything else I’ve read. I also really love the magical realism elements. It’s quickly becoming a genre that I want to read more of. But as much as I love those aspects, and I want to see where Clara’s life takes her, I can’t allow myself to read a book that makes me feel depressed and disgusted by what some of the characters think and do to others. I literally felt sick reading certain parts of this book. If Ernesto Ferula and his sister took a backseat, then I think I could push through their disgusting way of living. But it seems like Ernesto is quite possibly going to be the main character for the entirety of this book. And I just can’t do that to myself. 
Maybe I’ll try again someday. Or maybe I should just resign myself to never reading this book I’ve been dying to read for years now. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Pedophilia, Rape, Sexual assault, and Sexual content

lady_epoh's review against another edition

fast-paced

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

1.0

It is so bad, I want to give you a zero, but that's not possible, so I give you a one. For a “feminist writer” Allende sure loves making these damsel in distress ass women who have no development and blindly follow their love interest’s whims, and who are constantly subjected to the anger and violence of irredeemable and equally development-less male characters. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, and Physical abuse

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Pedophilia, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Blood, and Medical content

franzys_whip's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring 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? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Violence, Police brutality, Medical content, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Sexual harassment, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Moderate: Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Murder, Lesbophobia, and War

kubs's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny hopeful inspiring lighthearted mysterious reflective relaxing sad tense 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? It's complicated

5.0

What an beautiful book. Spanning multiple generations of a family with allusions to the political climate of Chile. Its depth and breadth are incredible.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, War, and Classism

Moderate: Death, Infidelity, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Violence, Police brutality, Grief, Death of parent, and Pregnancy

Minor: Chronic illness and Car accident

crumpledjuicebox's review against another edition

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

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Content Warnings

Minor: Death, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Torture, Violence, and Blood

alyssaakdefusco's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark hopeful mysterious reflective slow-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? Yes

4.25

A whole journey! I absolutely love generational historical fiction like this. And I'll start backwards by saying the last several chapters absolutely FLOORED me. I was crying by the last page. The only reason I'm not giving 5 stars is that this book is loooong and it had me feeling confused by some of the character choices up until the very end! It took me a while to read. Parts of it were sluggish and a lot of really crappy stuff happens. Plus for most of the book you're bounced back and forth by a 3rd person narrator and then a 1st person narration by the main male character of the book who is a racist r*pist, so that really threw me off. But seriously, it is worth a read just to get to the end. I've never experienced that much of a turnaround with a book and so much justification for such a long and hard to read first 3/4 of a book! Phew. It's helpful to do some research about the historical context of Chile in the 1st half of the 20th century too because Allende is ultimately telling that story through the lens of this family. I didn't realize that until about half way through! My bad. Anyways, here's my favorite passage from the book that sums up what I loved so much about it and what was revealed to me at the very end:

"She was one of those stoical, practical women of our country, the kind of woman who has a child with every man who passes through her life and, on top of that, takes in other people's abandoned children, her own poor relatives, and anybody who needs a mother, sister, or an aunt; the kind of woman who's the pillar of many other lives, who raises children to grow up and leave her and lets men leave her too, without a word of reproach, because she has more pressing things to worry about. She looked like so many others I had met...I told her she had an enormous risk in rescuing me, and she smiled. It was then I understood that the days of the fascists were numbered, because they have not been able to destroy the spirit of these women."

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Confinement, Death, Genocide, Incest, Miscarriage, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Torture, Police brutality, Kidnapping, Abortion, and Murder

dollarsignimp's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring reflective 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Sexual content, Torture, Violence, Grief, and Classism

Moderate: Animal death, Confinement, Drug abuse, Infidelity, Pedophilia, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Violence, Trafficking, Car accident, Murder, Pregnancy, and War

certainlynotpolina's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious reflective sad 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Sexual assault, Torture, and Trafficking

Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Animal death, Incest, Miscarriage, Vomit, and Death of parent

alysereadsbooks's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective 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

4.5

I read this as part of my local library reading challenge. I’m trying to branch out and this book was definitely out of my comfort zone. I really did enjoy it though and loved tracing the lineage of a family. I didn’t love the ending. And I think Esteban was possibly the worst fictional man to ever exist. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death and Torture

Moderate: Child abuse, Genocide, Pedophilia, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Religious bigotry, Car accident, Death of parent, and Pregnancy