Reviews with content warning for Rape - The Bastard of Istanbul

Reviews tagging 'Rape'

The Bastard of Istanbul by Elif Shafak

65 reviews

queen_persephone's review against another edition

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dark informative reflective medium-paced

4.5

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lauraroseapostrophe's review against another edition

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challenging emotional reflective sad slow-paced

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

4.0

The last 100 pages will have you on the absolute edge of your seat - that being said, much like the best multi-character/family sagas (think Anna Karenina), the middle part can feel a bit slow to get through (hence the one star dock). I took about a week to get to page 200 and then read 200-357 in one night. This book is a great case study in how majorly character-driven tales can still move the plot forward so much. This was part of my 'read the world' challenge for Turkey and I'm so glad I picked it and will be quickly moving onto Zabel Yesayan for Armenia for more of this history, who is mentioned in this book!!

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amberinpieces's review against another edition

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challenging emotional mysterious reflective medium-paced

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

4.0

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mandibibbs37's review

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challenging dark mysterious fast-paced

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

5.0

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julia206's review

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challenging reflective 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? Yes

5.0

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nitas's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional informative 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? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

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ratnix's review against another edition

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challenging reflective tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated

3.25

I'm so conflicted as to how I should rate this but for now I'll give it a 3,25. I feel like as much as this story had a great premise, it felt unfinished. I really enjoyed Banu's character and she was probably one of the very few characters in this book that had a closure and an arc but everything else felt floating at the end.

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