Reviews tagging 'Gore'

La casa de los espíritus (Edición especial 40 aniversario) by Isabel Allende

18 reviews

summermorning's review against another edition

dark emotional sad medium-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

2.5

I did not enjoy this book. All the blurbs, and everything I had heard about it, made me excited to read it, and by the time I was halfway through I was already considering quitting. 

I think the prose and writing was good. I loved the magical realism aspects, I loved the historical fiction aspect, and the idea of tracing a family through that tumultuous period and all that led up to it. I even really liked the way the story wasn't told entirely chronologically, and I got over the weird switch between first and third person narrative just fine. 

That being said, after I started reading this, I was really shocked it wasn't a male author. The gratuitous, excessive sexual violence was insane. I understand that she is trying to illustrate how powerless women, both upper and lower class, were at the time, but at points, it just seems way too much and unnecessarily descriptive for the purposes of narrative.

Especially with Esteban Garcia and young Alba. The incest is a bit much too, with Jaime's weird longings as well. He was the only championable character until then.

Which brings me to my next point, which is that none of these characters are truly likeable. I detested being asked to pity and forgive Esteban Trueba just because he was old and sad. I feel as though his character could have been illustrated just as clearly without so much of the narrative being claimed by that horrible sexist, racist, rapist wife and child beater. 

My biggest complaint is that this book is heralded for its strong female characters. Who? Where? Literally all the women never do anything but get abused until maybe the last 30 pages or so, and even then, Alba's biggest contribution seems to be to suffer nobly. All the big revolutionary players who accomplish things, or even try to, are men. And the women exist to love them, get in their way (@Miguel), or suffer for them. Clara has magical powers and was raised by, at least for the time, decently liberal people. Yet she marries someone she doesn't love, puts up with his abuse, and even forgives him. I fail to believe the only revolutionaries in Chile were male, and all the women could do were sing in concentration camps and survive. 

I enjoyed the aspect of generational trauma and tracing that alone the lineage, but it fell incredibly flat when in one sentence Alba was claiming she would break those chains, and in another forgiving her rapist because it was just meant to happen, and probably her children would do the same to his someday. I couldn't believe that she was supposed to be the strong, female lead when all she did at the end was bury her beloved grandfather and wait for Miguel and for her baby to born. It really felt like the women simply existed to birth the next generation for the men to use and that we were supposed to cheer that on.

I also felt like the second half of the book fell flat with the magical realism. Had it been to illustrate the realistic suffering of the war, or to highlight the modern age, that would have worked. But instead it was sort of thrown in willy nilly just enough to ruin that idea, but not enough to make it feel connected. 

Honestly, some of this might even have been okay reading if not for the fact that not a single character was redeemable and literally nothing good happens except for maybe 20 pages in the middle of the book. I understand a tragedy, but honestly, this book was too long for almost no highs and only lows. It makes the tragedy drudgery and torture for the reader rather than powerful and poignant with nothing good to contrast it with. 

This book was not at all what it has been heralded as, and I was really disappointed with it.

Also, the dog dies.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Gore, Incest, Racism, Rape, Torture, and War

greenlivingaudioworm's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional mysterious reflective slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Loveable characters? No

2.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Violence, Grief, Abortion, Murder, and Pregnancy

cozylifewithabby's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective slow-paced

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

3.5

I have very mixed feelings about this book. I loved the narrative style and the weaving of different perspectives. I also appreciate the threads of events that all tie together by the end. However, though I do like magical realism and the fantastic, I had a hard time stomaching all the violence (mostly domestic and sexual with some torture) that is thrown in nonchalantly. Also, although the violence comes back to wreak havoc on the next generation it is almost always the women or the good who pay for the mistakes of the men (or more "manly" men in their lives. I might have more to say later, but for now those are my thoughts. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Chronic illness, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Hate crime, Homophobia, Infidelity, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Slavery, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Excrement, Vomit, Police brutality, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Medical trauma, Car accident, Abortion, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Abandonment, and War

perseffable's review against another edition

dark emotional sad slow-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Domestic abuse, Misogyny, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Death of parent, Sexual harassment, and War

Minor: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Homophobia, Infidelity, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Racism, Suicidal thoughts, Blood, Excrement, Police brutality, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Abortion, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, Abandonment, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

kittykaz's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective medium-paced

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

4.0

This is probably what young kids have in mind when they think about adult fiction books. A lot of political talk, lots of classism and talk about rules and the consequences of ones actions. Definitely not a light read, and meant to make you think about the bigger picture and put your problems into perspective. 

I took a gamble with this - just randomly pulled it out of my parents’ bookshelf - and I think I might have to do that more often. Though I do recommend you try and inform yourself about it before reading this book, so you won’t get blindsided by all the rapeing and violence that is going on. It might take a certain type of person to enjoy this, is all i’ll say. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child abuse, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Gore, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Racism, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Torture, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Excrement, Police brutality, Medical content, Abortion, Death of parent, Murder, Abandonment, Sexual harassment, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Infidelity, Grief, Car accident, Pregnancy, and Alcohol

Minor: Addiction, Gun violence, Homophobia, and Vomit

They use a LOT of slurs of all kinds, mostly racial ones

amandas_bookshelf's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional informative mysterious reflective sad 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Animal death, Child abuse, Confinement, Drug abuse, Genocide, Gore, Infidelity, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Torture, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Excrement, Police brutality, Medical content, Kidnapping, Car accident, Abortion, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, and War

menomica's review against another edition

challenging dark sad tense slow-paced

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

Aunque es un libro muy largo y muy denso, a mí me ha gustado el linaje familiar y como los eventos y sucesos tienen se influencian entre sí. Está lleno de trigger warnings, pero si lo puedes aguantar, y si tienes mucho tiempo que perder, y eres fan del drama y historias largas y enrevesadas, te recomiendo este libro (no lo digo como insulto: como ya he dicho, me ha gustado el libro bastante).

PS: El peor personaje de todo este libro es sin duda, Esteban Trueba. La mejor fue Clara Del Valle

y ADIVINAD QUIÉN MUERE PRIMERO

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Bullying, Death, Gore, Infidelity, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Torture, Violence, Blood, Police brutality, Medical content, Grief, and War

Moderate: Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Police brutality, Religious bigotry, Abortion, and Pregnancy

Minor: Ableism, Gun violence, Homophobia, Incest, Miscarriage, Vomit, Stalking, Car accident, and Lesbophobia

rieviolet's review against another edition

dark emotional 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? Yes

3.5

I cannot say bad things about Isabel Allende's writing style but I had to trudge a bit to get through the book. Personally, it was hard for me to feel much connected to the characters and also to digest some of the crudest passages. 

I have to say that it's been a long time since I've despised a character as much as Esteban Trueba and I cannot emphasise enough how much I disliked the sections with him as a narrator. I listened to the audiobook and I think that I managed to finish the book only because I really liked the voice actress, otherwise I would have given up after the umpteenth of his capitalist rants or descriptions of his male prowess and insatiable desires, they made me want to scream.

I liked much better the final chapters that focused more on the social and political commentary and also the  epilogue with Alba as narrator (honestly I would have preferred her as the main point of view).

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Racism, Rape, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Torture, Violence, Excrement, Vomit, Police brutality, Kidnapping, and Murder

Moderate: Ableism, Animal cruelty, Cursing, Drug use, Fatphobia, Gore, Homophobia, Infidelity, Miscarriage, Blood, Medical content, Religious bigotry, Abortion, and Lesbophobia

Minor: Suicide, Antisemitism, Stalking, Car accident, and Fire/Fire injury