Reviews tagging 'Sexual violence'

El viento conoce mi nombre by Isabel Allende, Isabel Allende

9 reviews

lovelyoutliers's review against another edition

challenging emotional hopeful informative inspiring sad medium-paced

5.0

A beautiful, empathetic story weaving together experiences of family separation and tragedy separated by half a century - a young boy (Samuel) sent on the kinder transport after Kristallnacht on the kindertransport trains and a young girl (Anita) who was separated from her mother at the US-Mexico border. 

Sensitively weaving stories of loss, the obstacles people will face to find safe places, and how families can be built in many different ways. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Deportation

Moderate: Murder, Sexual violence, Sexual assault, Grief, Pedophilia, Antisemitism, Violence, War, and Trafficking

rei_reads's review against another edition

emotional hopeful sad medium-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Antisemitism and Genocide

Moderate: Misogyny, Murder, Death of parent, Pandemic/Epidemic, Xenophobia, Sexual violence, Child abuse, and Pedophilia

Minor: Car accident, Terminal illness, and Child death

ainoiisa's review against another edition

emotional fast-paced

4.25

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Sexual violence, Death of parent, Pedophilia, and Death

lisafrancine's review against another edition

challenging emotional informative reflective sad medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Child abuse, Sexual assault, and Sexual violence

george_tte's review against another edition

sad fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault, Antisemitism, Sexual harassment, and Sexual violence

Moderate: Deportation

Minor: Torture

This book talks about the Holocaust and femicide.

alyrayj's review against another edition

emotional sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

3.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Murder and Sexual violence

Minor: Infidelity

kelboo's review against another edition

emotional sad slow-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Murder and Sexual violence

Minor: Death of parent, Pandemic/Epidemic, Trafficking, and Xenophobia

amandas_bookshelf's review against another edition

emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• 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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Content Warnings

Graphic: Forced institutionalization, Misogyny, Murder, Deportation, Genocide, Gun violence, Sexism, Xenophobia, Pandemic/Epidemic, War, Grief, Bullying, Classism, Abandonment, Antisemitism, Confinement, Racial slurs, Sexual violence, Trafficking, Hate crime, Physical abuse, Police brutality, Racism, Religious bigotry, Colonisation, Death, and Death of parent

Moderate: Pedophilia, Rape, Child death, Child abuse, and Stalking

Minor: Vomit

halkid2's review against another edition

emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective medium-paced

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

4.0

NOTE: I received early access to this manuscript in exchange for writing an impartial review. Thank you NetGalley and Ballantine Books. Publication Date: June 6, 2023. 

Isabel Allende is one of my favorite authors, in part because of her skillful use of language which so often reads more like poetry. I don’t think this particular novel is her best, although the prose is still top notch. What makes it worth reading though is her ability to create a handful of distinctive characters readers will care about. 

THE WIND KNOWS MY NAME makes some interesting connections between seemingly disparate stories in different time periods. It begins with Kristallnacht in 1938 in Vienna. The Adlers, a Jewish family facing the growing Nazi threat, must protect their five-year-old son Samuel, a violin prodigy, at all cost. The parents make the unimaginable decision to send Samuel away to England on the now famous Kindertransport. 

A second story line centers on Selena Durán, a social worker involved in immigration work along the southern border of the United States. Long engaged to a traditionally-minded truck driver, Selena’s true passion is her work — helping families reunite after government-imposed separation. 

Then there’s seven-year-old Anita Diaz, a Salvadoran refugee Selena is working with, who has been separated from her mother by U.S. immigration officials. Frightened, traumatized, and shuffled around, Anita is nevertheless convinced she will soon be reunited with her mother. 

There are a few notable supportive characters as well: 

• An wealthy attorney who discovers that immigration law is more fulfilling that getting guilty rich people off the hook.
• A former Latin American immigrant now settled in San Francisco, completely dedicated to the elderly music professor whose home she cleans.
• A disgraced police officer providing security for a organization clouded in mystery.

 
Though Allende jumps from story to story (a technique I admit I DON’T love), and not connecting them all until the very end, she does deal successfully with some BIG themes. She draws parallels between contemporary events and similar ones in the past that are now widely condemned. She makes human the plight of each refugee eager to enter the United States. And she makes a strong argument for the often unrecognized heroism of those people working behind the scenes on behalf of desperate people. Strongly recommended, particularly for making real the lives of immigrants.

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Content Warnings

Minor: Sexual violence