Reviews tagging 'Death of parent'

Marina by Carlos Ruiz Zafón

4 reviews

didipooka's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad tense 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

So beautiful. I don't want to give anything away - the writing is poetic, drawing you onto the streets of Barcelona and you can't help but be enamoured by Oscar and Marina. The story explores love, family, friendship, loss, and all the ways in which we process grief. Read it! 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Child death, Violence, Blood, and Death of parent

risemini's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad fast-paced

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

3.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Cancer, Child abuse, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Gun violence, Self harm, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, Pregnancy, and Injury/Injury detail

bee_a_friend's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Body horror, Chronic illness, Death, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Terminal illness, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Abandonment, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Child death, Confinement, Gore, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Suicide attempt, and Murder

Minor: Self harm, Forced institutionalization, Xenophobia, and War

michaelion's review against another edition

adventurous mysterious medium-paced

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

3.0

Okay.

I like stories with kids uncovering forgotten histories and secrets, especially in this place with its feeling of being a forgotten land. Don't like the manic pixie dream next door, but hell it was written in the 90s I'll cut it some slack. I judge books by their covers and I bought this as a teen because it was beautiful. The book itself is nice, fine. Feels like a debut novel. So much of the backstories being told in the form of dialogue instead of just switching perspectives to tell the story in the past took me out of it. If I'm thinking "People don't talk like this!" whenever I read something, I know I'm taking points off. I don't like how quick the ending was, but only because you didn't really get to sit with the main character and the titular character after the mystery's been solved. So it's a fine book like it's okay. It's whatever. I'm being harsh. It's alright.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Body horror, Child death, and Death

Moderate: Drug use, Torture, Xenophobia, Blood, Grief, Stalking, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Cancer, Hate crime, Physical abuse, Self harm, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Terminal illness, Death of parent, and War