Reviews tagging 'Child abuse'

The Woman in the Library by Sulari Gentill

37 reviews

bluecardinal's review against another edition

dark mysterious medium-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Child death, Homophobia, Kidnapping, Misogyny, Death, Child abuse, Death of parent, Infidelity, Rape, Domestic abuse, Murder, Pedophilia, Classism, Gun violence, and Racism

snhmyers's review against another edition

mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.5

This book drew me in just by the first sentence of the summary. It felt fast paced at the beginning, somewhat slower in the middle, and it picked up again near the end. I LOVED the creative point of views that the author used! Wonderful book!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence and Murder

Moderate: Death, Child abuse, and Stalking

Minor: Pandemic/Epidemic, Racism, and Sexual assault

originally_olivia's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

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

4.0

This mystery kept me guessing until the last moment! So many misleads, a really interesting format, and fantastic characters.

Spoiler

I was convinced it was Leo who was the killer. Sending Freddy those anonymous gifts, being at the library that day, running by Boos crime scene, so I was definitely disappointed by the outcome. I wanted the real Leo to know how the author really saw him and that she knew all along. But I guess that would’ve given him the attention he so desperately wanted.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Death, Gun violence, Pandemic/Epidemic, Child abuse, Sexual assault, Gore, Violence, and Murder

samw0327's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious tense 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? Yes

3.5

Very meta which made it a slightly more challenging read. A book about a woman writing a book about a woman writing a book. 😂😵‍💫

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Sexual assault, Child abuse, and Rape

josefineisreading's review against another edition

mysterious fast-paced

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

4.5

I really really enjoyed this! I read it for my book club and it kept us hooked the whole way through mainly because we had no idea where the story was going and who was responsible for all this chaos. It was quite fast paced and easy to read with chapters being only a few pages. 

I think the ending was pretty packed together but it would’ve been nice if we had a few hints along the way. I’m not sure if this is done on purpose because this story is essentially a manuscript. Not sure about the very end of the book because I’m pretty sure this is stand alone but I guess we make our own assumptions. At first it was confusing with what was going on with the emails and the actual story but I think it was cool. Wish we could’ve gotten a bit more out of it. Overall, I really enjoyed it but that was because I could speculate with others. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Death of parent, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Racism, Violence, Medical content, and Stalking

Moderate: Drug use, Incest, Addiction, Pandemic/Epidemic, Rape, Sexual violence, Blood, Child abuse, Cursing, and Alcohol

kasper99's review against another edition

mysterious medium-paced

• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

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Content Warnings

Minor: Sexual assault, Murder, and Child abuse

kyliejohnson201's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional hopeful mysterious reflective tense fast-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Stalking, Body horror, and Murder

Minor: Child abuse and Sexual assault

aalfaro627's review against another edition

3.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse and Racism

displacedcactus's review against another edition

mysterious fast-paced

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

This was a fun detour from my usually fantasy-heavy reading list. It's very meta, and at times the framing device irritated me, but it does pay off. I don't think it will particularly stick with me but it was a good read for cross-country flight!

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Violence and Blood

Minor: Sexual assault and Child abuse

racl's review against another edition

adventurous emotional mysterious tense 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? No

3.0

It wasn't bad, and as someone who's not huge on mystery as a genre, it was easy and engaging enough to read.
Freddie, the main character, feels like a blank slate to me in a lot of ways - what we know about her is circumstantial, and her actions are fairly often contrary to her own perception of self.
The fiction within fiction gimmick was enjoyable - for me it helped separate the main mystery into more manageable chunks while adding another layer on top.
I won't read it again, but I had a good enough time with it.

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Content Warnings

Minor: Stalking, Blood, Infertility, Emotional abuse, Sexual assault, Child abuse, and Domestic abuse