Reviews tagging 'Adult/minor relationship'

Lessons by Ian McEwan

19 reviews

miaaa_lenaaa's review against another edition

emotional mysterious reflective sad tense slow-paced

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

4.25

The start is a struggle tbh but it does improve a lot, about growing up and getting old and just life more generally

‘He wasn’t waiting for her. But if she ever turned up he wanted his options open. Which was another was of saying, he was waiting.’

‘A form of narcissism, or closely related paranoia.’

‘It was his right to want nothing.’

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Cancer, Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Grief, Car accident, Death of parent, Abandonment, Sexual harassment, and Pandemic/Epidemic

rosereadsalot's review against another edition

2.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Domestic abuse, Pedophilia, Terminal illness, Dementia, Death of parent, Abandonment, War, and Pandemic/Epidemic

the_booker's review against another edition

reflective slow-paced

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

2.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship

schorlett's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional funny hopeful reflective medium-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Pedophilia, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Violence, Abandonment, and Alcohol

Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Cancer, Domestic abuse, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Dementia, Grief, Pregnancy, and War

Minor: Transphobia and Abortion

agata_94's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective slow-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship

Moderate: Cancer, Death, Terminal illness, Blood, Car accident, and Alcohol

bridgetkay's review against another edition

reflective slow-paced

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

2.0

I wanted more from this book - and by more, I certainly don’t mean words or pages. From the blurb I was expecting some skilful weaving of a person’s life with the background of major world events. But I was not compelled to continue reading, and found myself quickly wanting to get this book over and done with. Some parts were enjoyable, but with the amount of different huge issues that were attempted, I didn’t feel like any were done justice. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Pedophilia, and Physical abuse

Moderate: Cancer

Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Chronic illness, Infidelity, Mental illness, Misogyny, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Transphobia, Medical content, Death of parent, Abandonment, Alcohol, War, and Classism

stuffinmybrainhole's review against another edition

reflective slow-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Pedophilia, Sexual assault, Abandonment, and War

danaaliyalevinson's review

emotional reflective sad slow-paced

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

2.5

I’ll preface by saying, I have loved other stories from this writer. This one was a big miss for me. I’m a television and screenwriter, and all the time in reference to biopics, I say that they often fail to realize that someone’s life is not a story. That’s how I felt about this book. Its narrative spanned an entire lifetime and yet it just felt like a series of events marching on without point or thematic conclusion. Oftentimes, the historical events that are woven throughout the narrative also feel contrived, as if to make commentary on the ways in which history affects the common person. But for me, too often this served to distract from the narrative.

I was also very disappointed in the way that this book handled sexual assault and the non-consensual adult/child sexual relationship between Roland and his piano teacher. For me, it fell into the trap of how when an adult man preys on a girl, it’s clearly viewed as predatory and beyond the pale. But when an adult woman preys on a boy, well good for that boy! While there’s some indictment of Roland’s teacher, there’s not nearly enough. And even Roland himself questions whether or not she really did anything wrong. The psychic harm that she caused him is also not fully explored. For me, this was problematic on its face.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Death, Emotional abuse, Pedophilia, and Dementia

Minor: Transphobia and War

abbieh95's review against another edition

reflective slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship and Abandonment