Reviews tagging 'Trafficking'

What Could Be Saved by Liese O'Halloran Schwarz

11 reviews

elsebeok's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Pedophilia, and Trafficking

Moderate: Addiction, Confinement, Death, Drug abuse, Miscarriage, Violence, Blood, Dementia, Kidnapping, Grief, Murder, Alcohol, and Colonisation

bookmaven17's review against another edition

emotional informative medium-paced

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

3.75

When a man contacts Laura claiming to be her long lost brother, she travels to Bangkok to discover if it is really him and ends up with more questions than answers.  Alternating between the past (Bangkok 1972) and present day (Washington D.C. 2019), O'Halloran Schwartz shows us the affects of loss, betrayal, and long-held secrets across oceans and generations.  

I love a dual-timeline story but if felt like the author held back a bit too much to reveal at the end.  It felt as though too much was being tied-up at the end and also included some unnecessary detail about the man's time apart from the family. For me, the beekeeping storyline included too much detail to be relevant in the end.  I enjoyed that we had as much character development of the servants in Bangkok as we did for the family members.  Overall, an engaging story.  

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Trafficking

Moderate: Grief and Abortion

msteinhaus's review

emotional mysterious slow-paced

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

5.0

A very aptly-slow burn about the pernicious effects of long-kept family secrets. I appreciated the complexity of the characters and their relationships to each other, and the clever play (including the reader) of who-knows-what-when. Laura was challenging for me, which I think speaks to the skill of the author. Thought it was a great read for me, because of some aspects of the content, I will be careful with who I recommend this to.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Bullying, Confinement, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Trafficking, and Kidnapping

Moderate: Miscarriage and Dementia

pagesandplannersabroad's review

dark emotional mysterious medium-paced

• Loveable characters? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Drug abuse, Pedophilia, Sexual violence, Trafficking, and Death of parent

avisreadsandreads's review

challenging dark emotional hopeful informative mysterious reflective sad medium-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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Infidelity, Miscarriage, Kidnapping, Grief, and Death of parent

Moderate: Addiction, Child abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Sexism, Blood, Police brutality, Dementia, Trafficking, Pregnancy, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Bullying, Torture, Abortion, Murder, Alcohol, and War

maviemerveilleuse's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Kidnapping, Grief, and Colonisation

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Pedophilia, Racial slurs, Rape, Sexual assault, and Trafficking

Minor: Miscarriage

kimgravy's review

dark mysterious 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? Yes

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Trafficking and Kidnapping

Moderate: Child abuse, Confinement, Drug use, Infidelity, Pedophilia, and Sexual violence

cblunier's review

dark mysterious sad slow-paced

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

3.0

Disturbing, depressing.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Bullying, Child abuse, Confinement, Drug abuse, Drug use, Infidelity, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Slavery, Dementia, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Grief, and Death of parent

janeycanuck's review

dark emotional sad fast-paced

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

4.0

This sucked me almost immediately. What you think is going to consume the story - whether or not the man in the email is truly Philip - turns out to be just a minor part. What takes over quickly? The secrets of Genevieve & Robert, the observations of Noi from the sidelines, the relationship between Bea & Laura, all constantly peeling away more & more layers before finally unravelling what happened to Philip in 1972. Had I started it earlier in the day, this would have been a one-day read for me.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Trafficking, and Kidnapping

kerrygetsliterary's review

challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Infidelity, Medical content, Dementia, Trafficking, and Kidnapping