Reviews tagging 'Sexual violence'

The Little Coffee Shop of Kabul by Deborah Rodriguez

5 reviews

loonysaurus's review against another edition

adventurous emotional inspiring reflective sad tense slow-paced

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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Genocide, Gun violence, Hate crime, Infidelity, Misogyny, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Sexism, Blood, Police brutality, Islamophobia, Religious bigotry, Pregnancy, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Body shaming, Confinement, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Infertility, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Slavery, Torture, Violence, Antisemitism, Trafficking, Grief, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Cultural appropriation, Alcohol, Colonisation, and War

Minor: Child abuse, Sexual violence, Car accident, Abortion, Death of parent, Gaslighting, Sexual harassment, and Deportation

oliviaax's review against another edition

challenging emotional funny hopeful 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? No

3.5

It’s a well written and engaging book, with loveable characters and an insight into other cultures. I worry that this story was not the authors to tell, and perhaps the ending misses the cultural nuances relevant  to this story.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Hate crime, Misogyny, Sexual violence, and War

enmcurrie's review against another edition

emotional sad medium-paced

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

3.5

I definitely enjoyed reading this book and it’s always as fascinating as it is sad to read about a country like Afghanistan experiencing political unrest and turmoil and how much the consequences of that disproportionately burden women, but it wasn’t my favourite of books set in this time period/location. 

I love the idea of 5 strong female main characters but the different stories felt all over the place at times and the story was scattered with cliches especially towards the end. The ending also fell a bit flat to me. I think the novel and the narration is heavily influenced by the author’s experience as a Westerner in Afghanistan and her views definitely infiltrate even though the book is fiction. It isn’t a bad thing necessarily, but I feel like if you’re looking for something authentic/culturally aware you won’t really get it with this book but I can see why people liked it. I wish Rodriguez was more emotional in her writing because the story just felt like a melodrama and the characters felt a bit one dimensional, despite the potential they had to be something more. I think the book would have benefited from focusing on 2 or 3 characters in more depth instead of the 6 or 7 it portrays in a more shallow way.

My main issues with this book are towards the end. The big climax event of Isabel being killed by a suicide bomb felt too glossed over for me. That must have been emotionally heavy and it just wasn’t adequately addressed or mentioned and the narrative was quickly replaced with the two weddings. I wish Rodriguez had delved deeper into the emotional impact of it all.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Violence, Blood, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Drug use, Rape, Sexual violence, Suicide, and Trafficking

sayuricharbel's review against another edition

lighthearted medium-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Minor: Sexual violence and Violence

jesuu__'s review against another edition

emotional inspiring sad slow-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Misogyny, Sexism, Sexual violence, Violence, and Trafficking

Moderate: Drug abuse, Rape, and War