Reviews tagging 'Sexual assault'

Passing Strange by Ellen Klages

2 reviews

sapphicfog's review

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adventurous hopeful mysterious reflective medium-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

5.0

If you liked Last Night at the Telegraph Club and like magical realism - you're going to love this book! 
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sallysimply's review

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2.0

Sadly, this book did not really work for me. The very beginning totally sucked me in, and I liked the magical bits. But for a book where magic ends up being so central to what happened, there was almost no magic and what magic there was felt super rushed. The way the characters communicate was perplexing to me and didn't feel at all natural (especially the scene where Haskel explains her background to Emily). I also found the story itself meandering, and not in the way I sometimes like. And I NEVER got over "uno momento," which is incorrect Spanish unless there is some strange 1940s exception that I am unaware of. Sidenote, why is Diego Rivera even in this book?

I contemplated DNFing it at multiple points (which is almost impressive, considering how short it is). With just the last long chapter left, I skipped to the final chapter to see how it ends and see if it was worth finishing. It was intriguing enough for me to then go back to the long chapter and finish it up. That was definitely the most interesting part of the entire book, besides the opening section.

So, the beginning and the end get this up to 2 stars for me.
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