Reviews tagging 'Rape'

An Instance of the Fingerpost by Iain Pears

7 reviews

rancid87's review against another edition

Dire

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Sexual assault and Rape

laurarashley's review against another edition

I hated it so much that once everything was more or less revealed I decided to not put myself through finishing it.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Trafficking, Medical trauma, Misogyny, Slavery, Violence, Animal cruelty, Rape, Medical content, Murder, Racism, Sexual violence, and Sexism

There is not one likable character except

the poor woman who’s killed in the very beginning, her mother who graphically approaches death the entire novel, and the prostitute who really saved a protag’s ass as well as the plot only for him to ruin her entire life for no reason (the reason being, well, she was a prostitute).

At one point I skipped ~120 pages bc I was so bored and pissed off, and as I kept going I realized I didn’t really miss anything. It was easy to go back and find anything if I did need to, bc I just looked for the dialogue, bc that was mainly when any action happened. There was SO much first-person inner monologue from these completely terrible, violent male protags. You could make a case for why the characters are the way they are, I suppose, and there were parts that I liked (and it was clearly well researched and well executed in that sense) but it definitely needed to be at LEAST two hundred pages shorter, and it is not worth sitting through all the awful things these characters do over the course of the book for the payoff at the end. I told my husband, the only way this book can turn itself around for me is if all of the men in this book die. Once most of the mystery was revealed and it became clear that was not how the book was going to end I put myself out of my misery. I only made it as far as I did bc it was a recommendation.

tericarol21's review

adventurous challenging emotional mysterious reflective tense slow-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Rape, Misogyny, Xenophobia, and Medical content

dmertens117's review against another edition

mysterious slow-paced

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

2.5

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Content Warnings

Minor: Rape

pietwombly's review against another edition

dark informative mysterious slow-paced

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

4.0

I agree this book is too long, but at the same time when I finished it, I still wanted to know more about the characters and history.  Particularly I would have liked to "hear from" Lower or Sarah. I also wanted to go back and reread the beginning after I finished it.  So it wasn't so long that I was tired of it at the end .... But it still feels like it COULD have been shorter in certain areas and done the same things.

I don't think I have ever read Historical Fiction which felt genuinely from the point of view from someone of that time. The attitudes, words and syntax all fit the conceit perfectly, which obviously makes all the characters pretty abhorrent to modern sentiment. I usually find Historical Fiction irritating for minor reasons (obviously anachronistic vocabulary) and more serious (severely modern sensibilities that undermine the reader's suspension of disbelief). This had none of the usual issues and it felt very educational as result!  Of course, I also enjoyed the idea that it's the most highbrow fanfiction I've ever read!! Anthony Wood fanfiction, lol.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Rape, Emotional abuse, Stalking, Xenophobia, Mental illness, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Classism, Vomit, Injury/Injury detail, Sexism, Medical content, Religious bigotry, and Sexual assault

catsforlenny's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious tense 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? Yes

4.5

Although the pace is slow at the start, the way the plot unfurls at the end is really well done.

Also, Sarah is awesome. Everyone loves Sarah

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Physical abuse

Minor: Rape

slipperose's review

mysterious slow-paced

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

2.0

I struggled to finish this lengthy novel. The plot is quite clever and it’s obviously incredibly well researched. But the pace is painfully slow. And the structure is such that the exact same events are re-told four times by four different characters. They do not pass the story back and forth as the plot progresses. By the time we arrived at the third protagonist, yet another pompous middle-aged white male, I was losing interest. The novel would greatly have benefited from another perspective: one of the two female characters, a servant, or similar. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Rape