Reviews tagging 'Toxic relationship'

The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafón

11 reviews

cshell12's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious tense slow-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

3.75

While the narration was great, this audiobook was very challenging to follow. Lots of characters, narrative changes and sub plot stories (that do eventually come together and make sense). I think the would have been easier to read as a book. Definitely a complex story with an interesting plot, and though it’s part of a series it does feel complete/works as a stand alone.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Incest, and Violence

Moderate: Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Toxic relationship, Child death, Domestic abuse, Infidelity, and Sexual content

Minor: Fire/Fire injury, Pregnancy, Sexual harassment, Torture, and Death of parent

corrin_takara's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense 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

4.5

At times was a struggle to read partly because of the slow pace as well as a long list of possible triggering topics which lead to hard to read passages. Picked up towards the end and grabbed my attention with a satisfying twist 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Torture, Sexism, Police brutality, Miscarriage, Homophobia, Hate crime, Murder, Death, War, Racism, Misogyny, Bullying, Child abuse, Classism, Confinement, Rape, Antisemitism, Toxic relationship, Violence, and Gore

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Ableism, Fire/Fire injury, and Dementia

bookwormcat's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

This was a great book. Beautiful prose, compelling characters and a fascinating mystery. Dark and sad but with moments of real humour. I loved it

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Medical trauma, Misogyny, Police brutality, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, Sexual content, Domestic abuse, Sexual harassment, Stalking, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Sexual violence, Torture, Toxic relationship, Death, Medical content, Fire/Fire injury, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, and Terminal illness

Moderate: Bullying, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Death of parent, Confinement, Forced institutionalization, Grief, Gun violence, Cursing, Blood, and Body horror

Minor: Incest, War, and Excrement

chrisljm's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious medium-paced

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

3.5

1. this book would not pass the bechdel test.
2. the twist almost made me shit myself. 
3. “the day was turning out to be longer than The Brothers Karamazov” is so funny. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child death, Confinement, Hate crime, Toxic relationship, Death of parent, Excrement, Homophobia, Murder, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Police brutality, Violence, Domestic abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Misogyny, Pregnancy, and Sexism

Moderate: Abandonment, Child abuse, Gore, Incest, Infidelity, Lesbophobia, War, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Gun violence, Infertility, Medical content, Miscarriage, Stalking, Terminal illness, Alcohol, Blood, Emotional abuse, Torture, Cursing, Physical abuse, Religious bigotry, and Sexual harassment

Minor: Ableism, Animal death, Antisemitism, Bullying, Rape, Abortion, Classism, Racial slurs, and Adult/minor relationship

satuhurme's review against another edition

adventurous emotional slow-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? It's complicated

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Fire/Fire injury, Murder, Police brutality, and Toxic relationship

tessduets's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional inspiring mysterious reflective sad tense 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

5.0

I loved this book so much. Lots of shocking plot twists and a completely unique story. While it was exciting and mysterious it was also a rather cozy read. It is beautifully written and is now one of my favorite books. I had the added fun of getting to read it while visiting Barcelona, definitely recommend that if you get the chance.  

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Content Warnings

Minor: Cursing, Murder, Confinement, Death of parent, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Dementia, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Gore, Gun violence, Homophobia, Grief, Infidelity, Injury/Injury detail, Misogyny, Police brutality, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Alcohol, Incest, Pregnancy, Religious bigotry, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Terminal illness, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Classism, Infertility, Sexism, Stalking, and Suicide attempt

elfeeza's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

I was not expecting this book to freak me out. It started quite slow and rather boring for me but after that the book just delivered surprises one after another.

It was so craftily written and I would have to say that it is the best mystery/thriller I have ever read. I haven’t read that many but this one is by far the best.

The author obviously put so much thought into crafting the story and the way the author revealed how all the main players in the book are connected to each other is so well-written and planned out.

The build up freaked me out and got me curious at the same time. The climax of the story had me holding my breath in anticipation and got me questioning if I could speed up the audiobook anymore without me losing comprehension of the narration. The ending was satisfying and brought my heart down to normal again. And then, as much as I wanted to hate this book because I didn’t know going into it that it was from the gothic horror genre and I was got so frightened of the scary parts of this book that as I was reading/listening to them I told myself that I am not going to continue on with the series, I couldn’t and I had to give it 5 stars. This book did everything it was meant to do. It was that good. And now I need to catch my breath and calm down before I can read another book.

Will I continue on with the series? I still don’t know but one thing is for sure. I am curious.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Domestic abuse, Sexual harassment, Misogyny, Toxic relationship, and Murder

jeanniea's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark mysterious reflective sad tense slow-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? No

4.75

Great storytelling. Similar storytelling style to that of erin morgenstern. Story picks up about halfway thru. I enjoyed the ending of the book! There were a few unexpected surprises in the plot.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Grief, Murder, Pregnancy, Torture, and Violence

Minor: Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, Rape, Torture, Abortion, Domestic abuse, Forced institutionalization, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Stalking, Abandonment, Alcohol, Child death, Chronic illness, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Sexual content, and Gun violence

aydaybay's review against another edition

There are more problems than I realized upon a first read. I couldn't get past how misogynistic the main character was and how much he fantasized about the women he encountered. And it was EVERY woman.

Also, the fact of the underaged sex when he was 19 years old grossed me out. Even if Bea was unhappy with her fiance, he did everything possible to coerce her rather than trying to help her. I couldn't get past the line about her being 17 right before they had sex.

The people aren't as dynamic as I had remembered. The good people were basically angels in Daniel's eyes while the villains were as evil a person as you could possibly get. I understand why I enjoyed it before. But there are things upon further reread that I just can't look past.

First Read (2018):
Without a shadow of a doubt, this is my favorite book of all time. I have never felt this passionately about a book before in my entire life. There were so many twists and turns. The characters had so much depth and I never wanted this book to end. I'm so happy that I read this book and that I can now recommend it to others. This book is absolutely beautiful.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Toxic relationship, Sexism, Sexual content, Emotional abuse, Police brutality, and Adult/minor relationship

distilledreads's review against another edition

emotional mysterious sad medium-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

3.5

I really struggled with this book. I went into it with really high expectations, and therefore for the first two-thirds of it I was anxiously anticipating what makes this such a highly acclaimed read. The answer, for me at least, was the ending. The last third, and really the shift into Nuria’s perspective, saved this book for me and I found myself finally enjoying the story. While I could appreciate the writing and the plot up until that point, I wasn’t particularly entranced by the mystery and it felt like I was just plodding along; for that reason, I would give this book 3 ½ stars. 

The perspective is that of a teenage boy and is told in first-person, which at least partially was the reason I found it so hard to get sucked into this book. Since I felt distanced from the characters and the goings-on, it didn’t take much to jar me while reading and throw me out of the plot. Every asinine opinion on women, the fetishization of a “mulatto” woman, or the dismissive way sexual assault was casually sprinkled throughout the book was enough to disrupt my reading and fuel my distaste. 

Again, like I said, I can appreciate what Zafón was trying to achieve here in a literary sense. I would love to have properly analyzed this book in a classroom setting to better understand the nuance of mid-twentieth century Spain, rather than rely on my own haphazard understanding and research. 

“Wars have no memory, and nobody has the courage to understand them until there are no voices left to tell what happened, until the moment comes when we no longer recognize them and they return, with another face and another name, to devour what they left behind.” 

This is a multi-generational story, with the actions of 20/30 years ago affecting and mirroring a younger generation. At its heart, there is a cautionary tale of second chances and the destruction that hate and prejudices carry. As well, there are beautiful and evocative lines. This is a book largely about a book, which naturally leads to beautiful phrases about storytelling, reading, and human nature. 

“The words with which a child’s heart is poisoned, through malice or through ignorance, remain branded in his memory, and sooner or later they burn his soul.” 

Despite my mixed experience of it, I am glad that I finally read The Shadow of the Wind. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Chronic illness, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Excrement, Fire/Fire injury, Forced institutionalization, Grief, Gun violence, Hate crime, Homophobia, Incest, Infidelity, Mental illness, Misogyny, Murder, Physical abuse, Police brutality, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, and Vomit