Reviews tagging 'Torture'

A Fine Balance by Rohinton Mistry

7 reviews

oceange's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional reflective sad fast-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Medical content, Medical trauma, Rape, Violence, Child abuse, Racial slurs, Suicide, War, Xenophobia, Death, Torture, Animal death, Blood, Bullying, Colonisation, Classism, Grief, Hate crime, Injury/Injury detail, Physical abuse, Police brutality, Misogyny, Murder, Car accident, Death of parent, Excrement, Racism, and Islamophobia

dua_liepard's review against another edition

dark emotional sad medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Hate crime, Medical trauma, Murder, Religious bigotry, Violence, and Classism

Moderate: Suicide attempt, Animal cruelty, Gore, Child death, Slavery, Animal death, Blood, Body horror, Grief, Islamophobia, Medical content, and Suicide

Minor: Colonisation, Trafficking, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Torture, Domestic abuse, Excrement, Kidnapping, Physical abuse, Police brutality, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Drug use, Sexism, Confinement, Emotional abuse, and Misogyny

aliciae08's review against another edition

challenging emotional reflective sad slow-paced

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

4.0

This is an extremely well-written novel.  Mistry has a talent of interweaving seemingly unlikeable characters and forcing you to find empathy within their choices and actions.  That being said, this was not the book for me.

Just want you think there will be happiness for the characters—Dina getting married to a man that loves her, Om and Ishvar continuing their legacy, Maneck being spared by the suffering inflicted on the other characters—each hope is dashed. Yes, their are small victories and little rebellions, but the only characters that seemingly “win” are objectively terrible people. 

There’s a lot to think about when it comes to this novel, especially in how our actions—good or bad—are linked in ways we couldn’t ordinarily have imagined.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Physical abuse, Animal death, Classism, Death, Animal cruelty, Bullying, Emotional abuse, Excrement, Injury/Injury detail, Police brutality, Suicide, Torture, Sexual assault, Vomit, Medical trauma, and Religious bigotry

Moderate: Grief

melissahawco's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful reflective sad 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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Police brutality, Suicide, Violence, Medical trauma, Physical abuse, Death of parent, Classism, Death, Murder, Hate crime, Torture, and Medical content

Moderate: Sexism, Sexual assault, and Rape

Minor: Cancer, Excrement, and Vomit

margaretrose's review

dark hopeful reflective sad 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? Yes

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Death of parent, Violence, Trafficking, Torture, Suicide, Excrement, Police brutality, Child death, Classism, Sexual content, Religious bigotry, Murder, Islamophobia, and Gore

shag_un's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional inspiring reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Abandonment, Animal cruelty, Suicide, Sexual violence, Sexual content, Death, Blood, Vomit, Violence, Torture, Terminal illness, Slavery, Rape, Police brutality, Physical abuse, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, Hate crime, Grief, Gore, Forced institutionalization, Sexual assault, Excrement, Emotional abuse, and Death of parent

bookshelf_al's review

challenging sad medium-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? Yes

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Medical trauma, Religious bigotry, Slavery, Suicide, Torture, Classism, Death, Violence, Child abuse, Death of parent, Injury/Injury detail, Police brutality, Sexual violence, Animal cruelty, Animal death, and Kidnapping