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Reviews tagging 'Sexual assault'

The House Is on Fire by Rachel Beanland

25 reviews

newfiemom's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional 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? Yes

4.5

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libraryofthecrypt's review

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medium-paced

3.0

I’m kind of wondering if I’m heading into a slump or if it was just the book. At 41% of the way in I mostly felt meh about the book. I didn’t really care for any of the characters either. And after finishing it I’m glad that I didn’t purchase this like I’ve been thinking about doing since April. 

This was the first time I had heard of the fire and it’s clear that the author did quite a bit of research on it. If this book interest you I would still give this a read as I think it’s more of a me thing.

This made me want to go back down the rabbit hole of researching the 1800s and reading books set in that time period after this though. Not so much because of the story but because of the fire and realising how little I know about that time period.
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gondorgirl's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging emotional reflective sad tense 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? Yes

4.0

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readingwithcats's review against another edition

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dark emotional tense 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? Yes

5.0

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readhaileyread's review against another edition

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emotional informative sad medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.0

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eed8's review against another edition

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dark emotional tense fast-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? Yes

4.25

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kschul724's review against another edition

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dark informative inspiring tense medium-paced

4.0

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brynpemery's review against another edition

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emotional informative reflective tense 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? It's complicated

3.5

Totally entertaining but some of the characters lacked nuance for me. And given that they were largely based on real people, the girlbossification of a few of them rubbed me the wrong way. Very 2023 sensibilities for people living in the South in 1811. 
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booknerdsinmn's review

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challenging emotional informative sad tense fast-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

4.5

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okiecozyreader's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging emotional sad tense medium-paced
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.5

If you loved Yellow Wife, I think you would love this one.

Beginning with each character going to the theater (or family members going to the theater), very quickly the building burned down. This book focuses on 4 people -
“The characters of Gilbert, Jack, Sally, and Cecily are all based on real people who lived and breathed,…” (from author’s note). Gilbert was an enslaved man who believed in the goodness of people and wanted to help other people. Jack was a young boy who worked for the theater company. Sally was a wealthy, white widow. Cecily is a slave who is sexually abused by her owner’s son. (I’ve heard the audio is fantastic with multiple narrators). 

I thought the whole book read almost like a play - I could see the characters saying their “lines” - it helps us see this moment of history in a new way.

“Everybody in this city has lost somebody in that fire, and if these men can stand before him on this sad day and demonstrate their gratitude, like he is an honest-to-God citizen of this city and not just somebody’s property, then maybe there is hope for him after all.”

“The house,” he yells, finding his voice at last. “The house is on fire!” 

I was maybe most connected to the story of Cecily.
“I’m scared.” 
Della (her mother) nods quiet and slow, then she gives her eldest daughter a sad smile. “I’d be more scared if you wasn’t.”

Read with @bookfriendsbookclub - zoom for our discussion with author is on YouTube!
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