Reviews with content warning for Sexism - The Miniaturist

a very slow start, but it picked up a lot in the middle. the end kind of ground to a halt for me, though. the miniaturist adds an element of magical realism throughout the novel, and at the end gets pulled back down into realism while while also not being really explained. i wish that the book had either left that very open-ended and magical or given more detail, as the middle ground really doesn’t work for me. however, this was overall an interesting glimpse at a period in history i know literally nothing about.
i never would have read this if not for it being a book club pick, but i don’t regret it.
MAJOR content warning for societal homophobia of the sort you would expect from a puritan nation in the 1600s.

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moogblue's review against another edition

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dark mysterious slow-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

3.75

It was quite a slow start, and I found the lack of resolution of some of the mysterious elements a little disappointing but overall I did enjoy the book. The last quarter was the strongest, with a much faster plot as well as some character development.

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nicolaparty's review

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mysterious sad medium-paced

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

2.0

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gaeke's review against another edition

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mysterious medium-paced

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

3.0

+1 for having short chapters. the first half of this book was slow. however, once we picked up it got dramatic. I didn't expect there to be conversations on racism, homophobia and sexism (in some way), though I wish more focus was given to opening up these conversations. nella on her own wasn't really a strong character and I hate to say it but johannes was more interesting. if the book had him as the main character I would've been more invested.

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