Reviews tagging 'Abortion'

The Shining Girls by Lauren Beukes

14 reviews

anniepatt's review against another edition

dark

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

3.5

I've been choosing audiobooks by sorting randomly and available now on Libby, then scrolling until I like cover art. It's kind of fun to go in mostly blind. Somehow I've read at least 4 time travel books so far in 2024, and here's another one! 

The villain in The Shining Girls was the most disturbingly written evil man I've encountered. Masterfully repulsive, 5 stars on that character development. 

This is another one of those stories with incredible potential that just didn't resolve satisfactorily, in my personal opinion-but I'd still seek out another book by this author. I did enjoy her style. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Stalking, Injury/Injury detail, Blood, Animal death, and Murder

Minor: Abortion

battybookworm's review against another edition

challenging dark tense medium-paced

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

2.0

Unfortunately, I kind knew this wasn't going to be a top book for me. The main reason I stuck with it at all was the opening scene with the bee (I had a similar experience at girl scout camp with my peers and a daddy long legs). Beyond that though, I found the focus of this book and the layout off putting. There are elements here that are deeply complex and could be quite interesting.

I don't tend to enjoy narratives like this one, somewhat akin to Forrest Gump where they touch on multiple points in history in a sort of cursory way. It feels a bit trite I guess, I don't know.

I will also say, this book is written very specifically in the US and takes a lot of culture and history as a source for its plot. However, the author is not from the US and there were many random wording errors that made it rather disbelievingly placed in the US (some things felt rather obvious like how we say going to the hospital rather than being in hospital, likely could've been edited out at some point). I don't think this is the worst offense in books, but I do think that it allowed the author to sort of surface level many of the characters without giving them backing to actually make sense in the world. This is mostly a racial thing, basically every major character is a POC but it feels silly at the end when this is suddenly revealed.

I'm mostly referring to Dan, the Dan reveal annoyed me.

 
Beyond all that, my favorite part was Kirby and there's a part of me that still wants more of her. I wish the book had given her more time, made her more central. It focused so intently on Harper and his murders when we already kinda had the gist there. Kirby was complex and strange and I never felt like we saw that as internally or fully as we did Harper's getting his rocks off. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Physical abuse, Torture, Adult/minor relationship, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Gaslighting, Gore, Stalking, Body horror, Medical trauma, Death, Murder, Violence, Misogyny, Grief, Medical content, and Sexual assault

Moderate: Alcoholism, Biphobia, Abortion, Addiction, and Drug use

This book depicts multiple graphic murder events in fairly slim but clear detail. If you cannot stomach violence that includes stabbing and gore, I would recommended missing this book.

caitlynfox's review against another edition

dark emotional tense fast-paced

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

3.5

First things first- reading this on kindle was a disservice to myself as this is a novel that jumps between years (time travel will do that) so I never really knew where I was. It was still decently easy to follow but I think being able to pop back and forth easily would’ve been nice. 
That being said, Kirby is my new girl, we love a homegirl who can hold her own guts in and get shit done… literally. The time travelers wife if she was a bum ass man/serial killer. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Torture, Stalking, Injury/Injury detail, Violence, Murder, Animal death, and Blood

Minor: Abortion

knretaleato's review against another edition

dark mysterious sad tense medium-paced

• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Sexual content, Animal death, Stalking, Gore, Medical content, Death, Death of parent, Body horror, Torture, and Violence

Moderate: Abortion, Addiction, and Child death

Minor: Dementia, Vomit, and Transphobia

valjeanval's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense fast-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

4.0

Beukes is a great writer and thorough researcher who created a cast of interesting, powerful, complicated women throughout time. It just sucks that most of them are murder victims. I think I understand conceptually her desire to give voice and depth to the as she calls them “pretty corpses” of crime thrillers, and she does that, but the genre itself is still limiting. The murderer is misogyny person, literally killing women who would otherwise change the world. It’s a solid metaphor, but a frustrating read.

Also, while the time travel element is cool, the paradoxes always hurt my brain a bit. The writing was good enough that my suspension of disbelief was only strained rather than snapping.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Blood, Death of parent, Gore, Misogyny, Medical trauma, Torture, Violence, Kidnapping, Sexual violence, Animal cruelty, Death, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, and Stalking

Moderate: Addiction, Alcohol, Antisemitism, Cursing, Drug use, Gun violence, Homophobia, Outing, and Suicide

Minor: Racism, Transphobia, Sexism, Abortion, and Gun violence

jamiejanae_6's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious 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? No

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Blood, Abortion, Alcohol, Grief, Animal cruelty, Classism, Cursing, Gore, Body horror, Death, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Physical abuse, Misogyny, Sexual violence, Stalking, Sexism, Sexual content, Torture, and Violence

sunnysiding's review against another edition

dark tense medium-paced

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

4.25

A book centered on the victims of serial killings rather than idolizing the killer. Exciting, heart wrenching, achingly human.

Lost a star for the bizarre subplot of Dan being in love with Kirby. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Cursing, Animal cruelty, Gore, Suicide, Murder, Animal death, Blood, Death, Fire/Fire injury, Injury/Injury detail, and Stalking

Moderate: Drug use, Drug abuse, Misogyny, Addiction, Alcoholism, Alcohol, Abortion, Sexual content, Medical content, Mental illness, and Grief

Minor: Pregnancy, Homophobia, Transphobia, Domestic abuse, Deadnaming, Rape, and Sexual harassment

There is an entire chapter that heavily features animal injury/death:

Kirby's dog is killed, brutally, trying to protect her

. It's pretty expected for a book about serial killing but it is visceral and detailed. There are several other depictions of animal cruelty, injury, and death.

arthur_ant18's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense slow-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Stalking, Animal death, Death, Murder, and Sexual violence

Moderate: Racism, Transphobia, and Drug abuse

Minor: Abortion and Homophobia

mlovesbooks's review against another edition

dark tense fast-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault, Murder, Gore, and Racial slurs

Moderate: Pregnancy, Abortion, and Miscarriage

Minor: Transphobia

chloemakesbooks's review against another edition

mysterious medium-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

1.0

Poorly written, flat characters, and a total lack of suspense or fear- just sadness. A good editor should have seen where the real book was and refocused the story. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abortion, Ableism, Addiction, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Fire/Fire injury, Murder, Sexism, Alcohol, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Blood, Death, Death of parent, Drug abuse, Drug use, Grief, Gun violence, Misogyny, and Sexual content