Reviews tagging 'Miscarriage'

The Nightingale by Kristin Hannah

215 reviews

pranjuli's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional informative inspiring reflective sad tense fast-paced

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

3.25

Made me stay up all night to read the entire second half of the book in one sitting. Loved Vianne's character arc. From the beginning, she was a fully formed person with a past, present, a future. She had reasons for acting like she did. She actually felt like doing the representation of women's stories in the war that has been talked about the book itself. And still, she had so much space for growth, to change. From the first page when she is introduced, I was constantly engaged in her story, I kept wanting to go back to what was happening with her. 

Not a big fan of Isabelle - only liked in her in the last leg of the book. Her dialogues and scenes were almost always crassly written. A lot of the things and feelings she had, were only told, not shown.

For example, in one chapter she would be with her father in his apartment, then go on an adventure, then we'll see Vianne's life for some time, and then it will cut to some months later and Isabelle would say she hadn't gone to the apartment in Paris in 18 months. She missed home. Slept in such places, lived likes so, bla bla.

We didn't see any of that. We just listened. 

The tension in the relationship between Isabelle and her father could have been structured much better in the first half of the book. Same goes for Isabelle and Gaetan's relationship. Infact (this might be a controversial opinion), I feel like Gaetan was not needed only in this story. He felt like a plot device and one that could easily have been fulfilled with any other already existing character. In my personal opinion, he brought Isabelle's character down

- she  had needed his 'recommendation' to get in the circle, she needed his care to fill the vacancy of  familial love, she kept waiting for him to even die at the right moment, etc.

Honestly, could have done without him. 

Isabelle, overall in the first half, was too annoying and desperate and stupid. I know the author wanted to show her 'impetuousness', but she was actually very unlikable in the beginning. Beck deserved better </3 Sophie </3 
Also, there were a lot of inconsistencies in the timeline of the girls' early life, their memories of the maman and the first world war. It kept irking me now and again and pulled me out of the scene often. 
The book could have done with quite some editing (i feel atleast 50-60 pages could be edited out). 

Yet I think this was a good book to read about French women's experience in the war, about a country under occupation during a war, about good men like Beck who were enemies but still good men, to help you think of the countless Nightingales that soared in the skies during the heinous wars fought in Europe at that time, and innumerable times in every corner of the world since time immemorial and their brunts that have been borne by women throughout the entirety of human history. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Racism, Violence, Antisemitism, Grief, Rape, War, Hate crime, Miscarriage, and Death of parent

ashleyaselin's review against another edition

dark emotional inspiring reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Child death, Rape, War, and Miscarriage

kaligray's review against another edition

challenging emotional reflective sad medium-paced

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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: War, Death of parent, Child death, Death, Genocide, Hate crime, and Religious bigotry

Moderate: Torture, Sexual violence, and Sexual assault

Minor: Miscarriage

kdevine's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional informative inspiring reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual violence, Murder, Medical trauma, Antisemitism, Violence, Terminal illness, Excrement, Sexual assault, Police brutality, Genocide, Death, Death of parent, War, Abandonment, Racism, Physical abuse, Gore, Cancer, Rape, Blood, Torture, Gun violence, Grief, Child death, and Miscarriage

itsmeliguesss's review

adventurous emotional sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Physical abuse, Child death, and Death

Moderate: Rape

Minor: Miscarriage

opplecopter's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional inspiring 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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Murder, Physical abuse, Genocide, Mass/school shootings, Torture, War, Violence, Alcohol, Rape, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Death of parent, Police brutality, Pregnancy, Blood, Gun violence, Deportation, Fire/Fire injury, Sexual assault, Alcoholism, Antisemitism, Forced institutionalization, Grief, and Confinement

Moderate: Abandonment, Miscarriage, Cancer, Vomit, and Body horror

Minor: Cursing, Excrement, and Suicide

frannydo's review

challenging emotional inspiring reflective sad tense 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

I haven’t felt this many emotions when reading a book in a long time. This is not a relaxing story in any way but oh my goodness it is a fantastic read. I was scared, tense, sad, angry and many other thing through the course of this book but I just had to keep reading. The characters are so full of life, I felt every emotion with them. Beautifullly written and an important story to be told. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Rape, Antisemitism, Physical abuse, Genocide, Cancer, War, Pregnancy, Infertility, Deportation, Miscarriage, Abandonment, Racism, Violence, Death, Alcoholism, Torture, Sexual violence, Sexual assault, Xenophobia, Religious bigotry, Police brutality, Mass/school shootings, and Child death

trinloyd's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional informative sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

An incredibly emotional and moving story of war and the women behind the scenes. Truly breathtaking, gut-wrenching, and heart-shattering. My heart broke over and over and over through out this book for all the ways these characters experienced life and love and loss, all through the lens of WW2. While these characters may be fictional, the backdrop they were set against very much was not fictional. These things may not have truly happened to these fictional women, but they happened to other, very real women. That’s what made this book so truly emotional and moving for me. It was a new look at WW2 that I hadn’t seen before and I am changed because of it. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Emotional abuse, Hate crime, Infertility, Torture, Gore, Racism, Death, Kidnapping, Deportation, Murder, Miscarriage, Police brutality, War, Antisemitism, Gun violence, Blood, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Pregnancy, Genocide, Physical abuse, Death of parent, and Religious bigotry

Moderate: Rape

turtlekat23's review

adventurous challenging emotional hopeful inspiring sad tense

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes

5.0

From time to time, you find a book that sucks you in and lingers with you long after you’ve read it. This book is absolutely one of those. It likely would have been shuffled through my eternally long TBR but I asked for recommendations from friends for my reading goal this year and am prioritizing those. I am so thankful this was one of those recommendations. I learned a lot about the French during WWII but the story and characters truly made it come to life. The story is heartbreaking and inspiring. It shows the horrors of World War II from multiple perspectives, including concentration camps, yet the shining light of hope and the indomitable spirit of the women in this book. It is painful, and sad, but so incredibly beautiful and loving. I will think of this book often

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Rape, Genocide, War, Antisemitism, Child death, Murder, Sexual assault, and Death of parent

Moderate: Confinement, Deportation, Miscarriage, and Torture

Minor: Cancer, Pregnancy, and Alcoholism

jnschmitt's review

emotional hopeful tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Physical abuse, Death of parent, Grief, War, Death, Genocide, Child death, Deportation, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Pregnancy, Rape, Torture, Violence, Sexual assault, Police brutality, Hate crime, Miscarriage, and Murder