Reviews tagging 'Blood'

Notes on an Execution by Danya Kukafka

39 reviews

maribsmith's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad medium-paced

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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Child death, Alcoholism, Physical abuse, Violence, Murder, Animal cruelty, Grief, Abandonment, Blood, Child abuse, Death, Mental illness, and Emotional abuse

marybethlovesbooks's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective tense medium-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? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Animal cruelty, Body horror, Animal death, Police brutality, Blood, and Murder

isapizza16's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective 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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Addiction, Alcohol, Animal death, Animal cruelty, Blood, Child abuse, Death, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Grief, Medical content, Murder, Pregnancy, Racism, Toxic relationship, and Violence

terrik_'s review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-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? Yes

5.0

This is one of those books that just wouldn’t leave my mind when I finished it. Throughout the book, a central theme of how choices shape lives runs through the pages from cover to cover. We see how the decisions Ansel makes, as well as those around him, ends up shaping the lives of… well, everyone. 

This book takes you into an uncomfortable dive into the mind of a serial killer. Through a second-pov, you are forced to feel and experience everything he goes through up to his execution. It was a chilling feeling; having to read about ‘your’ death in such detail. 

Everything about this book was so dark and twisted. And, well, if you’re a reader like me who enjoys exploring such dark themes, this book will definitely be right up your alley. 

I had to pace myself while I read this book because of how overwhelmed I became sometimes. But that just added to the experience of reading the book. I had to slowly savour it and enjoy it in bite sized pieces. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Grief, Murder, and Emotional abuse

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Blood, Death of parent, and Animal death

avidreaderandgeekgirl's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad tense slow-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Grief, Death of parent, Blood, Medical content, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Abandonment, Domestic abuse, Confinement, and Pregnancy

Moderate: Animal death, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Xenophobia, Violence, Addiction, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Racism, Sexual violence, Stalking, Sexual assault, Child abuse, Child death, Cursing, and Emotional abuse

Minor: Suicide

thespinystacks's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-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? Yes

4.5

I loved the timeline jumps and changes in character POV. I think using those techniques created a lot of depth in this book. 

The idea of first meeting a murderer, and then learning about his childhood created a lot of confusing feelings which I enjoyed working through.

Highly recommend 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Death, Blood, and Child abuse

Minor: Violence, Sexual assault, and Sexual violence

itsheyfay's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense slow-paced

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

3.75

For some reason, I had trouble vibing with this story the way I normally do with mystery/thrillers, but it was well written and thought-provoking.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content, Misogyny, Murder, Pregnancy, Toxic relationship, Abandonment, Animal death, Child abuse, Death, Grief, Animal cruelty, and Gaslighting

Moderate: Body horror, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Alcoholism, Blood, Cursing, and Medical content

robbiclaire's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

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

3.5

There is no denying the precision and beauty of Kukafka’s writing. Plenty of times throughout the book, I felt myself moved just by the words themselves - poetic, laced together, brilliant in many ways. The narratives belonging to Hazel, the twin sister of the condemned man, and Saffy, the detective, are particularly well crafted. Their characters are multifaceted and feel like real, knowable women. 

That being said, I find the inclusion of the murderer’s perspective here to be unnecessary and actually antithetical to the implications that the book seems to leave us with. In fact, there are times where characters reflect on how little attention the victims of violence receive because of our cultural fascination with the perpetrators of violence. Isn’t this book doing exactly that? I don’t disagree with the need to present characters as more than just the sum of their actions but the man is presented as a sociopath - unfeeling, incapable of genuine connection - only to be offered as a figure worthy of our sympathy. On that same note, I think there is too clear a line drawn between the actions of his mother, whose POV is also included, and the kind of man he turned out to be. That felt unfair and also not an accurate depiction of how violence evolves. 

The strength of this book is in the stories of the women. Those are the only ones we needed. A full four stars for the quality of the writing; three stars for the troubling inclusion of a violent man’s POV. Let’s leave it at 3.5.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Child abuse, Animal cruelty, Blood, Murder, and Domestic abuse

mlindsay27's review against another edition

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Blood, Domestic abuse, Physical abuse, and Death

Moderate: Drug use, Alcohol, Drug abuse, Alcoholism, and Sexism