Reviews tagging 'Incest'

The River We Remember by William Kent Krueger

39 reviews

bearybooky's review

dark emotional mysterious sad 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

Great storytelling. Difficult subject matter. I felt satisfied with the redemption. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Antisemitism, Drug abuse, Domestic abuse, Racial slurs, Death of parent, Terminal illness, War, Fire/Fire injury, Incest, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Grief, Mental illness, Sexual assault, Child abuse, Cursing, Death, Gaslighting, Sexual content, Violence, Gun violence, Sexual violence, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, Bullying, Hate crime, Racism, Alcohol, Blood, Chronic illness, Pedophilia, and Rape

craftyanty's review

adventurous emotional mysterious 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

I found this book engaging from beginning to end.  Every time I had to stop listening, I couldn't help planning how quickly I'd be able to get back to it.  I loved the characters and how they interconnected. 

I've read this author's work before, but this one felt different to me. It often felt like a cross between Fredrik Bachman's Beartown and Sean Dietrich's Kinfolk.  

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Physical abuse, Infidelity, Fire/Fire injury, Death, Sexual assault, Domestic abuse, Racial slurs, Incest, Child abuse, Violence, Murder, Emotional abuse, and Animal death

bmpicc's review

mysterious reflective sad 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

3.0

Multiple points of view, small town secrets, a lot of characters

I can't pinpoint exactly what it was. I can only say that I recall enjoying my 'Ordinary Grace' reading experience more. I do appreciate the storytelling though.

“More than anything else, we're made of mistakes. But you know what? We always have a second chance.” 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Racism, and Rape

Moderate: Incest

morethanmylupus's review

challenging emotional reflective tense medium-paced

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

5.0

“More than anything else, we're made of mistakes. But you know what? We always have a second chance.”

Kreuger has a talent for embodying both the charm and the unfortunate underbelly of small-town life. Set in the 1950s, this book is set in small-town Minnesota like Kreuger's previous books. This book follows suit on previous works, hitting on themes around racism, roles in small-town dynamics, and how actions (big and small) can have long-reaching impacts. If Andy Griffith hadn't shied away from heavier themes of racism, sexual assault including on children, and the long-term impacts that fighting in a war can have on a person ... you'd have a TV version of this book. The ending made me equal parts sad and content, but I don't think any ending to this story would have or could have been happy. None of the characters was 100% easy to love, but that's what I love about Kreuger's books - the characters aren't any more perfect than humans are in real life. Their redemption arcs - or lack thereof - were part of the charm of this book too.

On the subject of racism, I've seen a few reviews that questioned the racism in the book especially given Kreuger isn't a lifelong native. Saying that this type of thing was more likely to have happened in the South. Is that true? Maybe, but maybe not. I grew up Indian-American in suburban Minnesota and we certainly knew that there were a lot of places we should enter carefully or not at all. I was often asked whether I was a "dot Indian" or a "feather Indian / teepee Indian" as a child. So I can assure you that racism was alive and well in Minnesota even in the 1990s, and nothing that happened in this book felt like that much of a stretch to me. We see a lot of overt racism and racial slurs here, but also some more subversive and unconscious racism, which also felt realistic to me because I do believe that a fair amount of racism that I faced growing up in Minnesota was probably unconscious bias (though that didn't make it any nicer to experience).

This is a heavy book, but it's a beautiful book in how it reflects on the way humans behave and interact - and what we will do for the ones we love. 

 

A huge thank you to the author and the publisher for providing an e-ARC via Netgalley. This does not affect my opinion regarding the book. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Gun violence, Rape, Murder, Incest, Racial slurs, Sexual assault, Misogyny, and Child abuse

dkmorello's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced

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

5.0

Riveting story of secrets and love along the Alabaster River in Minnesota. The characters are rich and flawed. Nearly all the men are broken in small and big ways by world wars, and nearly all the women hold secrets that threaten their families and children. Highly recommend this book: The characters soar, the action unfolds at a brisk pace, and the central character, Brody, has a strong moral compass. The character of Brody is similar to Titus in All the Sinners Bleed by SA Cosby, specifically the moral compass. The author does a masterful job of moving the plot forward, even as he fills the story with bits of the past; chapters stayed chronological as opposed to splitting into flashback chapters. Thanks for that.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Grief, War, Incest, Physical abuse, and Blood

greatestheights's review

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: Rape, Alcoholism, Death, Racial slurs, Violence, Incest, Grief, Hate crime, Murder, Racism, and Child abuse

Moderate: War and Suicide attempt

hcumbie's review against another edition

dark informative mysterious reflective medium-paced

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

4.5

Great book! Loved the mix of historical fiction and mystery.  This book definitely made me think. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death

Moderate: Incest, Rape, Alcoholism, Xenophobia, War, Racism, and Murder

emily_y's review against another edition

dark mysterious 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gun violence, Violence, and Murder

Moderate: Incest, Racism, and Rape

Minor: Infidelity, Alcohol, Suicide attempt, and Colonisation

bschweig717's review against another edition

dark sad tense slow-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

2.0

This book is an okay mystery, but it heavily relies on the trauma of its characters, especially the female ones, in order to progress. The female characters are also not entirely believable to me. The story feels nostalgic for a time in American history that was downright cruel to anyone that wasn’t a white, cisgendered man. I’m sure it will make for an interesting book club discussion, but I can’t say I enjoyed spending time in its pages.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gun violence, Rape, Incest, Sexual violence, and Violence

emmadkreads's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious slow-paced

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

2.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: War, Sexual assault, Pedophilia, Incest, Rape, and Xenophobia