Reviews tagging 'Death'

Once Upon a River by Diane Setterfield

25 reviews

kimveach's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional hopeful mysterious reflective sad tense 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

3.75

This meandering story of people along the Thames was interesting but slow.  I liked the book, but not as much as the author's, "The Thirteenth Tale."

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Kidnapping, Domestic abuse, Infertility, Medical trauma, Panic attacks/disorders, Child abuse, Death, Emotional abuse, Alcoholism, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Vomit, Rape, Sexual assault, Classism, Fire/Fire injury, Physical abuse, Stalking, Alcohol, Blood, Chronic illness, Child death, Grief, Terminal illness, Murder, Abandonment, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Incest, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, Pregnancy, Death of parent, and Medical content

thepurplepixel's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious reflective sad 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? It's complicated

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Child death, Murder, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Death, and Physical abuse

Moderate: Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Death of parent, Rape, Pregnancy, Suicidal thoughts, and Suicide

Minor: Racism and Sexual content

matcha_cat's review

emotional mysterious medium-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief

Moderate: Injury/Injury detail, Child death, Blood, Death, Kidnapping, and Pregnancy

Minor: Medical content, Alcohol, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Death of parent, Racism, Sexual content, and Rape

gcrkl's review

dark mysterious reflective slow-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? No

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Child abuse, Pregnancy, Kidnapping, and Violence

Moderate: Ableism, Bullying, Gaslighting, Racism, Stalking, Suicidal thoughts, Child death, Chronic illness, Classism, Racial slurs, Suicide, Grief, Medical content, Rape, Suicide attempt, Blood, Death, and Domestic abuse

Minor: Alcohol, Homophobia, Animal death, Slavery, Fire/Fire injury, Pedophilia, Sexual content, and Death of parent

kato_dg's review against another edition

mysterious slow-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Murder, Sexual assault, Child death, Domestic abuse, Physical abuse, Sexual violence, Violence, Alcohol, Death, Rape, Suicide attempt, Grief, Racism, Sexual content, Child abuse, Kidnapping, Suicidal thoughts, Injury/Injury detail, Emotional abuse, Pregnancy, and Terminal illness

Minor: Animal death, Medical content, and Blood

eleanora's review against another edition

mysterious reflective slow-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, and Grief

Minor: Suicide, Alcohol, Domestic abuse, Pregnancy, Animal death, and Sexual harassment

ohyeah_karyn's review against another edition

emotional mysterious reflective relaxing slow-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Kidnapping, Murder, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, Alcohol, Domestic abuse, Grief, Incest, Sexual content, Sexual harassment, Abandonment, Death, Death of parent, Sexual assault, Emotional abuse, Sexual violence, and Rape

kcmg710's review against another edition

emotional hopeful mysterious 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? It's complicated

5.0

The best word I can think of to describe this book is magical, it’s literally on the cover!

I’ve fallen in love with the characters and can’t imagine continuing life without them. I’m actually grieving finishing this book. 

The writing was so beautiful. I loved every minute of this book. 

I’ll admit it was abit tricky keeping up with everybody’s different stories because of the multiple POVS? (I think that’s the right term) however these are my favourite type of books, I love piecing it all together. It kinda reminds me of the starless sea (which I also loved) but if you found yourself not enjoying them maybe this book isn’t for you. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Kidnapping, Misogyny, Murder, Pregnancy, Toxic relationship, Domestic abuse, and Death

Moderate: Rape, Animal cruelty, Child death, Physical abuse, Animal death, Incest, Sexual assault, and Sexual content

Minor: Racism and Sexism

jodar's review

dark emotional reflective slow-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? It's complicated

3.75

This well-written novel explores social interactions within a small community and shows how the natural world of the River Thames impinges upon this community. There are elements of the manageable and unmanageable within and between the human and natural realms.

The setting is the 19th century, post-Darwin’s publications. The local pub fulfils today’s role of social media – spreading information and rumour, eliciting speculation and stories that attempt to understand and entertain. There are ordinary people who focus on folk-story, but there are the more educated as well, who grapple with social and natural/medical challenges from the point of view of newer knowledge and concepts. Sometimes the latter, though, seem to me to edge into 21st-century sensibilities, bordering anachronism. All the same, characters are portrayed in an engaging way, and their various conflicted emotions develop realistically.

Least successful to me was the nebulous, mystical, Charon-like character of Quietly, saving or taking those imperilled by the river. A metaphor I think for humans’ lack of complete control over nature and its powers, but a metaphor that sits uneasily with the tenor of the novel as a whole.

The resolutions at the end of the novel are a bit clichéd, though I feel that that is probably fine for a novel set in Victorian England!

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Violence, Death, and Toxic relationship

emmagreenwood's review against another edition

lighthearted mysterious slow-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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Ableism, Alcohol, Classism, Death, Domestic abuse, Grief, Kidnapping, Physical abuse, Racism, and Child death

Moderate: Animal death, Gaslighting, Suicide, Bullying, Toxic relationship, and Animal cruelty