Reviews tagging 'Domestic abuse'

Once Upon a River by Diane Setterfield

31 reviews

cutepatzie's review

adventurous dark emotional mysterious reflective sad medium-paced

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

4.5

I like it. As I just started reading magic realism recently. This book was good. I enjoy it. Love all of the characters. The story is very interesting. Surprisingly it was very easy to read. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Classism, Cursing, Death of parent, Deadnaming, Gore, Infidelity, Misogyny, Sexual assault, Suicide attempt, Abandonment, Blood, Gaslighting, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Miscarriage, Sexism, Violence, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Grief, Child death, Physical abuse, Rape, Suicide, and Toxic relationship

sofipitch's review

mysterious slow-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? No

3.75

This book was pretty slow to start but I did get invested after a while but the ending to me was lacking. I feel like there was a weird emphasis on having biological children and it's importance and I didn't like that, especially

as a female character who didn't want to have kids for very good reasons has her mind changed bc the man she fell in love with does. Just 😑. Like I really liked the character of Armstrong and I was literally in TEARS when he was describing his childhood and his desire to be a great father to his adopted son, only for the story to say "but that didn't matter, being evil was in the son's genes" uh what, are you kidding me?

Also the river was used as a recurrent theme and symbol throughout but it could be pretty heavy handed at times. Otherwise I liked the prose

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Pregnancy

Moderate: Grief and Child death

Minor: Abandonment, Domestic abuse, and Racism

yaizacanopoli's review

dark emotional mysterious reflective tense slow-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? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Death of parent, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Grief, Stalking, Suicide attempt, Child death, Child abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Murder, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, Racial slurs, Racism, Suicidal thoughts, and Violence

Moderate: Blood, Classism, Fire/Fire injury, Medical content, Sexism, Animal death, Misogyny, and Alcohol

Minor: Rape, Sexual assault, Slavery, Sexual harassment, Sexual content, and Sexual violence

liblady0308's review

adventurous dark emotional hopeful 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? No

5.0

This book came to me as a StoryGraph recommendation. When I first read the excerpt I wasn’t really into it. I actually removed it from my TBR list until I recognized the cover in a second hand store on vacation. 
I am shocked at how much I really enjoyed this book. It had mystery, love, supernatural stuff and cold hard humans, too. A beautiful mixture of folksy charm and detective thriller combined. If you are on the fence about this book, just read it. I think you will be pleasantly surprised.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Kidnapping, Child death, Child abuse, and Domestic abuse

Minor: Rape

peytonktracy's review against another edition

emotional hopeful mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

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

5.0

This book is about story telling and rivers. And it truly does feel like you are being told a story, from the minute you start, it feels like you just curl up to listen. And just like when you are being told a story, sometimes it meanders like a river does and you might wonder where it’s headed or why it curves like this, but you always find where it’s going. And the ending is so immensely satisfying in every way. I loved the characters and how well developed they all were, I loved exploring their reactions to several key plot elements over time, and seeing how their stories connected and blended and diverged and moved. This was absolutely masterful and I loved it to pieces.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, and Grief

Moderate: Blood, Domestic abuse, Rape, Violence, Emotional abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, Suicidal thoughts, Sexual content, Alcohol, and Bullying

This book centers around multiple parents and their relationships to children and the losses or changes in those relationships - it is truly what this hinged upon. Several sets of parents lose a children in several of the narratives, so that’s my big warning. Everything else is in passing in the narratives and not at the focus and very rarely described in great detail.

jasmijn's review

adventurous mysterious medium-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Kidnapping, and Grief

Moderate: Suicide, Terminal illness, and Rape

Minor: Child abuse and Domestic abuse

emeraldcityreader's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense slow-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? No

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Kidnapping, and Domestic abuse

Minor: Rape

ebgat's review against another edition

adventurous mysterious sad slow-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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death and Grief

Moderate: Domestic abuse and Emotional abuse

Minor: Rape

jenn_bookstitcher's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense slow-paced

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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Blood, Child abuse, Death, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Murder, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, Suicide, Toxic relationship, and Violence

Moderate: Rape and Sexual assault

lizzie24601's review

adventurous mysterious reflective 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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief and Kidnapping

Moderate: Child death, Death, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Murder, and Physical abuse

Minor: Alcohol, Animal death, Blood, Child abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Pregnancy, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Suicide, and Violence