Reviews tagging 'Racial slurs'

Once Upon a River by Diane Setterfield

9 reviews

skylarkblue1's review

mysterious sad 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

2.25

For starters, this book aint a fantasy or even magical realism. There's some fairy tales and shit but it's just a late 1800s realism story. The science there is explained in the authors note, it's based in reality. There's like 2 pages that could be fantasy but is explained away with reality. 
"Once Upon a River is a glorious tapestry of a book that combines folklore and science, magic and myth." is an insane claim lmao. There's not an ounce of magic in the book and the only folklores and myths are basically just stories told.

While I loved the premise, the actual story fell quite short on expectations. Not only was it not fantasy as described above, the "mystery" had a very predictable path and the ending was just a bit shallow. Family trees, who did what, etc was all "hinted" at earlier in the story with the subtly of a brick through a window. Coincidences don't really exist, so if something lines up that's likely the answer.

The book feels like it's written like a river, a lot of little threads at the start slowly weaving into the larger plot and by the end it's all entwined. I thought it'd be akin to a river with it's pacing as well, start slow and gain speed, but while it did pick up a bit it did stay quite slow throughout.

There are.... a *lot* of characters. I really quite struggled to work out who was who, and especially who's POV each chapter was on (since theres a narrator throughout it gives less of a distinct voice to each chapter) and once people started having more than 1 name it just got even more confusing. Trying to work out who's child was who (there's far too many missing girls the same age in such a small area what the fuck lmao) and all that stuff was far too confusing.

I think, like Babel, I would have liked this a lot better from another author. Or maybe if it wasn't marketed as fantasy/magical realism.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Child death, Grief, Racial slurs, Misogyny, and Kidnapping

Moderate: Stalking, Rape, and Domestic abuse

No miscarrages, but a lot of mentions and descriptions of trauma around birth, death of mothers during birth and similar. Additionally there's a lot of racist and ableist slurs used throughout - and even a whole page explaining one particular slur used against people who have Down's Syndrome.

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

leannj's review

dark emotional mysterious reflective sad 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? Yes

3.25

The story did start to feel a little bloated after a while, and I wish the stories of characters felt a little more interconnected.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Kidnapping and Racial slurs

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

kyladenae94's review against another edition

mysterious reflective relaxing slow-paced

3.0

3 stars because, while the story was lovely & as gentle as flowing water, really delightful, it’s the twenty-first century & we’ve really got to stop using “gy****s”. it’s historical fiction; that doesn’t mean we have to let the mores & bigotry of history infect our own stories. thank. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racial slurs, Child death, and Child abuse

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

velveteencactus's review against another edition

emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot

3.5

An intriguing mystery wrapped up in a fairytale-like plot that explores how families deal with loss and tragedy. A great read except for how cruel depictions of Romani people will appear at random points throughout the book

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Domestic abuse and Racial slurs

sirissacgluten's review

emotional mysterious reflective 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death and Kidnapping

Moderate: Rape, Stalking, Medical content, Racism, Death, Pregnancy, Physical abuse, and Grief

Minor: Racial slurs and Fire/Fire injury

naye's review against another edition

emotional hopeful mysterious reflective relaxing slow-paced

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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Domestic abuse, Racial slurs, and Racism

Moderate: Child abuse, Pregnancy, and Rape

Minor: Death of parent, Suicide, and Suicide attempt