Reviews tagging 'Grief'

Once Upon a River by Diane Setterfield

28 reviews

ems_rxlibrary's review against another edition

emotional mysterious sad slow-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief and Child death

Moderate: Rape

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

cookiecat73's review against another edition

dark mysterious slow-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Blood, Medical content, Misogyny, Stalking, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Child abuse, Animal death, Body horror, Body shaming, Bullying, Murder, Suicide, Ableism, Emotional abuse, Gore, Grief, Child death, Physical abuse, Racism, Suicide attempt, Toxic friendship, Xenophobia, Death, Kidnapping, Injury/Injury detail, Pregnancy, Sexism, Sexual content, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Sexual harassment, Death of parent, Chronic illness, Rape, Sexual assault, Gaslighting, and Domestic abuse

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

jmitchell20's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious slow-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? It's complicated

3.5

Slow to start. Plot doesn't really pick up until half way through. Then the separate threads start to intertwine and it gets more interesting. Bit of magical realism too which I enjoyed. 
 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Physical abuse, Child abuse, Grief, and Child death

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

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

izzybell's review against another edition

emotional hopeful mysterious reflective medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death

Moderate: Child abuse, Chronic illness, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Grief, Suicide, Terminal illness, Death of parent, Kidnapping, and Pregnancy

Minor: Rape and Sexual assault