Reviews tagging 'Death of parent'

The Seven or Eight Deaths of Stella Fortuna by Juliet Grames

10 reviews

rhonifoni's review against another edition

dark emotional inspiring reflective sad tense slow-paced

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

5.0

Beautifully written epic tale of sisterhood and multi-generational family dynamics. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault

Moderate: Domestic abuse, Cursing, Alcoholism, Death of parent, and Adult/minor relationship

Minor: Addiction, Vomit, Death, Excrement, Miscarriage, Toxic relationship, and Fire/Fire injury

tysuckz's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional relaxing sad medium-paced

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

4.75

In my whole heart I'd love to give this a 5 and want to rate it a 5 but I can't since I feel it would be a lie. Don't get me wrong I loved this book, but the one thing I think disgruntled me was how it made it seem like women Never want to have sex. But I suppose that might just be a reflection of the times it was set it snd it wasn't necessarily acceptable for women to Want sex. 

Having said that this story is so touching and feels so real. The depth or research the author must have put into this is insane. Devastating through and through. 

You really feel for Stella throughout the whole novel & can't help but hate her and love her all the same. She is tough, maybe too tough, but she is a good person at heart. She lived a hard life and she never stopped being the person she was, even after the accident. 

It is intense though, especially with descriptions of abuse, rape & sexual assault. For that reason I wouldn't recommend it to everyone, but its definitely worth the read if that's not a trigger for you!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Child death, Pedophilia, Dementia, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Excrement, Addiction, Alcoholism, Child abuse, Death of parent, Gore, Grief, Infertility, Misogyny, Injury/Injury detail, Sexual violence, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, Alcohol, Animal cruelty, Blood, Racism, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Miscarriage, and War

seawarrior's review

dark sad tense slow-paced

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

3.0

The Seven or Eight Deaths of Stella Fortuna is a magical tale of a cursed childhood, which begins and ends as a horror story about the theft of bodily autonomy. While this book is an engaging read, the subject matter also made it a taxing one. By the end of the book I felt almost angry that I had stayed with the Fortuna women so long only to never see them vindicated. Yet our ability to read this story is a vindication in itself. As readers, we grant Stella what she as spent her entire life searching for: understanding, empathy and shared rage.

While this story is fictional, it is written with so much detail and winding family mythologies that it feels real. My favorite part of the book was imagining Stella's nature-rich and independent life in Ievoli, but I felt the chapters about her young adulthood dragged on to the point of frustration, and the story of her adulthood was surprisingly brief. However, this briefness may have been an intentional decision to illustrate her loss of passion for life. I don't doubt that there are many women who lived pieces of Stella's story, and intimately know its pain. The Fortuna women were courageous, capable characters with varied strengths. Yet the world reduced them to property of their fathers and husbands, a fate which Stella desperately tried to escape but had no means to. I'm not sure I would recommend this book to others. While it is a beautifully written and honest portrait of Stella the survivor, her adulthood is so dismal that I questioned why I was putting myself through envisioning these moments in her life at all. I leave the book wondering "What was the point?" Yet as Grames states through her narrator, "of course there never is any point, but until you think that thought for the first time it doesn’t matter that there isn’t".

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Incest, Pedophilia, Medical trauma, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, Alcoholism, Fire/Fire injury, Grief, Infertility, Misogyny, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Death of parent, Racism, Xenophobia, Death, Drug abuse, and War

meg_elyse's review

challenging dark emotional informative reflective sad tense slow-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual harassment, Toxic relationship, Panic attacks/disorders, Misogyny, Sexism, Excrement, Grief, Miscarriage, Addiction, Child death, Emotional abuse, and Gaslighting

Moderate: Emotional abuse, Infertility, Alcohol, Animal death, Child death, Death of parent, Incest, Infidelity, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Suicidal thoughts, and Toxic relationship

Minor: Bullying, Dementia, Gun violence, Self harm, and War

miss_fish's review against another edition

reflective slow-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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Child abuse, Pedophilia, Rape, Domestic abuse, Pregnancy, Death of parent, Sexual assault, Infertility, and Miscarriage

professional_grandma's review against another edition

challenging emotional medium-paced

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

4.75

I’m pretty sure I felt like punching every single character in this book at least once. The writing style of this book was so interesting and it immediately grabbed my attention. I became so invested in the life of Stella Fortuna, yet I never quite decided if I liked her or not. This was brilliantly created and such a unique book. I truly enjoyed it!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Blood, Death, Emotional abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Physical abuse, Rape, and Sexual assault

Moderate: Infertility

Minor: Animal cruelty, Death of parent, and Dementia

mtaltos's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Child abuse, Child death, Death of parent, Drug abuse, Gaslighting, Grief, Miscarriage, Pedophilia, Pregnancy, Rape, Violence, Bullying, Death, Domestic abuse, Incest, Infidelity, Misogyny, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Medical content, Medical trauma, Physical abuse, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Suicide attempt, and Toxic relationship

lexslittlelibrary's review

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Death, Dementia, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Grief, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, and Sexual violence

Minor: Animal death, Blood, Cursing, Death of parent, Physical abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, and Toxic relationship

kbergsten's review

challenging dark emotional reflective sad medium-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? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Acephobia/Arophobia, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Death of parent, Dementia, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Incest, Infertility, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, and Blood

Minor: Excrement and Vomit

mmefish's review

challenging dark emotional hopeful reflective sad tense medium-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

3.5

Skillfully written heartbreaking story about an Italian family, set in the 20th century. Went downhill/over the top in the last 100 pages.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Child abuse, Child death, Domestic abuse, Excrement, Gore, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Pregnancy, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Death of parent, Incest, and Miscarriage