Reviews tagging 'Death of parent'

A Swift Pure Cry by Siobhan Dowd

2 reviews

thesapphiccelticbookworm's review against another edition

challenging dark 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? It's complicated

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Grief, Death, Alcoholism, Pregnancy, Alcohol, and Death of parent

Moderate: Religious bigotry

Minor: Incest and Abortion

kartemis's review against another edition

dark reflective medium-paced

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

3.0

A swift pure cry unfortunately fell flat for me. While it was an easy enough read it was also just not a very exciting one. Since we only follow Shell's perspective but don't often get much insight into her thoughts or deeper emotions (especially in the first half of the book) it sometimes just felt like a description of the, often terrible, events that happen around and to her I noticed that I just didn't really feel for or emphasize with her.
The book did however do a great job of setting the scene. I felt a sense of the time and the place, I could see the characters and imagine what the small town may have looked like. The characters around Shell all felt realistic, with their own motivations and needs - but mot falling into any extremes. 

Overall I don't know if I would've finished this if I wouldn't have needed it for Uni and it wasn't this short.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death and Alcoholism

Moderate: Miscarriage and Pregnancy

Minor: Child death, Death of parent, Sexual content, and Incest