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dark
emotional
sad
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content, Antisemitism, Death of parent
Don’t know that I’d necessarily classify this as a psychological thriller, but it was a really gripping look into desire and complicity. Isabel, the main character, is incredibly unlikable to begin with, but not in a way that’s hard to read. Her principled ways contrast delightfully with her more laid back brothers, and even with Eva, who seems to be operating under entirely different principles.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Racism, Grief, Death of parent
Moderate: Genocide, Misogyny, Sexism
Minor: Animal death, War
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
This is a really solid book. Rich imagery and real conflict both between and within characters.
Full of pain and challenges, the charge between these characters and the awakening of Isabel (to both her complicity in discriminatory actions and her sexuality) are palpable.
So so good.
Full of pain and challenges, the charge between these characters and the awakening of Isabel (to both her complicity in discriminatory actions and her sexuality) are palpable.
So so good.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Antisemitism, Death of parent, War
emotional
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Content Warnings
Graphic: Homophobia, Sexual content, Antisemitism, Grief
Moderate: Death of parent, War
Minor: Genocide
emotional
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Content Warnings
Graphic: Homophobia, Sexual content, Antisemitism, Death of parent
Moderate: Mental illness, Grief, Alcohol
Minor: Suicidal thoughts, War
emotional
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Content Warnings
Graphic: Genocide, Homophobia, Sexual content, Antisemitism, Grief, Death of parent, War
Minor: Infidelity, Alcohol
emotional
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Content Warnings
Moderate: Cancer, Genocide, Antisemitism, Grief, Death of parent, Alcohol, War
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content, Antisemitism, Death of parent, Outing, War, Deportation
dark
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Easily the best book I've read recently, The Safekeep currently easily tops my personal Women's Prize shortlist with two more of the list to read. This novel centres of Isobel, the sister of three siblings, whose life revolves around their family home in the country which she lives in (or more realistically) haunts alone after the death of their mother. When her older brother Louis drops of his latest girlfriend, Eva at the house to stay whilst he's away with work, Isobel's finely tuned life is thrown into disarray.
There is so much that I loved about this. Wouden's sense of place is so excellent, every location that we visit in the pages of the novel, however fleetingly, are so vivid. But it is the character work with Isobel and Eva which really jumps off the page. Her descriptions of both women are so vivid, and well created. Isobel is so stifled by the rules she has set for herself, and also it seems, from the examples set by her mother before her death - and watching her repression start to peel away in these pages was great; on the other hand Eva is described as being like a bee buzzing against glass, someone with expansive energy but seemingly repressing something deeper.
The novel for the first 2/3's is a slow burn of the two women circling each other in the house - although never feels 'slow' as a plot. Wouden is also one of the few writers who is able to write actually good romance scenes which is a skill even romance authors struggle with. Whilst the reveal in the final 1/3 didn't take me completely by surprised, I loved the change in focus and the light being shone on a moment in history that I didn't know that much about.
I really recommend this one.
There is so much that I loved about this. Wouden's sense of place is so excellent, every location that we visit in the pages of the novel, however fleetingly, are so vivid. But it is the character work with Isobel and Eva which really jumps off the page. Her descriptions of both women are so vivid, and well created. Isobel is so stifled by the rules she has set for herself, and also it seems, from the examples set by her mother before her death - and watching her repression start to peel away in these pages was great; on the other hand Eva is described as being like a bee buzzing against glass, someone with expansive energy but seemingly repressing something deeper.
The novel for the first 2/3's is a slow burn of the two women circling each other in the house - although never feels 'slow' as a plot. Wouden is also one of the few writers who is able to write actually good romance scenes which is a skill even romance authors struggle with. Whilst the reveal in the final 1/3 didn't take me completely by surprised, I loved the change in focus and the light being shone on a moment in history that I didn't know that much about.
I really recommend this one.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Antisemitism
Moderate: Homophobia, Self harm, Grief, Death of parent
dark
mysterious
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content, Antisemitism
Moderate: Genocide, War
Minor: Racism, Death of parent