Reviews tagging 'Grief'

The Woman in the Library by Sulari Gentill

7 reviews

justagir1's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious medium-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Classism, Toxic friendship, Violence, Murder, Toxic relationship, and Death

Moderate: Gaslighting, Stalking, and Gun violence

Minor: Sexual content, Abandonment, Blood, Racism, Pandemic/Epidemic, Cultural appropriation, Alcohol, Grief, and Sexual assault

librarymouse's review

funny mysterious fast-paced

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

4.5

A book within a book within a book made for a wild and very engaging read. I finished it in a day.

the novel ending with Leo, whose storyline seemed to be constantly unfinished, waiting for Winifred and Marigold made the whole thing more meta. For Freddie to be seemingly stalked by the Leo that Leo the murderer praises Hannah the author for creating was such an interesting way to fold the layered universes in on themselves! Leo the murderer stalking the author who then wrote a Leo the character stalking Winifred the author character who was friends with Marigold, the stalker of Whit, who had done an unsettlingly large volume of research on Cain to try to exploit his mom's shoddy lawyering into a pullitzer makes for a very interesting web of morally gray people. I did want Leo the character's story to be tied up more. He's still characterized as helpful, which I think ads an interesting tilt to the story being told about Leo the murderer and Hannah the author and the impact of what he gave her on her writing. But I want to know more about the reasoning behind the cupcakes and the groceries. Is it flirting, stalking, or friendship? I wasn't expecting for Leo the murderer to be a racist, but using that racism and vitriol to show his descent into delusion was interesting, especially in how that morphed from what could be perceived as advice on US perceptions of race and how it impacts jnteracrjoms with the police.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Sexual content, Injury/Injury detail, Toxic friendship, Mental illness, Murder, Racism, Blood, Grief, Gore, Gun violence, Medical content, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Death

Moderate: Police brutality, Pedophilia, Addiction, Violence, and Child abuse

j_emerson18's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional inspiring mysterious sad tense fast-paced

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

4.75

What a great book to start the year. It was inspirational and well written.  I love the plot twists near the end. The writing style was super intriguing. I loved the story with the four unlikely friends in the midst of a murder. **spoiler warning**
I am honestly a little upset by the lack of depth or detail about the secondary story between two writers in which one is a serial killer. I would have loved more information about the two of them. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder

Moderate: Cursing, Stalking, Police brutality, Sexual violence, Child abuse, Blood, Injury/Injury detail, Gun violence, Alcohol, Drug abuse, Medical content, and Torture

Minor: Grief and Sexual content

purplepenning's review

dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Classism, Blood, Gore, Grief, Mental illness, Murder, Sexual assault, Gun violence, Medical content, Stalking, Toxic friendship, Violence, Addiction, Death, Cursing, Forced institutionalization, Gaslighting, and Injury/Injury detail

kyrstin_p1989's review

challenging dark emotional mysterious tense medium-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? Yes

3.5

A murder mystery within a murder mystery, this is a solid thriller. The real killer was hiding in plain sight and was so painfully obvious that I didn’t even consider them as a candidate. The characters are mostly likeable and diverse. The plot is believable. The end was good but arrived to with little pomp or circumstance. There are some glaring spelling/grammar mistakes throughout that are a bit annoying but all in all a solid book.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Toxic relationship, Blood, Domestic abuse, Gore, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Grief, Murder, Stalking, Child abuse, Death, Death of parent, Violence, Gun violence, Infidelity, Medical content, Racism, and Toxic friendship

greatexpectations77's review

adventurous mysterious medium-paced

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

3.0

This book wasn't really my thing. I didn't love the formatting of the one-sided letters, and I really didn't prefer the mansplaining coming from Lee and the weird mentions of the social justice movements. And I didn't really wanted to be reminded of the pandemic. The plot felt kind of like a video game - the points a little clunky. Just not really my cup of tea. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Child abuse, Murder, Blood, and Death

Moderate: Drug abuse, Forced institutionalization, Injury/Injury detail, Stalking, Grief, Gun violence, Confinement, Classism, and Sexual assault

Minor: Domestic abuse

pollyhall's review

dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

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

2.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Child abuse, Confinement, Death of parent, Drug use, Drug abuse, Gun violence, Mental illness, Murder, Addiction, Alcoholism, Colonisation, Cultural appropriation, Death, Forced institutionalization, Medical trauma, Blood, Biphobia, Emotional abuse, Grief, Violence, Physical abuse, Sexual content, and Toxic friendship