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dark
sad
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
ending felt rushed
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Death, Violence, Blood, Suicide attempt, Murder
Moderate: Fatphobia, Sexism, Transphobia, Xenophobia, Grief, Pregnancy, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Alcoholism, Eating disorder, Racial slurs, Sexual content, Medical content
dark
mysterious
reflective
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Content Warnings
Graphic: Murder
Moderate: Violence
dark
mysterious
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Content Warnings
Moderate: Child death, Domestic abuse, Self harm, Murder
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
The ending was rushed and confusing. It’s like she didn’t have a way to wrap it all up so she just didn’t. I’ve read worse books, though.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gore, Physical abuse, Violence, Murder
challenging
dark
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
my dumbass thought this would be like such a fun age. it was so freaky and well written. i kind of wish i hadn’t read it. but i finished it in less than 24 hours so i guess it’s not boring at least.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Murder
Moderate: Emotional abuse, Racism, Self harm, Toxic relationship, Xenophobia, Suicide attempt, Classism
dark
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Right before I pick up Lullaby I gave a quick glance over the reviews and a lot of people were complaining this is not a thriller, that the story is more of a character study. And they were right! This is NOT A THRILLER!! I'm going even a step further and say this is not even a mystery. You won't be on the edge of your seat while reading, you won't be trying to uncover what the characters are hiding because for the reader everything is laid out on the page.
Louise is a nanny of two little kids and the children are dead. Louise killed them. Then, the story goes back to when everything started and present the characters and their personalities. There isn't a tipping point when everything starts to go wrong or dark secrets are being hidden.
The story constructs itself on these characters. Their actions, their thoughts. As readers we see everything. And in the end, Louise is not seen as a victim in any way shape or form. She's still a killer, now a killer with a story.
As I was reading I was questioning myself in what genre this book should fall into. The story is slow to medium paced, there isn't any romance, no mystery, no thrilling, no drama. It's purely a story about characters. Although those characters represent the worst in humans. Not a single character is loveable. Some are just egotistical and others are abusers. But all of them represent a horrifying side of humans. And because of that and other small moments throughout the story, I would put this in the horror genre. In the mild side of horror, but in the genre nonetheless.
The gruesomeness of the crime, what some characters have gone through, some of the thoughts they all have, and the final line - which made my heart skip a bit! - all construct this horrible view of what people are capable of. So it's not the story itself that is scary in any way, instead are the characters actions that create this evil world that sadly exists. So it's almost a psychological horror without fully being one. This is a very complicated book to define!
Overall, I usually don't enjoy a character-based story, I prefer a plot-moved book that is always more fast-paced. Although the chapters are short and not numbered, which gives a continuity feeling I really liked, it doesn't lose much time describing settings or characters leaving their actions and thoughts to do that over time. And because of that, the story is always moving forward. It doesn't feel like nothing is happening.
I enjoyed it more than I was expecting. And if you like books about horrible people, don't mind getting a little freaked out, enjoy the psychological aspect that goes behind committing a crime, this can be the story for you. Although I can't stress enough... THIS IS NOT A THRILLER!
Louise is a nanny of two little kids and the children are dead. Louise killed them. Then, the story goes back to when everything started and present the characters and their personalities. There isn't a tipping point when everything starts to go wrong or dark secrets are being hidden.
The story constructs itself on these characters. Their actions, their thoughts. As readers we see everything. And in the end, Louise is not seen as a victim in any way shape or form. She's still a killer, now a killer with a story.
As I was reading I was questioning myself in what genre this book should fall into. The story is slow to medium paced, there isn't any romance, no mystery, no thrilling, no drama. It's purely a story about characters. Although those characters represent the worst in humans. Not a single character is loveable. Some are just egotistical and others are abusers. But all of them represent a horrifying side of humans. And because of that and other small moments throughout the story, I would put this in the horror genre. In the mild side of horror, but in the genre nonetheless.
The gruesomeness of the crime, what some characters have gone through, some of the thoughts they all have, and the final line - which made my heart skip a bit! - all construct this horrible view of what people are capable of. So it's not the story itself that is scary in any way, instead are the characters actions that create this evil world that sadly exists. So it's almost a psychological horror without fully being one. This is a very complicated book to define!
Overall, I usually don't enjoy a character-based story, I prefer a plot-moved book that is always more fast-paced. Although the chapters are short and not numbered, which gives a continuity feeling I really liked, it doesn't lose much time describing settings or characters leaving their actions and thoughts to do that over time. And because of that, the story is always moving forward. It doesn't feel like nothing is happening.
I enjoyed it more than I was expecting. And if you like books about horrible people, don't mind getting a little freaked out, enjoy the psychological aspect that goes behind committing a crime, this can be the story for you. Although I can't stress enough... THIS IS NOT A THRILLER!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Physical abuse, Murder
Moderate: Domestic abuse, Mental illness, Suicide, Blood
Minor: Xenophobia
The character Louise has a mental health illness never specified that can be seen through her actions and thoughts. And all the characters in the book are bad people, either egotistical, shallow, entitled, abusers...
dark
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Content Warnings
Moderate: Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Eating disorder, Fatphobia, Mental illness, Racism, Self harm, Blood, Suicide attempt, Murder
Minor: Vomit
challenging
dark
emotional
medium-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
Louise is the dream nanny that Myriam has been looking for. Louise cares for the kids, the house, and is willing to travel as needed. What more could the parents want?
The book was not thrilling or mysterious, I would consider it more like a dark contemporary. The story starts with 2 dead children, you think that it will be a thriller or mystery, but what it ends up doing is telling the back story of how the dream fell apart.
The book was not thrilling or mysterious, I would consider it more like a dark contemporary. The story starts with 2 dead children, you think that it will be a thriller or mystery, but what it ends up doing is telling the back story of how the dream fell apart.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death, Death, Murder
dark
sad
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Picked this up for a reading challenge as a thriller written by a woman, in translation. The original was in French, and there seems to be a few different titles for different publications, so I’ve also seen it as Lullaby. Thriller is probably the best genre definition, but the plot is relatively slow and the big denouement happens “off stage.” I kept waiting for some big reveal, some plot twist that explains this murderous climax, which you’re aware of from page one. The first line is “The baby is dead.” But there were no jump scares, no shocking turn of events that explained why a nanny would snap like this. It was a lot more real for this reason, and I’ve just learned that this was based on a true story. Yikes. There were certainly creepy parts (woah that scene with the chicken bones in the kitchen), but overall, it was more an exploration of class politics, sexism, and privilege. Having a rough backstory doesn’t excuse murdering children obviously, but it was telling to see the careful arrangement of injustice, assault, poverty which lead to the nanny’s violence. The tense feel throughout the book is coming from the nanny’s unraveling, which was well executed, but in the end, I don’t see this story sticking with me for a long time. It just never quite clicked.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Sexual assault
Moderate: Sexism, Toxic relationship, Murder