Reviews tagging 'Cursing'

The Nightingale by Kristin Hannah

18 reviews

marine2907's review against another edition

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emotional sad tense slow-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? Yes

4.0


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tojtwl's review against another edition

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dark emotional informative inspiring sad tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

So beautiful, but so sad. I've read so many raving reviews about books by Kristin Hannah. I'm glad I gave it a try.

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gemstone's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional inspiring sad tense medium-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? Yes

5.0


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mandi4886's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional informative mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

A must read

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gracetxgao's review against another edition

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

2.75


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gabrielab's review against another edition

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

4.0


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valeriasshelf's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional hopeful sad 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

4.5


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the_literarylinguist's review against another edition

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emotional reflective relaxing sad 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? It's complicated

3.25

Fluid, easy prose that tells an important, little-known story. The role of women in WW2 has been hugely downplayed in history, and the true story behind this book is not one I've heard of. Hannah is a good storyteller and the romanticism of the resistance is always appealing, usually making for compelling reading. I'm in a class of people who believes the resistance shouldn't be glamourised, because less than 5% of France took part in it; there is a danger in rewriting history and erasing the memory of the French collaboration. Hannah certainly highlighted the suffering required by those within the resistance. I appreciated how she navigated the fine line between resistance and collaboration.

However, the writing and the plot were filled with cliches - good cop, bad cop, hiding place, romantic return, a resistance love affair. At times it felt unbelievable. The occasional flashback to US in the 1990s didn't work, was unnecessary and made very jarring interruptions in the story. I forgot they existed as soon as I began the next chapter. Clearly they were written to give a lead-up to the ending, but I feel the ending could have taken place in an epilogue. You do really root for the characters in this story, which is why the ending popularised the book.  

I enjoyed reading The Nightingale and it is important to note how war is women's story, too. Yet there are much better French resistance books out there and this one was sadly overhyped for me.

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