Reviews tagging 'Alcoholism'

The Nightingale by Kristin Hannah

137 reviews

kgauthier's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional inspiring sad medium-paced

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

4.0

Was worth the read! Had some sad parts, kind of left me feeling a little empty. One of those books you think about for a while afterwards. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child death, Death, Genocide, Gun violence, Miscarriage, Sexual assault, Violence, Police brutality, Grief, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Hate crime, Racism, Religious bigotry, and Abandonment

Minor: Alcoholism, Homophobia, Rape, and Sexual violence

megan_reads_books's review against another edition

emotional inspiring 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? It's complicated

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death and Rape

Moderate: Abandonment and War

Minor: Alcoholism

daniela_is_reading's review against another edition

5.0

📚 If you haven't yet picked this one up,    I recommend you do. I loved 'Winter Garden' by Kirstin Hannah, but 'The Nightingale' is something else. I adored this book, devoured it. I'm still staring at the cover, wiping away tears, as I try to put pen to paper.

A journey of emotions is everything I hope to experience in a book, and I got this from Nightingale. But, be prepared to be absolutely crushed. Your chest sliced open and heart ripped out. Having said this, there is also light in this heavy story. We see, that where there is atrocities and hate taking place, just by it's side, there is always LOVE. Brave humans, leading courageously in the quest for love, hope and peace.

The Nightingale is a story of two heroic sisters. Their experience during the French Resistance, where people/ organisations fought against the Nazi occupation of France and collaboration Vichy regime in WWII. Two sisters with different ideals, but, both surviving the horrors of war and having to make choices one can never comprehend.

This is by far, one of my favourite reads this year. Also, there are so many wonderful quotes.
🔽
"But love has to be stronger than hate, or there is no future for us"

"In love we find out who we want to be, in war we find out who we are".

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Child death, Genocide, Gun violence, Hate crime, Miscarriage, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Grief, Murder, Abandonment, and War

lauraslittlebooknook's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring reflective medium-paced

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

5.0

It has taken me a while to think on this review, to decide how to express my thoughts on this story.

Kristin Hannah’s writing is impeccable. She writes her stories in a way that makes you feel like you are living them, by reading them. Experiencing every moment along side the protagonists. Holding your breath with them, feeling your heart racing with their fears and being joy at their happiness.

This book is devastating. It is a beautifully written story of an utterly heartbreaking part of our world’s history. 

We follow two sisters who reside in Nazi occupied France during the Second World War, and witness their vastly different, yet equally heroic, experiences of survival and strength and love while surrounded by true evil.

This book left me reeling. What would I do in either of the sisters positions. Would I be as strong as either of them? Would I stand up for what I believed in if my life, and that of my family, was truly on the line?

I cannot stop thinking about this book, and any book that evokes such strong emotions is utterly deserving of five stars.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Rape, Sexual violence, Violence, Xenophobia, Murder, and War

Moderate: Alcoholism and Miscarriage

random19379's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

3.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Animal death, Body horror, Cancer, Child death, Confinement, Genocide, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Xenophobia, Antisemitism, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Alcohol, War, and Injury/Injury detail

vanessa1756's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful sad tense slow-paced

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

3.5

This book... what can I say that hasn't already been said or written about it? My feelings about this book are very mixed. I read it quickly, although it could’ve been about 100 pages shorter (in my opinion) and of course I cried at the end – as was expected by the author, I guess. How can one book contain so much torture porn? It’s almost unbelievable how the characters of this novel get themselves in EVERY tragedy imaginable during WW2. Impressive, almost, if it wasn’t so gory just for the sake of making the reader feel bad.

The author took literally EVERY cliché and stereotype about WW2, Nazis, the Holocaust and especially France and just ran with it. The amount of times the characters eat baguette with cheese, I honestly can’t. A little bit more research would’ve been nice. In an anecdote about nuns from the 1650s it says that they were put under the guillotine during the French Revolution. Sure, because they’re immortal nuns who lived for 140 years.

It’s just these little things that reminded me constantly that I was reading a badly-researched novel in which America is the perfect dream destination and French people eat stinky cheese and have affairs all the time. The instant-love story didn’t do anything to make me feel more immersed, the male love interest was just terrible. The clichés and lack of continuity pulled me out of the story every other page (for example, the sisters constantly change from pants to skirt to dress in the same scene – a good editor should’ve caught up on that I believe). And the unbelievable coincidences. All in all the writing style was just...not good. Slow and really repetitive at times. Making you cry doesn't mean it is a good novel?

I guess that’s it. Somewhat glad I finally read it, felt a lot of things (good and bad) but wouldn’t recommend it to people looking for a good novel about WW2. Please go and read Suite francaise instead.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Genocide, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual violence, Torture, Violence, Xenophobia, Antisemitism, Grief, and War

Moderate: Alcoholism and Cancer

elisalasater's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional inspiring sad tense slow-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Confinement, Death, Genocide, Gore, Gun violence, Hate crime, Miscarriage, Physical abuse, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Torture, Violence, Blood, Police brutality, Antisemitism, Kidnapping, Grief, Religious bigotry, Death of parent, Murder, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Alcoholism, Cancer, Infertility, Pregnancy, and Alcohol

mattiedancer's review against another edition

emotional hopeful sad tense 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? It's complicated

4.0

Writing: 4.75⭐️/5 

The writing is quite stunning. The prose is beautiful, weighted, and eloquent. There were some truly stunning standalone lines, but it also had a nice cohesion. Beyond that, it wasn’t a challenging writing style to read and was well-woven into the plot. 

Characters: 4.5⭐️/5

The characters were highly motivated and flawed, which meant that they felt uniquely human to me. The characterization of the Nazi soldiers was particularly detailed and complicated, leading to moments of pathos for these villains. At times, it felt like certain characters made very weird choices, but it was usually justified later. This just led to a slower understanding of characterization than I might have liked, but it wasn’t too jarring.

Plot: 4⭐️/5 

I know that this is kind of a fan-favourite book, so I’m reluctant to say this, but at times it felt like the author used trauma a bit reflexively to address human moments. Too many times did I know that a terrible scene was coming and, when it came, it was witnessed by one too many characters who we had grown to love, no matter how illogical it might be that they would have ended up witnessing it. I appreciate that this is dealing with the reality of war horrors that took place during WWII; however, at times, it just felt a bit too neat in how directly the trauma continuously happened. That being said, the overarching plot was really well done. I loved the story-within-a-story format that the grandmother at the beginning set up. Overall a solid plot with just a lot of trauma at the end. 

Post-Reading Rating:  4⭐️/5

The ending felt fine: necessary and complete. 

Who Should Read This? 

• Fans of WWII novels
• Fans of historical fiction
• Fans of Kristin Hannah
• Fans of real-life trauma books or books focusing on horrific moments

Final Rating: 4⭐️/5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Child death, Death, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gore, Gun violence, Infidelity, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Torture, Violence, Blood, Antisemitism, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, and War

Moderate: Cancer, Sexual content, Police brutality, Mass/school shootings, and Sexual harassment

Minor: Addiction, Chronic illness, Homophobia, Infertility, Abandonment, and Alcohol

nerveblockreader's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring reflective 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? It's complicated

4.75

I’ll admit, the beginning of this book took me a while to get through because it was slow and mainly setting up for the second half. But boy did that second half of the book hit hard. I’m talking multiple ugly cries from watching the growth and pain these sisters go through and the decisions they’re forced to make. This story of survival, loss, love and the spirit of the French people during WW2 is written well. Get ready for an emotional tug at your heart as you explore a complicated sister relationship and all the friendships made along the way. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Death, Genocide, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Torture, Violence, Blood, Antisemitism, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Abandonment, War, and Injury/Injury detail

shebke_21's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious reflective sad tense slow-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Child death, Death, Genocide, Gun violence, Miscarriage, Rape, Torture, Violence, Blood, Police brutality, Antisemitism, Grief, Religious bigotry, Death of parent, Murder, Sexual harassment, and War

Minor: Cancer