Reviews tagging 'Torture'

The Nightingale by Kristin Hannah

366 reviews

dfrye626's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional informative reflective sad tense medium-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

5.0

Wow. This book is an absolute masterpiece.  It was hard to read at times because of the horrible events that took place during WWII and because of the things the characters had to experience but it was a beautifully written book that was hard to put down. 

It taught me so much about WWII and from a perspective you don't typically think or hear of in regards to WWII (women and France). 

I would definitely recommend being in a good headspace before reading this book due to the difficult topics covered. 

Heartbreaking yet beautifully written. I will likely read this book again and will be thinking of it in the years to come. 

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ashdawn's review against another edition

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

2.0

This one was really hard to review. I general, it's one of the few books that I think would be better as a movie than the actual book was. 

The book was very similar to looking at a pointillism painting. From a distance, it's actually a good story overall. It shares some of the women's work in war resistance and was enjoyable to read. The ending especially was heartbreaking but fantastic. There are much better historical fiction books with more accuracy though. 

Also like a pointillism though, when looking at it closer though, details blur to oblivion, and that was part of what really bothered me about this one. Things like:
- Creating a fictional town to set the story in. Yes, it's historical fiction, so details can be made up, but it would have been so much more inspiring and interesting to have it take place during/in real bits of WW2. 
- Not all of the characters get aged correctly. There are several scenes where a time frame has been mentioned, but a younger character is still the same age they were in a scene that was timeline wise 3ish years prior to current. This is especially problematic when one of them becomes a major plot point *because* of his age at the time of events. 
- Struggles with scenery/time of year. Not only do some of the characters themselves not age, the landscape also struggles to fit into correct timelines. There were some scenes for example, that apples (fall), cucumbers (summer), and snow on the ground in Pairs (winter) were all happening at the same time. In the same vein, another scene made sure to note that there was knee-deep snow, yet a bike was able to be easily stolen, *ridden through the snow*, and not leave tracks. 
- Character motivations sometimes made sense, but were sometimes just incredibly dumb choices. 
- What happened with the Friedmans? Kinda should have been a *Major plot point* to hiding them, and we just....never hear anything else about hiding them, their survival, close calls, moving them somewhere else. Nothing. 

Also, like most of the books I've read by this author, make sure to look up trigger warnings before reading. On top of everything you would expect from a book set in Nazi occupied France during WW2, there are also miscarriages, grief, a very large prejudice against refugees, etc (which seems like a common theme to this author).

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abeavs's review against another edition

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challenging emotional 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

The character development was *chefs kiss*

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tiffy22's review against another edition

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challenging 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? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Can I give this book 100 stars! 
I'm putting this incredible book in my 'favourite books of all time' pile. 
This intense story showed me the side of WWII that isn't mentioned as much as it should be, the brave women. What an informative and inspiring story! 

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caitlinhoman's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional inspiring reflective 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? No

5.0


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niki1902's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful reflective medium-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? N/A

5.0


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sarahbstrickland's review against another edition

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emotional inspiring 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

5.0


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sariereads's review against another edition

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

4.0


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noel_k's review against another edition

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challenging dark sad tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? N/A
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.5

I defy you not to cry at the end. 

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lotusspages's review against another edition

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

4.0

such a beautiful and well written book. it may not be historically accurate, but it definitely touches a soft spot in our hearts.

when you see the situation through each sister's eyes... you find yourself hoping and praying for a happy ending. you hope to see some joy among so many losses.

and you do, you get a heartbreaking celebration of life. a tribute to courage and bravery. because both of them saved so many, saved their families and friends. saved their history. they left a mark.

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