Reviews tagging 'Grief'

Elsewhere by Alexis Schaitkin

8 reviews

vonni's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious reflective sad tense 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

If you're like me and enjoy a pastoral, alpine, mystery book with luscious descriptions and haunting tones, this book is a must read. It's a bit slow to start, but the intrigue of the setting kept me engaged and I am so thankful that I stuck around for the whole novel. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gaslighting, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Death, Abandonment, Grief, Rape, and Sexual content

Moderate: Death of parent, Blood, and Medical content

Minor: Child death, Suicidal thoughts, Vomit, Infertility, Animal death, Bullying, and Pregnancy

kelsoups's review against another edition

emotional mysterious sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No

4.25

Thoroughly enjoyed the themes of motherhood and what it means to leave a place. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape and Pregnancy

Moderate: Abandonment, Death of parent, and Grief

Minor: War, Infertility, Murder, and Vomit

serendipitysbooks's review against another edition

mysterious reflective medium-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? No

4.0

 Elsewhere is set high up in the mountains, in a village isolated from the rest of society except for a single trader who visits regularly. Apart from its location and isolation the other thing that sets this village apart is that periodically, without warning, some mothers simply disappear into the clouds, never to return. At the centre of this novel is Vera. We first meet her as a young girl whose own mother has disappeared and then follow her through her teen years until she marries and eventually has a daughter of her own. I liked the fairytale like setting and atmosphere and thought the story was a clever way of exploring motherhood, the pressures mothers face and the pressures they place on themselves, the way they are judged by society, the parts of themselves that they lose when they have a child. I loved the complexities of the mother-daughter relationship and they nuanced way they were portrayed via Vera’s relationship with her mother and then with her daughter Iris. Children’s memories, what and how they remember is another important issue examined via the story. What this story doesn’t do is wrap up neatly or answer every question the reader may have. I felt that was a smart move since it amplifies the disconcerted feeling that the storyline creates. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Grief, and Sexual assault

immovabletype's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious reflective 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

2.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Grief, Abandonment, Injury/Injury detail, Animal death, Bullying, Death of parent, Rape, and Sexual violence

Moderate: Body horror and Pregnancy

Minor: War

sarah984's review against another edition

dark mysterious slow-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? It's complicated

1.0

No idea what the point of all that was.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief and Sexual assault

Moderate: Animal death, Death of parent, Excrement, Pregnancy, Sexual content, Fire/Fire injury, and Vomit

Minor: Child abuse, Stalking, Toxic friendship, Eating disorder, Bullying, Infertility, Medical content, and Child death

readwithmemd's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad slow-paced

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

5.0

This book was absolutely gut-wrenching, and I loved it.
In a isolated town where specifically mothers are disappearing, the women of the town try to find a pattern to these vanishings. Cue the judgement from others, and themselves, regarding these women's abilities to care for their children. Why are some mothers going and others not? What were those missing mothers doing wrong? Reading through the conversations that the mothers left in town were having was painful, if not for how real it is. It fascinated me how these women, who were also mothers, could so easily lend judgement to others knowing how hard motherhood is themselves. But they needed something to point to in order to make themselves feel safer, to feel like they wouldn't vanish because they didn't do the same thing.
In reality, all of these mothers loved their children deeply, and it was that love the made the possibility of disappearing so terrifying.

When Vera, the main character, goes on her journey.. oh my goodness. I cried actual tears for her. Her return was heartbreaking, and when you realize what is happening and how it compares to events of the past, it was such an emotional experience.

Schaitkin's writing was exceptional and really transported you into the setting of the story. Her words were almost lyrical, poetic. They really added to the emotional investment I had in the story.

Read this if you want to cry. I recommend looking up TW/CW ahead of time, as well.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Sexual assault, Rape, Pregnancy, and Grief

radtastical's review against another edition

dark mysterious sad slow-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? It's complicated

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Xenophobia, Grief, Animal death, Sexual content, and Suicidal thoughts

Moderate: Sexism, Abandonment, Stalking, Miscarriage, and Misogyny

Minor: Vomit, Pregnancy, Child death, Cursing, Death of parent, and Bullying

deezy's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault and Domestic abuse

Moderate: Rape, Death, Death of parent, and Grief