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sara_n's review against another edition
emotional
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Loveable characters? No
2.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Grief, Fire/Fire injury, Suicide attempt, Death, Domestic abuse, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, and Child abuse
Moderate: Child death, Car accident, Vomit, Bullying, Excrement, Injury/Injury detail, and Terminal illness
archaicrobin's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
tense
fast-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
I had no idea what The Survivors was about when I grabbed it, but I saw it EVERYWHERE! I’m so happy I decided to grab it from the library when I saw it because it was such a tragic and moving story about brothers and how they deal with the trauma of their childhoods.
The story is told backwards, starting at the end and making its way back to the beginning. Told from Benjamin’s perspective, the middle brother or three, you see glimpses of a dysfunctional, and at times abusive family, as they try to bond and enjoy themselves at their summer lake house in the Swedish wilderness.
Schulman does an excellent job of capturing that temperamental bond between siblings where you feel like you have a constant companion that you sometimes love fiercely but also sometimes hate with the same tenacity. While tragic, I could not put this down and finished it quickly in two days.
Warnings: animal cruelty, animal death, parent deaths.
The story is told backwards, starting at the end and making its way back to the beginning. Told from Benjamin’s perspective, the middle brother or three, you see glimpses of a dysfunctional, and at times abusive family, as they try to bond and enjoy themselves at their summer lake house in the Swedish wilderness.
Schulman does an excellent job of capturing that temperamental bond between siblings where you feel like you have a constant companion that you sometimes love fiercely but also sometimes hate with the same tenacity. While tragic, I could not put this down and finished it quickly in two days.
Warnings: animal cruelty, animal death, parent deaths.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Alcoholism, Suicidal thoughts, Child death, Grief, Physical abuse, Addiction, Alcohol, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Abandonment, and Suicide attempt
serendipitysbooks's review against another edition
dark
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
The Survivors is the tale of three estranged brothers who come together to scatter their mother’s ashes and confront some past trauma.
The opening had me hooked - police arriving to a lakeside cottage after one brother has called them on his fighting brothers. I also really enjoyed the structure. The present day storyline unfolds in reverse order, jumping back in two hourly increments. Interspersed with this are chapters which look at events from the past. It certainly kept me reading, trying to find out what led the three brothers to their present position. Many of the book’s themes - grief, childhoods marred by inadequate, negligent and problematic parenting, recovery from trauma, memory, complex sibling relationships - are those that I enjoy exploring via literature.
However, I never fully connected with the story or the characters and always felt like a remote observer. This is sometimes an issue I have with translated works - a combination of different cultural mores and the translation putting an extra step between author and reader. I had figured out the big reveal quite some time before, which didn’t really bother me, but meant I missed the feeling of massive surprise. I spent more time wanting to talk some sense into the parents regarding their parenting failures that I did sympathising with the three boys/men who suffered as a result. The ending felt too-little-too-late for me, although had I been in the position of Nils, Pierre, and especially Benjamin perhaps it would have provided some solace and measure of healing.
I’ve seen this marketed as a thriller. I think dark family drama or family suspense is more accurate. The characters frustrated me but the structure kept me interested. This was a good palette cleanser for me.
I enjoyed it but wasn’t absorbed by it if that makes sense.
The opening had me hooked - police arriving to a lakeside cottage after one brother has called them on his fighting brothers. I also really enjoyed the structure. The present day storyline unfolds in reverse order, jumping back in two hourly increments. Interspersed with this are chapters which look at events from the past. It certainly kept me reading, trying to find out what led the three brothers to their present position. Many of the book’s themes - grief, childhoods marred by inadequate, negligent and problematic parenting, recovery from trauma, memory, complex sibling relationships - are those that I enjoy exploring via literature.
However, I never fully connected with the story or the characters and always felt like a remote observer. This is sometimes an issue I have with translated works - a combination of different cultural mores and the translation putting an extra step between author and reader. I had figured out the big reveal quite some time before, which didn’t really bother me, but meant I missed the feeling of massive surprise. I spent more time wanting to talk some sense into the parents regarding their parenting failures that I did sympathising with the three boys/men who suffered as a result. The ending felt too-little-too-late for me, although had I been in the position of Nils, Pierre, and especially Benjamin perhaps it would have provided some solace and measure of healing.
I’ve seen this marketed as a thriller. I think dark family drama or family suspense is more accurate. The characters frustrated me but the structure kept me interested. This was a good palette cleanser for me.
I enjoyed it but wasn’t absorbed by it if that makes sense.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Alcoholism, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, and Death
sideknee's review against another edition
emotional
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death and Death
Moderate: Domestic abuse, Child death, Addiction, Alcoholism, and Emotional abuse
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