Reviews tagging 'Death of parent'

The Death of Jane Lawrence by Caitlin Starling

52 reviews

lionfish_22's review against another edition

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dark emotional mysterious reflective tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5


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maresuju's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-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

4.75


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peregrinwho's review against another edition

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dark emotional mysterious tense fast-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

5.0

It's been a few weeks since I finished this, and I haven't stopped thinking about this book since picking it up. Immediate new favorite. The romance is instantly believable and blush-inducing, the characters are perfect manifestations/carriers of the themes, and the layers of mystery kept getting unfolded like pulling back sheets on the bed knowing you'll end up feeling cold and helpless but you have to in order to release the uncomfortable heat.
Fantastic pacing, harrowing imagery, enchanting insights, and one of the most horrifically perfect endings I've ever read.
I really saw a lot of myself in Jane, and like to think she's autistic. To see a protagonist so complex and full as her who thinks and sees the world as I do is so precious to me since it's rarely represented in a positive light (or at all). Every time she stood up for herself I was so happy. I also saw parts of myself in Augustine, and have since started a paradigm shift after reading how him blaming himself for everything was arrongance. Time to re-evaluate some things boys😅. And the way the time loop was closed??? My friend and I discussed it for hours. I'm so in love with the tragedy of the ending even though I cried and had nightmares afterwards, because I understood all the themes and elements had come together so perfectly. I now also understand body horror is the type of horror that will actually freak me out, so that's knowledge!🙃
There's more I could say but this is long enough. Suffice it to say, overall this book devestated me, and I will be recommending it to anyone who will listen to me.

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asuna1930's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional 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? Yes

3.5

The synopsis of this book definitely did not lead me in the direction the actual book would go. 100% felt like I just read a Doctor Who episode. The writing was definitely compelling and I had to finish it to know what was going on but I felt as lost as Jane for about 90% of the book.

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ermw0's review against another edition

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

2.5

I was so exhausted by this book. It seems like Jane goes through a personality change every other page. The magical world was muddled and uninteresting, it felt like nonsense at some points. I was heavily skimming the end because of this. I was on board for the first half, but this quickly became an obligatory finish. I enjoyed “the Luminous Dead” so I thought I enjoy this. So much is crammed into this story and so much of it feels half baked, so I didn’t end up enjoying any of it. I was frustrated by this because if certain elements were the focus (the surgical scenes and more real dynamic between Jane and Augustine were good)  it could’ve been great. But the magic world  felt confusing and honestly like nonsense and ruined the book for me. I’ve read better gothic horror /magic inspired so I wouldn’t recommend this. 

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ashtheaudiomancer's review against another edition

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

4.25

The next time someone tells me that "horror" and "romance" cannot coexist in the same story, I'm giving them this book. Someone at the library recommended this for me last year, and it is absolutely my flavor of gothic, gruesome, and just a little bit sexy. This is the story of a young woman learning to wield a terrible power to save herself, and her husband, and peeking through the veil between worlds as a result. MUST have a strong stomach. There is gore and viscera pretty much the whole way through.

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alienor's review against another edition

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dark mysterious

3.75

The Death of Jane Lawrence  feels like a fever dream at times, and the kind of novels one can very easily dissect and unearth bits to criticize. This is why I fully understand the mixed reviews it got, really. In the end however I thought it was weird in a way I personally found delightful, and for me the horror lay more in the loss of agency of its characters than in anything else—even though some parts were disgusting. All in all, a book I'll certainly reread but that I'll have a hard time recommending. 

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enchantressreads's review against another edition

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

4.0


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loujanae's review against another edition

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

2.5

A gothic horror? A gothic romance? A gothic anything should be dripping in atmosphere. It should be flooded with tension and a living, breathing setting. I should have felt dread from the escalating tension of the romance, the mystery, the occult. This didn't have anything in common with a gothic novel. It was all tell, no show. Characters showing up to info dump a plot, and disappearing when no longer relevant and useful to the author. Every chapter sat us down and explained more and more without actually saying anything of note. Overexplained, underdeveloped. I think I'm one of the few people who actually "understood"  what was going on in chapter zero, (if it can truly be understood at all, no shade at all to everyone who couldn't grasp what was going on, I don't blame you!) and that ending was still a confusing and convoluted mess. There were so many ideas here that were SO interesting. But there was absolutely zero follow through on those interesting ideas.

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threeundertwopnw's review against another edition

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dark mysterious tense slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0


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