Reviews tagging 'Death of parent'

The Frozen River by Ariel Lawhon

2 reviews

celery's review

dark emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring mysterious reflective sad tense slow-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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Animal death, Body horror, Body shaming, Child death, Chronic illness, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Genocide, Gore, Infidelity, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Police brutality, Medical content, Grief, Religious bigotry, Medical trauma, Abortion, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, Colonisation, War, Injury/Injury detail, Classism, and Pandemic/Epidemic

librarianeno's review

adventurous dark emotional mysterious reflective fast-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

5.0

This was a fun book for me as it's set in an area I'm very familiar with. Before this book was published, I hadn't heard of Martha Ballard, but now I want to learn more about her and her life. She seemed like a strong, brave, independent woman during a time when all three of those traits were looked down on by society.

The story follows a year of Martha Ballard's life as both a midwife and as a witness to a rape victim. Large parts of the story take place in court. Either in the tavern court which seemed like the equivalent to a district court, or in the county court. Parts of this story were very heavy. But it's very easy to get attached to the characters and want things to go well for them. And it's also very easy to hate the "bad guy" in this story as well. He is not a likable person.

I would classify this book as historical fiction/mystery/suspense. I got this book from the library at first because when I saw it on Book of the Month, it had a warning for graphic rape and discussion of death. I would say that both of those things are prevalent within the story, so if they are triggers, you might want to reconsider. I was able to get through it without having to fast-forward (listened to it on audio). I'm planning on purchasing to add to my collection

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Miscarriage, Rape, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Murder