Reviews tagging 'Abandonment'

Talking at Night by Claire Daverley

21 reviews

elisacarlene's review against another edition

emotional reflective relaxing sad 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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Cancer, Death, Mental illness, and Grief

Moderate: Eating disorder, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, and Abandonment

bella_cavicchi's review

emotional reflective medium-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

4.5

This has my name written all over it, Daverley's stunning, understated writing the clear highlight. It feels particularly resonant when questions of what one (I) wants to do in life, à la Mary Oliver, weigh heavily.

Recommend, and with pleasure.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cancer, Child death, Death, Infidelity, Sexual content, Medical content, and Grief

Moderate: Alcoholism, Body shaming, Eating disorder, Mental illness, Suicide attempt, and Abandonment

Minor: Pregnancy

ashley_turch's review against another edition

emotional reflective sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Cancer, Child death, Death, Eating disorder, Mental illness, Suicidal thoughts, Grief, Suicide attempt, and Abandonment

Moderate: Toxic relationship

carly_reads's review against another edition

emotional reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cancer, Death, Mental illness, and Grief

Moderate: Alcoholism, Eating disorder, Suicide attempt, Abandonment, and Alcohol

lauren_may_reads's review

emotional hopeful reflective sad medium-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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Alcoholism, Child death, Eating disorder, and Abandonment

jjoyce's review against another edition

dark emotional sad 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? It's complicated

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction

Moderate: Alcoholism, Cancer, Death, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Mental illness, Self harm, Suicide, Terminal illness, Grief, Suicide attempt, Abandonment, and Alcohol

Minor: Blood

eliza_enthralled's review

emotional sad 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? Yes

2.5

The lack of speech marks was super annoying. Why is this a thing? There were times where I couldn’t tell if a character was still speaking or just thinking/narrating which was jarring. The numerous terrible decisions made by the main characters were painful, but I suppose there would be no plot without this. The ending I wanted happened literally on the last page so overall I was just left feeling sad and frustrated, which were my feelings throughout the entire book, and I’m not into that. However, my hope for the two main characters kept me going and I found myself able to read it fairly quickly so it definitely wasn’t boring. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Alcoholism, Body shaming, Cancer, Child death, Mental illness, Grief, and Abandonment

Minor: Suicide

bellarosereads's review against another edition

emotional hopeful reflective 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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cancer, Death, Mental illness, and Grief

Moderate: Alcoholism, Fatphobia, Suicidal thoughts, and Abandonment

kaye_hyde's review

challenging emotional 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? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cancer, Death, Eating disorder, and Abandonment

serendipitysbooks's review against another edition

emotional reflective medium-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

4.0

 This month has been heavy with literary fiction. No surprise since it’s Woman in Translation month and Booker season. But I felt in need of a palate cleanser and Talking at Night fit the bill perfectly. Will has a reputation as a bad boy. Rosie is most decidedly a good girl. Yet when they are teens a sweet almost-romance begins to blossom between them until a terrible tragedy intervenes and drives them apart. And yet they cannot fully ever let the other go and reconnect occasionally over the years, despite trying to and appearing to move on with the their lives. I have a soft spot for a good “the one that got away/ what might have been” storyline. This one has some solid mental health representation (OCD and depression) plus an LGBTQIA+ storyline. I liked both Will and Rosie as characters, although I was frustrated by the way Rosie seemed to use Will. I applauded their eventual growth and evolution. There is a trigger warning for cancer, but overall this was just the light, undemanding, enjoyable read that I needed. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Cancer, Mental illness, and Abandonment