Reviews tagging 'Death'

Странная Салли Даймонд by Liz Nugent

150 reviews

dark mysterious sad fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Complicated
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

I listened to this as an audiobook and finished it over two days of commutes and lunch breaks. Couldn't put it down! I liked the pacing and I found Sally hugely endearing, but I don't quite feel like it stuck the landing for me. Maybe I'm just not crimebrained enough but I wonder if I would have preferred this story as a novella purely about Sally, without Peter's POV chapters.

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dark mysterious medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Complicated
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

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challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Complicated
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

I went into this knowing next to nothing, just that it was recommended as a good thriller/mystery. It grabbed me from the first two paragraphs and I ended up reading it in less than 24 hours.

I really don’t want to spoil it for anyone else who wants to read it, so I’ll just say that I thought the first 90% was excellent but I did not like the ending.
I think what I didn’t like is that from the last letter to Sally from Angela, we are led to think OK, Sally will likely make a slow recovery and regain the community supports she had worked so hard to build; she’ll be OK-ish despite everything that transpired with her brother in the last few chapters. However, I wanted to SEE that recovery, not just be left thinking it would probably happen. I rarely feel I’m owed anything as a reader, but because I was so invested in Sally’s story and her hard-fought journey to happiness, I did feel I was owed that assurance. I wanted to see at least ONE reconciliation. A letter from Angela is a good start, but it’s one-sided and we don’t know how, or even if, Sally responds. That was what I wanted the author to end with.
However, even though I didn’t like the ending, the first 90% was so good I definitely don’t regret having read it.

This book is funny and touching but also highly disturbing. So, be warned.

First two paragraphs:
“Put me out with the trash,” he said regularly. “When I die, put me out with the trash. I’ll be dead, so I won’t know any different. You’ll be crying your eyes out,” and he would laugh and I’d laugh too because we both knew that I wouldn’t be crying my eyes out. I never cry.

When the time came, on Wednesday, 19th November 2017, I followed his instructions. He was small and frail and eighty-two years old by then, so it was easy to get him into one large garden garbage bag.

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challenging dark emotional fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Expand filter menu Content Warnings
challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Complicated
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Expand filter menu Content Warnings
challenging dark emotional sad tense medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Complicated
Loveable characters: No
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Hmm..this was a tough one to rate. The book definitely wasn’t what I was expecting. It’s really dark and difficult to read periodically throughout, but I feel like the story itself is very different. The narrative through Sally’s eyes really was interesting. I found myself getting frustrated at her & with her at the same time lol 

I’ve seen a lot of reviews saying that they didn’t love the ending. Personally, I felt it was a really appropriate & more realistic ending, which I appreciated. 

I do think there should’ve been more clearly identified trigger warnings for the book as it covers a LOT of difficult topics.

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dark emotional reflective sad medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Phew what a listen, dark yet so well written and engaging story. This isn’t going to leave my mind for a long time. 

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dark emotional funny mysterious reflective medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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dark sad tense fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

It took me a little while to get in to this book but soon I was gripped and couldn't put it down. I found the ending a bit unsatisfying, I would have liked a bit more time to see the impact of the book's resolution on the different characters.
I found Peters arc a bit frustrating, at times he seemed totally lucid and in touch with what was right and wrong, which was hard to believe as it wasn't clear what had changed to alter his thinking.

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dark sad fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Character
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: No
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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