Reviews tagging 'Domestic abuse'

Life After Life by Kate Atkinson

43 reviews

julianship's review

challenging reflective slow-paced

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

4.5

4.5 stars. This book took me two months to read, through no fault of its own- every time I picked it up I fell into Atkinson's deft prose and neatly nested storytelling. Because the book is so dense with detail, all of which matters because of Ursula's branching, subtly different lives, it is hard to get back into when you put it down, and thus here I am in November finishing a book I began around Labor Day.
I say this as a compliment, but this book feels like playing a particularly difficult video game with no save points. Ursula successfully navigates all the mundane ways to die that surround her early years, only to be murdered by a husband, or hit by a car, or crushed by a wall in the Blitz, and then we're back to the start again. I found myself clutching the book and mentally hissing at Ursula as though I were in a horror movie. 
Luckily, the Fox Corner periods of the book are full of a particularly English drawing room sniping I do enjoy reading, mixed with lush descriptions of countryside and food, and also after the first three or four Atkinson doesn't linger too much.
The character portraits are a real strength; nearly everyone we meet is terribly human, full of flaws and foibles, and they scrape up against each other excellently. No one in this book is uncomplicatedly good, although many people do good things, which is refreshing to read in a novel that spends a large amount of its second half in the Blitz.
My only qualm is that Atkinson's style uses comma splices constantly as an apparent stylistic choice, which I should not care about but unfortunately I can't turn the proofreading part of my brain off even though it hasn't been my job for a year and a half now. 
This was a rec from a friend, and I'm excited to see that Atkinson has a new book out, because I liked this one so much I'd like to read more of hers! Would highly recommend for anyone who likes intricate/nested stories, stories about stories, unreliable narrators, and messy British families. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: War, Gore, Child death, Death, Vomit, Rape, Domestic abuse, Murder, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Suicidal thoughts, Sexual violence, Sexual assault, Physical abuse, Injury/Injury detail, and Death of parent

kadtide's review

challenging dark emotional reflective 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: Body horror, Death, Domestic abuse, War, Injury/Injury detail, Animal death, Blood, Child death, Grief, Pregnancy, Rape, Sexual content, Abortion, and Confinement

Moderate: Death of parent, Alcoholism, Misogyny, and Physical abuse

Minor: Medical content, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Classism, Gaslighting, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Vomit, and Infidelity

franklola's review

dark mysterious reflective sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Grief, and Physical abuse

Moderate: Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Abortion, Antisemitism, Death, Death of parent, Murder, Pedophilia, Blood, Child death, Confinement, Infidelity, Medical trauma, Rape, Sexual assault, Pregnancy, War, Alcohol, Animal death, and Violence

laurenleigh's review

dark emotional hopeful tense slow-paced

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

4.0

I didn’t get what I expected here, but I still got a good story. I suppose I thought there’d be more magical realism or fantasy, but this novel is squarely historical fiction with one dash of magical realism. It was an interesting plot device which allows for the same scene in multiple ways, the same life with various consequences. If you liked that part of The Midnight Library, you’d like this too I bet. Fair warning that many parts of this plot are quite sad and depressing. I was enjoying the bucolic childhood tales in the English country manor, but things take a sharp left turn as Ursula grows up. I do enjoy historical fiction, and this felt very well researched. I think I’m just a little tired of WWII historical fiction. Though it does make me grateful to live in a time and a country that is not at war, not being bombed every night.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, War, Violence, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Abortion, Death, and Death of parent

sophiejessica415's review against another edition

dark reflective

2.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Child death, War, and Domestic abuse

Moderate: Suicide

Minor: Death of parent

uhtceara's review

Plot has no sense of urgency or particular sense of direction. Just a meandering collection of story points. It is entirely possible that this ends brilliantly, but it shouldn’t take more than 400 pages to accrue momentum

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse

Moderate: Murder, Antisemitism, and Child abuse

lbuck303's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad tense slow-paced

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

2.0

This could have been a good book if 100 pages were cut. It's just too long and drags on.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide, Rape, War, Domestic abuse, Toxic relationship, Child death, and Death

mye8503's review

adventurous funny mysterious medium-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse

Moderate: Abortion and Rape

faythd's review

challenging dark emotional hopeful reflective slow-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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: War and Domestic abuse

Moderate: Sexual assault, Child death, Alcoholism, and Abortion

Minor: Death of parent and Genocide

sauvageloup's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense 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? No

4.0

A very compelling, if strange, book

pros:
- the prose and imagery is definitely it's strongest point. as one of the reviewers says, the scenes from the blitz in London are very vivid in my mind, as well as Ursula's awful time in london. and made me realise how truly awful it was for everyone - anyone who compares covid to the world wars has no idea. 
- the characters were also wonderfully done, they were all imperfect but well rounded and unique, especially Sylvie, Ursula herself and the rest of the family. 
- the idea itself is brilliant, and very well executed, with Ursula's slow realisation of what was happening and how the plots all came together. 
- though many references went over my head, I did enjoy the classical and cultural nods where I recognised them. 

cons:
-there were a lot of characters and storylines and it was confusing at times, especially because I had a break in the middle. but that added the palimpsest it was creating. 
- I found the ending strange and unpoignant, though Atkinson's note at the end helped with this. 

overall, very vivid and moving and I want to read more books by her in the future. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Domestic abuse, Genocide, Pregnancy, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Injury/Injury detail, Suicide attempt, Suicidal thoughts, Abandonment, Abortion, Grief, Vomit, Body horror, Death, Gore, War, Violence, Suicide, Alcohol, Antisemitism, Forced institutionalization, Gun violence, Hate crime, Miscarriage, Sexual assault, Physical abuse, Sexual violence, Sexual harassment, Sexual content, and Rape