Reviews tagging 'Death of parent'

Life After Life by Kate Atkinson

18 reviews

jolineliest's review against another edition

adventurous dark reflective tense 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? It's complicated

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abortion, Animal death, Child death, Death, Death of parent, Infidelity, Injury/Injury detail, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Suicide, Physical abuse, Sexual harassment, War, Domestic abuse, Gore, Blood, and Grief

Moderate: Addiction, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Body horror, Fire/Fire injury, Misogyny, Murder, Sexism, Vomit, Animal cruelty, Homophobia, Medical content, Pregnancy, and Pandemic/Epidemic

Minor: Body shaming, Genocide, Antisemitism, Cursing, Excrement, Deportation, Drug use, Fatphobia, Mental illness, and Sexual content

djon100ecc's review

dark emotional reflective sad slow-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? No

2.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: War, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Gore, Gun violence, Abortion, Bullying, Child death, Eating disorder, Physical abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Grief, Forced institutionalization, Violence, Infidelity, Suicide, Death, Death of parent, and Rape

mandi_lea's review

dark sad slow-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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Forced institutionalization, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Abortion, Child death, War, Rape, Physical abuse, Animal death, Antisemitism, Domestic abuse, Genocide, Blood, Death of parent, Death, Mental illness, Murder, Suicide, Sexual content, Sexual assault, Pregnancy, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Grief, Gun violence, Infidelity, Medical content, Violence, Sexual violence, and Pandemic/Epidemic

courtneyreadsometimes's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious reflective sad tense fast-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, War, Gore, Genocide, Domestic abuse, Toxic relationship, Sexism, Murder, Mental illness, Violence, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Child death, Sexual content, Physical abuse, Medical content, Sexual harassment, Self harm, Rape, Misogyny, and Gun violence

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Antisemitism, Violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Abortion, Addiction, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Vomit, Animal death, Emotional abuse, Excrement, Child death, and Death of parent

ashbreadin's review

challenging dark emotional informative mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

2.25

That book was a mind f***! Honestly it started off pretty good and I was excited for the story. But by the end (or even the late middle), it felt like it didn't really know how it should end, so it just kind of took the cowards way out by

not giving us an actual ending.

. Lots of content warnings, and it just felt like the author wanted to hit every bad thing that could happen in life. Worst use of the "groundhog's day" type of phenomenon I've ever seen.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Physical abuse, Domestic abuse, Rape, Blood, Abortion, Violence, War, Suicide, Death, Suicidal thoughts, Sexual assault, and Child death

Moderate: Injury/Injury detail, Gun violence, Alcoholism, Animal death, Death of parent, and Genocide

Minor: Racial slurs, Xenophobia, and Religious bigotry

shibaunited's review

challenging dark emotional reflective tense slow-paced

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

2.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Child death, Injury/Injury detail, Child abuse, Abortion, Antisemitism, Suicidal thoughts, Sexual assault, Sexism, Rape, Misogyny, Gun violence, Genocide, Deportation, Physical abuse, Mental illness, Medical content, Death of parent, Death, Suicide, Excrement, Domestic abuse, Alcohol, War, Violence, Pregnancy, Infidelity, Grief, Fire/Fire injury, Emotional abuse, Confinement, Blood, and Animal death

battysbooks's review against another edition

emotional mysterious sad medium-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: War

Moderate: War, Child death, Death, Pregnancy, Alcoholism, Alcohol, Rape, Sexual assault, Death of parent, Gore, Domestic abuse, Animal death, Antisemitism, Suicide, and Blood

Minor: Abortion

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