Reviews tagging 'Fire/Fire injury'

Triflers Need Not Apply by Camilla Bruce

4 reviews

ltsang08's review

challenging dark sad tense medium-paced

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

3.75

We get it, she raises her chin in defiance. 

I generally enjoyed this dive into a book loosely based on true crime, but the repetition every 30 pages or so about the main character raising her chin was maddening. Trying to humanise such a tricky real person is a huge challenge and for the most part the author has done a decent, if simplistic, job. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Bullying, Injury/Injury detail, Trafficking, Abortion, Alcohol, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Infidelity, Medical trauma, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Murder, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Violence, Vomit, and Xenophobia

Moderate: Death of parent and Fire/Fire injury

theunfinishedbookshelf's review

challenging dark mysterious 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

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Pregnancy, Murder, Miscarriage, Blood, and Death

Moderate: Fire/Fire injury

olivianw's review against another edition

dark fast-paced

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

5.0

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: Violence, Murder, Blood, Child death, Fire/Fire injury, Infertility, and Kidnapping

what_heather_loves's review against another edition

challenging dark sad medium-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

5.0

"God will not always punish; my mother was right about that. He might not even help those who strive to help themselves, but I could. For weeks after his death I barely slept; I lay awake...at night staring into the darkness, riding that joy as a liquor...It was strong and pure, that joy; it made me feel powerful and happy. I had never felt anything as strong and pure as that. As if I could do anything. As if there were no limit. I had paid him back."

In the late 1800s a young Norwegian woman emigrated to America for a new life away from poverty, her alcoholic father, violent mother and the farmer's son who injured her to force her to miscarry his child. There Bella Sorensen stays with sister Nellie and her family whilst hunting for a good husband to support her. She soon finds Mads and adopting children, her life appears to be complete. Until Mads is not enough and then Bella takes matters into her own hands again. What follows is her life as she adopts children, is widowed and remarries under some very suspicious circumstances. Men don't survive long around Bella.

Marrying true crime of a female serial killer with biography and historic fiction, this is a fascinating endeavour. Chapters alternative between Bella and Nellie, which helps to give a sibling's perspective. Bella's behaviour, despite the horror is somewhat understandable initially, as she fights to make her way in a world designed by and for men. She is unlikeable yet compelling. Once she purchases the La Porte farm in Indiana, it becomes more and more gruesome. A Victorian, Norwegian Killing Eve, this is an engrossing tale of motherhood, murder and revenge. 

This book was gifted to me by the publisher, Michael Joseph Books.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Child death, and Violence

Moderate: Child abuse, Toxic relationship, Sexism, Physical abuse, Misogyny, and Gore

Minor: Injury/Injury detail, Fire/Fire injury, Death of parent, and Alcoholism