Reviews tagging 'Miscarriage'

Trespasses by Louise Kennedy

20 reviews

rad_reads_123's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative sad tense slow-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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Physical abuse, and Alcohol

Moderate: Infidelity, Violence, Gun violence, Murder, Grief, Fire/Fire injury, Police brutality, Bullying, and Religious bigotry

Minor: Miscarriage, Sexual content, Death of parent, Forced institutionalization, Stalking, Infertility, Mental illness, Eating disorder, Gun violence, and Pregnancy

jacs63's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional funny informative reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

Can't recommend this book enough.
Best read of the year for me, so far. 
Totally deserves all the nominations and rewards. 
The writing is exquisite.
A tragic and heartbreaking, historical love story, on so many different levels of love. 
The characters are flawed but loveable. The story is so....real. 
As Cushla says at one point...'This is going to end badly...' and you know it will. 
It's doomed from the start. The age gap, the different religions, the troubles in Ireland, he's married with a child....and a serial adulterer. The decisions you make. The coincidences. The lies and deceit. 

It made me feel guilty that, as someone of recent Irish descent- 3 generations back-I haven't tried to read more about the 'Trouble in Ireland'. I am out to find some good books to read now. I lived in the UK till 1974 so I remember a fair bit. 

Couldn't put it down once I started it. 
I hope Louise Kennedy writes more books soon.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Genocide, Torture, War, Addiction, Blood, Chronic illness, Physical abuse, Violence, Xenophobia, Colonisation, Murder, Bullying, Death, Medical content, Miscarriage, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Racism, Religious bigotry, Grief, Gun violence, Infidelity, Sexual harassment, Fire/Fire injury, Hate crime, Medical trauma, Pedophilia, Police brutality, and Racial slurs

alisonannk's review against another edition

dark emotional informative 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? No

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cursing, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Religious bigotry, Infidelity, Death, Grief, War, Alcohol, Classism, Sexism, Hate crime, and Murder

Moderate: Pregnancy, Infertility, Miscarriage, Classism, Colonisation, and Bullying

jaswoahreads's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death

Moderate: Gun violence, Infidelity, Religious bigotry, Violence, Addiction, Alcohol, Murder, Grief, Alcoholism, and Death of parent

Minor: Miscarriage, Police brutality, and Sexual harassment

noshinbean's review against another edition

challenging reflective 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? No

4.25

Before reading this novel, I didn't know anything about the Troubles, a historical period of political unrest and violence in 1960s-1990s Ireland. I feel like I learned a lot about the prejudice experienced between Catholics and Protestants. I adored Davy's character, and I honestly hated Michael, even if he seemed to love Cushla. The parts that took place in 2015 made my heart happy.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Hate crime, Infertility, Sexual content, Alcohol, Religious bigotry, Alcoholism, Classism, Death of parent, Death, Gun violence, Miscarriage, and Violence

ramreadsagain's review against another edition

challenging dark reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No

4.0

 “Booby trap. Incendiary device. Gelignite. Nitroglycerine. Petrol bomb. Rubber bullets. Saracen. Internment. The Special Powers Act. Vanguard. The vocabulary of a 7-year-old child now.” 

Cushla, a young Catholic school teacher, lives in a 'mixed' (but largely Protestant) town near Belfast, in the 70's amid The Troubles. She becomes a bit too involved in the life of Davy, a boy in the class she teaches, from a poor Catholic family living in a Protestant estate. She becomes much too involved with Michael, an older, highly educated, married Protestant barrister. While these actions might only have personal consequences in other times and places, they put her in a very precarious position within her divided community. 

I am ashamed to admit that most of my knowledge of this part of Northern Ireland's history comes from Derry Girls, so I feel like I've learnt a lot here. 

This is one of those books you come out of in a bit of a daze. It's a proper slowburn, then the final quarter just throws everything at you. The author has done an amazing job at immersing the reader into the time period, with descriptions of clothing, food, and overall mood creating an atmospheric 70's working class time capsule. 

It's very well-written and pulls no punches. I did find the plot itself a bit... predictable? Essentially, it's exactly what I would expect from a literary book of this kind. Ticks boxes, I suppose. I was also not entirely convinced by the romance. 

However, I know I'll remember this book for a long time, and I'm very happy to have read it. Absolutely a recommendation from me!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gun violence, Police brutality, and War

Moderate: Alcoholism, Classism, Violence, and Death of parent

Minor: Religious bigotry, Fire/Fire injury, Pregnancy, and Miscarriage

geraldinerowe's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

Trespasses is utterly heartbreaking, not just as far as the main relationship in the story is concerned, but all of those around it as well as the times in which it was set. I found the power balance in the affair between Cushla and Michael somewhat problematic, even beyond its acknowledgement by the author, and Cushla's awareness of it and willingness to continue nevertheless, which slightly soured the romance of it for me. The language is beautiful and pulls you along with it (despite the fashionable lack of speech marks), but what will stay with me is the difficulty faced by people trying to live vaguely normal lives at that time. And Davy. I love Davy.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Death, Infidelity, Injury/Injury detail, Religious bigotry, and Violence

Minor: Bullying, Death of parent, and Miscarriage

rly's review against another edition

emotional sad medium-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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: War, Death of parent, Gun violence, Hate crime, Miscarriage, Murder, Addiction, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Infidelity, Medical trauma, Religious bigotry, and Police brutality

rochelles_reading_journal's review against another edition

challenging dark informative reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Miscarriage, Infidelity, Hate crime, Sexual harassment, Death, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Murder, Violence, and Addiction

travelseatsreads's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional funny hopeful informative reflective sad tense fast-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? It's complicated

5.0

I wasn't sure what to expect when I read the blurb for Trespasses but what I got was a gripping, haunting & deeply evocative story of love & loss amidst The Troubles in 1970s Ireland.

Louise Kennedy's writing throughout these pages is quite simply flawless. From the first few lines I was captured & taken straight to 1970s Northern Ireland. The prose is so entrancingly evocative & effortless that I could smell the putrid thick smoke in the air, feel the hard bar stool pinching at my thighs & almost taste the oaky amber liquids swirling in Michael's glass.

Every single character Kennedy has written is very much their own distinct individual with contrasting beliefs, morals & quirks. What they all have in common is that they are so raw & real & are not pretending to be anything that they aren't. There are characters that I absolutely hated, to the point where I almost snarled as they appeared on the pages, there were characters who simply broke my heart & left me crushed by the situation they were in & then there were those that I just couldn't get a hold of, so slippery just like in life when you don't know what to make of someone.

The book overflows with extreme emotions & I feel that's down to Louise's ability to depict the true reality of events & festering atmosphere of 1970s Ireland so realistically that it is hard not to feel the intense fear terror & anger that was bubbling within the people at the time.

Often when I'm reading, I simply just read & enjoy the story & maybe try to figure out the plot. However, with Trespasses I was so engrossed within the words that I found myself visualising every scenario playing out in my head in vivid detail, to say I was caught within the flow of the storyline would be an absolute understatement. I found myself so enthralled that when it came to the ending it honestly felt like a punch to the stomach, which inevitably kept on coming. It is a long time since I've been so enthralled by a book that I simply just experienced it & enjoyed it without wondering what was coming next. 

A beautifully raw & brutal piece of writing which stirred huge emotions & will stay with me for quite some time to come.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Hate crime, Fire/Fire injury, Grief, Gun violence, Medical trauma, Miscarriage, Racial slurs, Religious bigotry, War, Infidelity, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Police brutality, Sexual harassment, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Death, and Violence