Reviews tagging 'Blood'

Trespasses by Louise Kennedy

11 reviews

headachesince03's review against another edition

challenging emotional sad slow-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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Alcohol, Blood, Racial slurs, Violence, Child abuse, Murder, Pedophilia, Sexism, Sexual content, Alcoholism, Bullying, Grief, Adult/minor relationship, Infidelity, Injury/Injury detail, Misogyny, Addiction, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Physical abuse, Miscarriage, Colonisation, Infertility, Eating disorder, Mental illness, Cursing, Death, Fire/Fire injury, Gun violence, Toxic relationship, Police brutality, and Religious bigotry

miaaa_lenaaa's review against another edition

challenging dark informative reflective slow-paced

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

2.0

 god this almost book slumped me
i just found the actual plot so bland and annoying

('gonna have an affair with a 50+ year old married man when im 24 and he knew me as a child :D' *meets his wife* 'omg he has a wife what a fucking bastard' like, girl...)

yeah there was just so much of them and i didnt care about either of them tbh
i also found the lack of quotation marks very jarring because of how she writes, it was just sometimes so unclear whether something was being said aloud
the narrative was also quite frustrating and hard to follow, there would be intense details about specific things and then the next line would be a completely different time in a different place, or theyd be downstairs and then yay we're upstairs, how babe? what? it just felt very disjointed to me
just frustrated me more cause there were bits of the writing that i did like or found interesting but none of them were plot related tbh 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Alcoholism, Police brutality, Death of parent, Medical content, Violence, Blood, Gore, Gun violence, Hate crime, Vomit, Death, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Miscarriage, Religious bigotry, Addiction, Fire/Fire injury, and Infidelity

jacquelyneagleson's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad 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? Yes

3.75

What’s happening in the background of this novel (the Irish troubles in 1970s) are horrifying but serve as white noise to our MC who is 24 and falls for a married man twice her age. The first 3/4 of the book are slow and meandering, a well-written account of a young girl grappling with an affair, an alcoholic mother, and being a teacher to young children during a tumultuous time in Ireland. The last 1/4 picks up the pace and becomes much more plot-driven. A great debut novel. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Medical trauma, Cursing, Death of parent, Infidelity, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Religious bigotry, Grief, Hate crime, Gun violence, Alcoholism, Classism, Death, Police brutality, and Racial slurs

Moderate: Blood, Cursing, and Emotional abuse

caitlin_123a's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Infidelity, Injury/Injury detail, Death, Addiction, Alcoholism, Physical abuse, Hate crime, Racial slurs, Sexual harassment, Gun violence, Grief, Sexual content, Alcohol, Mental illness, Murder, Police brutality, Violence, and War

Minor: Vomit, Body horror, Child abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Gore, and Blood

kaddictwithapen's review against another edition

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

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: War, Hate crime, Religious bigotry, Alcoholism, Physical abuse, and Infidelity

Moderate: Sexual content and Sexual harassment

Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Blood, Hate crime, and Gun violence

flashandoutbreak's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful sad tense slow-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? Yes

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Blood, Infidelity, Self harm, Violence, Mental illness, Bullying, Fire/Fire injury, Gun violence, Police brutality, Stalking, Chronic illness, Death, Grief, Miscarriage, and Murder

greatexpectations77's review

dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

This one didn't upend my brain, but I liked it. I think it's an interesting look at survival during basically wartime. Everyone has to keep moving, but it also feels impossible to do so. I didn't love Cushla, but I don't think I had to, and maybe it created a nice separation to be able to look at the whole story. I DID love the precious little boy at school. And I do tend to like a little forbidden romance. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Alcoholism, Injury/Injury detail, Sexual content, Alcohol, Toxic relationship, Fire/Fire injury, and Infidelity

Moderate: Blood, Grief, Hate crime, Murder, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Death, Police brutality, Pregnancy, Religious bigotry, Bullying, and Violence

Minor: Pedophilia, Rape, Child abuse, Sexual harassment, Death of parent, and Stalking

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

juliep810's review against another edition

dark emotional sad slow-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Toxic relationship, Religious bigotry, and Violence

Moderate: Addiction, Blood, War, Torture, Alcoholism, Gun violence, and Alcohol

Minor: Pedophilia and Child abuse

mraddd's review against another edition

dark emotional slow-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gun violence, Violence, Blood, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Grief, Religious bigotry, War, Alcoholism, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Police brutality