Reviews with content warning for Police brutality - Trespasses

Well-written and evocative. The period detail was convincing but not intrusive. I liked the characters although I found the main protagonist a bit annoyingly passive. Still that seemed true to the time and the number of choices she had.

Content Warnings

linzlee's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous emotional sad 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? It's complicated

3.5

Content Warnings

schorlett's review against another edition

Go to review page

challenging dark emotional reflective sad medium-paced

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

4.0

Content Warnings

relf's review against another edition

Go to review page

challenging dark emotional 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? Yes

5.0

It's 1975 in a small town outside of Belfast. Cushla is a young teacher at a Catholic school who helps out in her family's bar and lives with her alcoholic mother. Between pursuing a love affair with a married Protestant lawyer and befriending an outcast among her young students, Cushla is drawn across complex social, sectarian, and political lines and into the thick of The Troubles. To me, this is just about a perfect novel, with beautifully observed detail of daily life, emotional depth, and a tense, compelling narrative. Loved it.

Content Warnings

miaaa_lenaaa's review against another edition

Go to review page

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

Content Warnings

jacquelyneagleson's review against another edition

Go to review page

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.

Content Warnings

emotionalsupportblonde's review against another edition

Go to review page

emotional mysterious sad 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? Yes

3.75

A reflection on love and loss in a time of great turmoil, Trespasses left me feeling emotionally spent in a delicious and painful way. To reflect on the decisions we've made – the power of a coincidence, a single moment in time – and to wonder what if, what if, what if...Trespasses captures the energy of a disjointed remembrance of a woman who lived and loved throughout one of modern times' greatest (and oft-forgotten) tragedies.

Content Warnings

thetiniestbookclub's review against another edition

Go to review page

emotional informative sad slow-paced

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

5.0

„Übertretung“ von Louise Kennedy, in einer Übersetzung aus dem Englischen von Claudia Glenewinkel und Hans-Christian Oeser im Steidl Verlag erschienen, wäre mir trotz des großartigen Covers wahrscheinlich durch die Lappen gegangen, wenn meine Kollegin nicht so voll des Lobes für diesen Debütroman gewesen wäre. Und was soll ich sagen? Absolut lesenswerte „Anti-Liebesgeschichte“.

Louise Kennedy macht schon im Prolog deutlich, dass hier kein Happy End zu erwarten ist. Und dieses Wissen im Hinterkopf färbt den gesamten Roman, wie der nordirische Konflikt alle Beziehungen zwischen jenen färbt, die mit ihm leben (müssen). Nie ist die Liebesgeschichte zwischen der jungen, katholischen Lehrerin Cushla und dem deutlich älteren, verheirateten, protestantischen Prozessanwalt Michael rührselig oder kitschig. Kennedy schreibt schmucklos und klar von zwei nicht perfekten, mitfühlenden Menschen, die alles in ihrer Macht stehende tun, um dem Terror ihrer Umgebung mit Fürsorge zu begegnen und doch Religion, Nationalismus, Hass und Gewalt nur wenige Stunden abringen können.

Content Warnings

More...