Reviews tagging 'Sexual harassment'

Trespasses by Louise Kennedy

12 reviews

starrylight's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional sad tense slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.75

I struggled to read it due to lack of quotation marks and age difference relationship. 

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schorlett's review against another edition

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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


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pagesintranslation's review against another edition

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dark emotional sad tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? Yes

5.0


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caitlin_123a's review against another edition

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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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kaddictwithapen's review against another edition

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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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greatexpectations77's review

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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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jacs63's review against another edition

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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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jaswoahreads's review against another edition

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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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mappy's review against another edition

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emotional reflective 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

4.25

Trespasses is more than the sum of its parts. Kennedy writes expertly, fittingly restrained in a context of conservatism and division; her work is detailed but not indulgent, and ultimately feels like a snapshot that transports the reader back in time to a Belfast torn violently between communities. The protagonist's claustrophobia does not extend to the reader - throughout, Kennedy provides the detail and feeds all of your senses, and then leaves you free to make your own assumptions. 

That may be the primary reason that it feels strange that this is marketed as a love story. More accurately, it feels like a story about loneliness and humanity, of how kindness can lead to condemnation, and how an individual's reach can't extend as far as their desires, their best intentions, or the influence of a society where power is outsourced and extremism prevails. 

The pace does feel slow but there's a shift in the final quarter that pays off and pulls everything together in a satisfying way. I look forward to reading more from this author as the prose, above all else, feels really impressive.

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izzye1500's review

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emotional tense
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated

4.5

devastating in any number of ways 

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