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4.07 AVERAGE
4.07 AVERAGE
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
i read quite a few of the reviews and one thing no one has done is put a warning on this book. obviously i gave it four stars so i must have loved it... but i hated it and macdonald at the same time.
anyone who was abused as a child needs to be aware that it will all get dredged up again. the way she describes it- the images and thoughts from a child's eyes is so right on i can only believe that she herself was a victim.
reading this book has been bittersweet. i love her style and her amazing way of describing everyday mundane things-but she cuts right through all the scar tissue and goes for the jugular. i have spent the last 2wks reliving what happened to me- and having to face it without blinking. its a good thing- an amazing thing-to have someone you don't even know take you by the hand and lead you to the closet where the monster hides so you can yell at it and scare it away. but its also a hard thing, a painful thing. and draining...
i encourage-no-implore anyone who has been abused to read this book- to embrace Madeline and hold her close. but be prepared for the memories and emotions that come back so you can battle them with her and beside her but at least not alone.
anyone who was abused as a child needs to be aware that it will all get dredged up again. the way she describes it- the images and thoughts from a child's eyes is so right on i can only believe that she herself was a victim.
reading this book has been bittersweet. i love her style and her amazing way of describing everyday mundane things-but she cuts right through all the scar tissue and goes for the jugular. i have spent the last 2wks reliving what happened to me- and having to face it without blinking. its a good thing- an amazing thing-to have someone you don't even know take you by the hand and lead you to the closet where the monster hides so you can yell at it and scare it away. but its also a hard thing, a painful thing. and draining...
i encourage-no-implore anyone who has been abused to read this book- to embrace Madeline and hold her close. but be prepared for the memories and emotions that come back so you can battle them with her and beside her but at least not alone.
Brilliant book by Anne Marie Macdonald. Never has someone better captured the feeling of growing up a child in a military family stationed on a base in Canada. She is a great writer and so brilliantly weaves the characters into the murder and its fallout. I cannot recommend this more.
challenging
emotional
inspiring
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
challenging
emotional
reflective
slow-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
It's been a long time since I was wrecked by a book like this.
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
this book was really hard for me to rate because I don’t even know how to feel abt it. like this is the longest book I’ve read for a whileee and it took me so long to get thru bc the beginning was lowkey really really slow and it took so long for me to get into it but once I got into it I think I read 500 pages in like a day like I could not put this book down. I think the thing that made this book either really good or really bad depending on the person is how detailed it was. Like every encounter and thing that happened had like 3 pages of description and tbh I really liked the description but it did make it a very long read and meant I skim read some parts bc I just wanted to know what happened. But it was written really well and really beautifully and genuinelly some of the best writing I’ve read. I also think the book being so long and descriptive meant that I felt like I knew the characters SO well. like I spent so much time reading abt them and watching them grow up and have experiences that genuinelly I got so attached to them which I think was actually good. Like finishing this book felt like finishing a epic or like a massive saga it was just like woah. Not to mention the historical elements of the book and the time period was incorporated SO well like I was so invested and I also learned a lot and it felt very authentic and I loved how it fr talked abt the war and like the vibe and AHH I actually think this book may have changed the way I think tbh and omg just the entire saga of events that happened and the way one event defined so many peoples lives and omg the ending I cried so so much like I could not stop sobbing bc of how invested I was in the characters and if just felt like fr the end of something and especially the plot twist was literally crazy. Tbh this book felt like reading someone’s life story and like seeing them live their life in full. Anyway yeah I think I did actually really enjoy this book despite how long it was which is why I gave it a higher rating. I don’t think I’ll end up reading another book by the same author but this one was rlly good and would recomend
challenging
emotional
mysterious
reflective
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Anne-Marie does it again. Expertly paced and plotted, weaving story lines together seamlessly. She is also unmatched in writing in the voice of a child for an adult audience. It made me remeber the exact feelings of being a child who wanted to comfort adults.
I think this one is my favourite after Fayne, but it also gave me terrible dreams. So clearly it is evocative!
I think this one is my favourite after Fayne, but it also gave me terrible dreams. So clearly it is evocative!
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Gifted writer but this was one book that needed a better editor. It should have been split into two books.
Very disturbing. I found the main character to be annoying personally. Very unexpected ending.