Reviews with content warning for Child death - Lone Women

Reviews tagging 'Child death'

othersociologist's review

Go to review page

adventurous mysterious tense 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? Yes

4.5

Content Warnings

librarianjennifer's review

Go to review page

adventurous challenging dark hopeful mysterious tense fast-paced

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

5.0

I was so surprised by this book! Loved this fantastical, female-centric, Western horror story.

Content Warnings

sarah984's review against another edition

Go to review page

dark informative reflective tense medium-paced

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

5.0

I really liked this book - the history is interesting and the characters are well drawn. I didn't think the horror was that scary and a few parts were a bit silly to me but overall this is a great story about family, revenge, and the meaning of forgiveness.

Content Warnings

anna_hepworth's review against another edition

Go to review page

challenging emotional informative 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? It's complicated

5.0

I knew going in that this was horror and historical. And yet the opening was still startling, and the slowly developing creeping dread was amazingly well done. I greatly appreciate that the majority of shitty things that could happen were alluded to, and not put on the page.

This was hard going at times, not least because there are so many things that can go wrong for people living alone with limited resources in winters with much snow, and the 'how will the character(s) get through this' was exhausting.

The story is incredibly complex, nuanced and layered, and I appreciated it all the more as each layer was revealed. The characters are amazing, the worldbuilding jumps off the page, the writing is sparse and yet lush, and the pacing is exquisite. Highly recommended.

Content Warnings

dilani's review against another edition

Go to review page

dark reflective tense medium-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? Yes

5.0

I thought I knew what I was getting into. I have been proven wrong. I was drawn into this life of homesteading and hardship from the very first chapter. I’m not even sure what genre this book falls under, horror-western maybe, but I love it. I’m cheering for all the lone women out there🤎

Content Warnings

ohhthehorrors's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous hopeful inspiring mysterious slow-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? Yes

3.0

Content Warnings

awebofstories's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous dark tense medium-paced

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

4.0

Content Warnings

directorpurry's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous emotional hopeful medium-paced

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

3.5

In the 19th and early 20th century, the Western United States was vast land, nearly uninhabited by people.(excluding, of course, the Indigenous communities whose ancestors had lived on the land for millennia, or the Indigenous people who had been driven there by the initial influx of white colonizers on the East coast. But I digress.) In order to bolster the population, homesteading and claim staking were available to many - if you were willing to work the land, for a small fee a parcel could be purchased and it would be yours, free and clear, after a certain amount of time.
This is the landscape in which Lone Women takes place. Adelaide Henry's parents are dead. After burning her house in the very opening pages - leaving readers, or at least myself, with some VERY intense questions - she packs up a single steamer trunk and heads to promised land in Montana.

This is a story populated by women. Lone women, specifically, unencumbered by husbands or brothers, out to find a place for themselves in the inhospitable Montana prairies. LaValle very deftly writes a series of diverse, intriguing women, almost all of them sympathetic, despite the burdens they bear of past misdeeds. This is genuinely one of my favorite examples of a man writing so many female characters.

One element that drew me out of the story was the casual use of more modern phrases in the narrative writing. Not being in first-person, his use of "fucked up/fucking up" or "slapped the shit out of" didn't seem the most period accurate. While I know swearing is absolutely period accurate, I'm not sure I'm convinced by the way the phrases were presented. I could be very wrong, of course, but at the time they definitely weren't keeping me engaged in the story.

Rep includes: Black female MC, a Black and Chinese lesbian couple, and a transgender boy

Content Warnings