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dark
sad
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
ending felt rushed
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Death, Violence, Blood, Suicide attempt, Murder
Moderate: Fatphobia, Sexism, Transphobia, Xenophobia, Grief, Pregnancy, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Alcoholism, Eating disorder, Racial slurs, Sexual content, Medical content
challenging
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child abuse, Child death
Moderate: Racial slurs, Racism
Minor: Domestic abuse, Rape, Sexual violence
challenging
dark
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
my dumbass thought this would be like such a fun age. it was so freaky and well written. i kind of wish i hadn’t read it. but i finished it in less than 24 hours so i guess it’s not boring at least.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Murder
Moderate: Emotional abuse, Racism, Self harm, Toxic relationship, Xenophobia, Suicide attempt, Classism
dark
reflective
medium-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
Right before I pick up Lullaby I gave a quick glance over the reviews and a lot of people were complaining this is not a thriller, that the story is more of a character study. And they were right! This is NOT A THRILLER!! I'm going even a step further and say this is not even a mystery. You won't be on the edge of your seat while reading, you won't be trying to uncover what the characters are hiding because for the reader everything is laid out on the page.
Louise is a nanny of two little kids and the children are dead. Louise killed them. Then, the story goes back to when everything started and present the characters and their personalities. There isn't a tipping point when everything starts to go wrong or dark secrets are being hidden.
The story constructs itself on these characters. Their actions, their thoughts. As readers we see everything. And in the end, Louise is not seen as a victim in any way shape or form. She's still a killer, now a killer with a story.
As I was reading I was questioning myself in what genre this book should fall into. The story is slow to medium paced, there isn't any romance, no mystery, no thrilling, no drama. It's purely a story about characters. Although those characters represent the worst in humans. Not a single character is loveable. Some are just egotistical and others are abusers. But all of them represent a horrifying side of humans. And because of that and other small moments throughout the story, I would put this in the horror genre. In the mild side of horror, but in the genre nonetheless.
The gruesomeness of the crime, what some characters have gone through, some of the thoughts they all have, and the final line - which made my heart skip a bit! - all construct this horrible view of what people are capable of. So it's not the story itself that is scary in any way, instead are the characters actions that create this evil world that sadly exists. So it's almost a psychological horror without fully being one. This is a very complicated book to define!
Overall, I usually don't enjoy a character-based story, I prefer a plot-moved book that is always more fast-paced. Although the chapters are short and not numbered, which gives a continuity feeling I really liked, it doesn't lose much time describing settings or characters leaving their actions and thoughts to do that over time. And because of that, the story is always moving forward. It doesn't feel like nothing is happening.
I enjoyed it more than I was expecting. And if you like books about horrible people, don't mind getting a little freaked out, enjoy the psychological aspect that goes behind committing a crime, this can be the story for you. Although I can't stress enough... THIS IS NOT A THRILLER!
Louise is a nanny of two little kids and the children are dead. Louise killed them. Then, the story goes back to when everything started and present the characters and their personalities. There isn't a tipping point when everything starts to go wrong or dark secrets are being hidden.
The story constructs itself on these characters. Their actions, their thoughts. As readers we see everything. And in the end, Louise is not seen as a victim in any way shape or form. She's still a killer, now a killer with a story.
As I was reading I was questioning myself in what genre this book should fall into. The story is slow to medium paced, there isn't any romance, no mystery, no thrilling, no drama. It's purely a story about characters. Although those characters represent the worst in humans. Not a single character is loveable. Some are just egotistical and others are abusers. But all of them represent a horrifying side of humans. And because of that and other small moments throughout the story, I would put this in the horror genre. In the mild side of horror, but in the genre nonetheless.
The gruesomeness of the crime, what some characters have gone through, some of the thoughts they all have, and the final line - which made my heart skip a bit! - all construct this horrible view of what people are capable of. So it's not the story itself that is scary in any way, instead are the characters actions that create this evil world that sadly exists. So it's almost a psychological horror without fully being one. This is a very complicated book to define!
Overall, I usually don't enjoy a character-based story, I prefer a plot-moved book that is always more fast-paced. Although the chapters are short and not numbered, which gives a continuity feeling I really liked, it doesn't lose much time describing settings or characters leaving their actions and thoughts to do that over time. And because of that, the story is always moving forward. It doesn't feel like nothing is happening.
I enjoyed it more than I was expecting. And if you like books about horrible people, don't mind getting a little freaked out, enjoy the psychological aspect that goes behind committing a crime, this can be the story for you. Although I can't stress enough... THIS IS NOT A THRILLER!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Physical abuse, Murder
Moderate: Domestic abuse, Mental illness, Suicide, Blood
Minor: Xenophobia
The character Louise has a mental health illness never specified that can be seen through her actions and thoughts. And all the characters in the book are bad people, either egotistical, shallow, entitled, abusers...
dark
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Content Warnings
Moderate: Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Eating disorder, Fatphobia, Mental illness, Racism, Self harm, Blood, Suicide attempt, Murder
Minor: Vomit
dark
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Loveable characters:
No
I liked the style of the authors writing but this book was a pain to get through, I was going to dnf it multiple times but just wanted to stick around until the end. There were multiple povs from different side characters which made it a little tricky to follow. I liked the references to the power imbalance between employers and their mostly poc nannies and found this interesting.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Domestic abuse
dark
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Loveable characters:
No
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death
Moderate: Child abuse
fast-paced
Diverse cast of characters:
No
3.6 to be more accurate. It’s not a bad book but I just expected…more? It felt like the story ended before it even really got started. I wanted more depth into why this happened and things on the after of it all. This book could have been really good with flipping back on after the deaths and flashbacks to before it all happened. As it was, when the book was over I was confused, because it felt like the book ended in the first third.
It also should be acknowledged that this is a translation of course, so I don’t know if this reads better originally, but I was disappointed.
It also should be acknowledged that this is a translation of course, so I don’t know if this reads better originally, but I was disappointed.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child abuse, Child death
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Loveable characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Content Warnings
Moderate: Child abuse, Child death, Mental illness
dark
sad
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
ct agréable à lire (meme si un peu glauque), intéressant au delà de l’histoire la réflexion sur la manière de gérer une carrière et des enfants, mais la fin du livre est décevante, et les personnages pas du tout attachants avec des sous-entendus assez…. voilà quoi
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child abuse, Child death