Reviews tagging 'Abandonment'

Homecoming by Kate Morton

16 reviews

avisreadsandreads's review

dark emotional mysterious reflective sad 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? Yes

3.0

I've read all of Kate Morton's books and this is my least favourite by far. It's slow (and not in a good way), and I saw one of the twists coming from a mile away. It was only the ending (which did manage to shock and move me) that saved the book from a lower rating. I do think both the author and the main character were way too forgiving of one of the other characters.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Death of parent, Death, Gaslighting, Emotional abuse, Abandonment, Child death, and Pregnancy

Moderate: Mental illness, Infertility, Infidelity, Miscarriage, Grief, and Suicide

Minor: War, Abortion, and Dementia

imjustadow's review

challenging dark hopeful inspiring mysterious sad

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

5.0

This book is heavy, but it is so much more than that. It's family, it's generational trauma, it's a literary fiction novel that wraps around a fictional true crime book about a cold case that was never solved, it's realizing that decisions made decades ago that were never forgiven were more nuanced than was given credit for, it's reconnecting, it's love when you're doing the best that you can, it's secrets, it's pain, but ultimately it's so so beautiful

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Miscarriage, Murder, Grief, Death of parent, Child death, and Death

Moderate: Infertility, Suicide, Abandonment, Pregnancy, Infidelity, and Mental illness

Minor: Abortion

anne_reader's review

emotional mysterious 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Emotional abuse, Terminal illness, Kidnapping, Murder, Abandonment, Grief, Miscarriage, Suicidal thoughts, Forced institutionalization, Injury/Injury detail, Suicide, Violence, Death of parent, Animal death, Child abuse, Infidelity, Mental illness, Pregnancy, Suicide attempt, and Infertility

fireflyhollow's review

emotional mysterious sad 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? Yes

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness, Abandonment, Death, and Child death

Moderate: Miscarriage and Abortion

gbevan's review

emotional hopeful mysterious reflective sad 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? It's complicated

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death of parent, Pregnancy, Infertility, and Child death

Minor: Abandonment, Infidelity, Kidnapping, and Gaslighting

caitgiam's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder and Child death

Moderate: Death of parent and Abandonment

Minor: Abortion

gracescanlon's review against another edition

emotional mysterious reflective sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Death of parent, Child death, Pregnancy, Suicide, Murder, and Suicidal thoughts

Moderate: Infidelity, Miscarriage, and Ableism

Minor: War, Injury/Injury detail, Abandonment, Alcohol, and Forced institutionalization

cmklaft's review

dark emotional mysterious 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? Yes

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder and Child death

Moderate: Pregnancy, Infidelity, Suicide, Miscarriage, and Grief

Minor: Abandonment

heather3879's review

dark emotional mysterious reflective slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

This was fabulous. A mix of literary fiction and mystery, the story follows three generations of women keeping and discovering secrets about their family’s dark history. A very slow burn, excellent character development, beautiful descriptions of the Australian outback, and lots of surprises toward the end. I will definitely read more from Kate Morton!

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Abandonment, Child death, and Death

graceolivia's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.5

I begrudgingly finished it mostly to find out if my initial theory was right, one of the twists is very obvious the other seemed underdeveloped. As a whole it felt like the pacing was off, it was very slow until the last 3 or 4 chapters which attempted to answer all of the questions in quick succession. I think it would have benefited from more time spent with the characters coming to terms with the developments and less specific details and time in the first three quarters of the book.  

It really frustrated me that Nora was never considered to be incredibly manipulative, Jess seems to forgive her instantly for taking her away from her mother. Polly felt like she should have been the main character, I was far more interested in her thoughts and experiences. It seemed odd that her and Jess never had a proper conversation about why she actually left her with Nora. The pillow lie (x2) never gets acknowledged and apparently multiple people knew Isobel was innocent and said nothing. Marcus seemingly either forgives Meg for killing his best friend and his brothers girlfriend or doesn’t figure out it was her, either way it’s not believable. The idea that the whole thing happened as a snap decision to ‘punish’ Isobel also doesn’t make sense as it doesn’t align with Megs personality, it would be far more believable that Nora did it.

 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Pregnancy, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Child death, Death, Death of parent, Murder, Abandonment, Emotional abuse, Grief, Miscarriage, Toxic relationship, Gaslighting, Infertility, Infidelity, and Kidnapping