Reviews tagging 'Death of parent'

De aard van breekbare dingen by Susan Meissner

12 reviews

franklola's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark reflective sad tense slow-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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Terminal illness, Sexual violence, Fire/Fire injury, Grief, Sexual assault, Infidelity, Gaslighting, Domestic abuse, Physical abuse, Miscarriage, Pregnancy, Rape, and Violence

Moderate: Medical trauma, Abandonment, Death of parent, Death, Infertility, Medical content, and Car accident

sarahflanders's review against another edition

emotional hopeful mysterious medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death of parent, Toxic relationship, Alcohol, Sexual content, Violence, Death, Gore, Suicide, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Emotional abuse, Car accident, Murder, Terminal illness, Physical abuse, Child death, Domestic abuse, Grief, Alcoholism, Chronic illness, Miscarriage, and Pregnancy

wellreadmegs's review against another edition

dark emotional 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

4.25

Once I got into this book I couldn't stop reading. I wanted to find out what happened. There aren't many books I've read about the 1906 San Francisco Earthquake but I found it fascinating to learn about. San Francisco is a city I truly love and enjoy so reading about its history was even more exciting. 

This book tackled motherhood, justice, and how neither of those things is as black and white as you may think. All the characters had some morally gray moments - some more the others and it made you think about what you would do in that situation. 

The world is complex and so is this book - even in the early 1900s especially for women. Susan Meissner continues to be an auto-read author and I love falling down the rabbit hole of her books. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Miscarriage and Death of parent

Minor: Child abuse, Child death, Forced institutionalization, and Misogyny

maddiekeefe's review against another edition

adventurous emotional hopeful inspiring reflective sad medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Terminal illness and Death of parent

hinkleh's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Miscarriage, Death of parent, Murder, Physical abuse, Domestic abuse, Suicide attempt, Pregnancy, Death, and Violence

Moderate: Chronic illness and Blood

ltulisiak's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious tense fast-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

3.75

3.75 stars. This book was a very quick read (listen) with enough drama and emotion to keep me hooked throughout. It centers around a young lady who is an Irish immigrant who initially lived in NY, but chose to answer a mail-order bride advertisement to move to San Fransisco to take care of a widower and his young daughter. However, not everything is as it appears. There are secrets to behold from every adult in this book. Ultimately it ends up being a story of strong motherly love, female relationships/friendships, and sometimes having to leave trauma or tragedy behind to start anew. 

This is not one of my all-time favorites, and realistically I will probably have to re-read my review and the synopsis in a year or more in order to jog my memory as to what this was about. But I was looking for something quick and enjoyable, and this did just the trick. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse and Fire/Fire injury

Moderate: Infertility, Toxic relationship, Infidelity, Death of parent, Murder, Grief, and Death

Minor: Miscarriage and Child death

mwvandermeulen's review against another edition

adventurous emotional inspiring fast-paced

4.5

Tugged my heartstrings with the story of an almost-orphaned 5yo girl needing a mom, the bond that she forms with her dad’s “mail order bride”, the  destruction of the San Francisco earthquake at the turn of the century, and female friendships. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Abandonment, Gaslighting, Infidelity, Toxic relationship, Fire/Fire injury, Death of parent, and Forced institutionalization

ashleysbookthoughts's review against another edition

hopeful mysterious tense fast-paced

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

3.0

This book was perfectly fine. It was a fast, fairly compelling read, though it often felt incredibly predictable and rather generic. The foreshadowing and allusions to the narrator’s past are so heavy handed that nothing comes as a surprise and at times I wondered why it was taking so long to get to the obvious conclusion. During the last hundred pages, I often wondered why the book was still going on, as most things seemed fairly wrapped up. Again, it was fine, not particularly bad, but not particularly good either. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Child death, and Fire/Fire injury

gloriazthompson's review against another edition

adventurous 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: Fire/Fire injury and Death

Moderate: Child death, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Toxic relationship, Suicide, Sexual violence, Rape, and Pregnancy

lcg527's review against another edition

adventurous mysterious 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Physical abuse and Death of parent