Reviews tagging 'Blood'

Lilac Girls by Martha Hall Kelly

5 reviews

corriejn's review against another edition

4.5

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: War, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Blood, Police brutality, Violence, Gun violence, Physical abuse, Xenophobia, Torture, Medical trauma, Medical content, Murder, Antisemitism, Confinement, and Death

Moderate: Child death, Vomit, Death of parent, Self harm, and Rape

saliwali's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional informative inspiring reflective sad tense slow-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

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Deportation, Genocide, Police brutality, War, Animal cruelty, Death, Emotional abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Antisemitism, Bullying, Cancer, Child death, Chronic illness, Forced institutionalization, Medical trauma, Torture, Physical abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Mental illness, Murder, Slavery, Suicide attempt, Violence, Vomit, Grief, Animal death, Hate crime, and Self harm

Moderate: Alcohol, Pregnancy, Blood, Rape, Sexual assault, and Infidelity

maddiet425's review

dark hopeful informative reflective sad medium-paced

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

3.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Death of parent, Genocide, Violence, Medical content, Child death, Antisemitism, Child abuse, Medical trauma, Death, and War

Moderate: Sexual harassment and Cancer

claudiamacpherson's review

challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring sad 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? Yes

3.5

Based on the true story of the “rabbits” of Ravensbruck, this book followed the alternately heartbreaking and inspiring story of three women during and after the Second World War. Caroline Farraday is a wealthy New York socialite working for the French embassy and dating a married French opera singer. Kasia Kuzmerick is a teenager in Poland who decides to join the Polish resistance movement. Herta Oberheuser is a rare female doctor, and when she struggles to find a practice willing to take on a woman, she decides to respond to a posting at a government facility—Ravensbruck. The lives of the three women weave together as the war puts them in situations they could never have imagined.

A few years ago, I visited Auschwitz, one of the largest concentration camps from WWII. It was not (and should not be) an enjoyable visit, but it feels important to go and witness the place where such atrocities were committed, to mourn those who suffered and were killed there. Similarly, this story felt important to read and understand. I have trouble reading stories with graphic violence and cruelty, but I am glad to know the story of the women upon whom the Nazis performed their experiments. It is not a story I have read about or seen in movies or TV shows before. One of the reasons I love historical fiction, particularly when it focuses on women’s lives, is because they are often overlooked or seen as less important in the face of other, “bigger” historical catastrophes. If you have any interest in this period of history, I think this book did a great job of telling the story, especially because it did not end with the end of the war but continued, following the journeys of the three women and how their lives were affected.

Happy ending meter (no specific spoilers, just the vibe of the ending): I don’t know that a story like this could ever be said to have a happy ending, but this ending is probably about as close as it gets. It was inspiring and, for the most part, very cathartic.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Death of parent, and Forced institutionalization

Moderate: Antisemitism, Blood, Body horror, Child abuse, Confinement, Genocide, Grief, Gun violence, Homophobia, Infertility, Infidelity, Medical content, Medical trauma, Physical abuse, Racism, Rape, Religious bigotry, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Torture, Violence, Vomit, and Xenophobia

Minor: Ableism, Alcohol, Animal cruelty, Cancer, and Panic attacks/disorders

alexdicanio's review

emotional inspiring sad tense medium-paced

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

3.5

Lilac Girls, is a phenomenal debut novel. I think that it was written beautifully and the author handled such dark topics with tact. There are a lot of events that occur in this book, and I liked how the author paced everything. As this book covers the events of World War II, and the Holocaust, there are definitely some trigger warnings. I think I would have given this book 4 stars, but at around the 60% mark, it felt like it was dragging a bit, but it did pick up again around the 65% mark. The audiobook for this is amazing, the narrators did an excellent job during their chapters. I was reading along physically while the audiobook was playing. Listening to the audiobook, it is easy to distinguish which characters chapter are you on, not only from the events, but also from the voices/accents the narrators use.  If you cannot get a physical copy of this book, I highly recommend the audio. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Antisemitism

Moderate: Blood