Reviews tagging 'Mass/school shootings'

The Funeral Ladies of Ellerie County by Claire Swinarski

17 reviews

emleyb's review

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emotional hopeful medium-paced
  • 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

4.25

This is the perfect read for a summer Up North. I love how Claire captures the spirit of the Northwoods and Northern Midwest. I absolutely loved the first half, the second half wasn’t as good for me but still enjoyed the whole thing and would recommend. Warning for PTSD, gun violence. 
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read_with_riley's review against another edition

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2.25

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dr_amy_k_west's review

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emotional reflective slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? No

2.5

Moderate stakes cozy-ish read. This was more emotional than the summary implied. Hits on some serious topics (scamming the elderly, PTSD) I really wanted to line this book but it didn't connect. It fell flat and felt shallow in parts, like being told instead of shown. Technically DNF;  skimmed the last 25% to get to the end. It wasn't a happy ending but it was realistic. I wasn't invested enough in the characters to care, but was curious how the author would wrap things up given the lack of depth and length of the book.
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bibliobaggins_'s review against another edition

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

1.0

From the description of the book, I expected a fun story about meddling elderly ladies and their place in the community. I was super disappointed to find that the funeral ladies were hardly featured. 

The book started alright but got progressively worse, as I felt the book veer from the plot that was set up in the opening chapters. The characters mostly felt flat and one dimensional.

As an aside was excessive to the point of distraction ("booze backpack" for a Christmas market, morning beers at grandma's, drinking and driving casually mentioned many times as something "everyone does"). I kept waiting for it to be a plot point, but the closest it got to that was when one character was accused of excessive drinking when everyone around him seemed to be drinking the same amount. He also showed zero signs of having slowed down after making progress with his issues. 
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kerrilynn's review

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emotional reflective sad tense 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

4.0

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emmas_bookshelf's review

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

4.0

This is such a good book if you like heartwarming stories about community and family. It’s also a little bit of an ode to Midwest culture. 
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selazem's review

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There was a part in the book that had a flashback of a mass casualty event for one of the characters and it triggered my own ptsd from a local tragedy. It didn’t have content warnings in the book so I wasn’t anticipating it and would recommend that they are added. 
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michfiske5's review

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

3.5

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lilalhreads's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful inspiring sad medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

I loved the idea of this book and was really anticipating the release but unfortunately I was not a fan. 

The things I didn’t enjoy:
— Everyone annoyed me. Literally every character. I know they were tackling some serious issues (ptsd, alcoholism, etc.) but I just could not stand any of them. Esther is supposed to be this help anyone who is need, kind christian woman and her internal monologue was so incredibly judgmental. 
— Cooper was supposed to be dealing with the fact that he’s taking custody of his little sister and she was hardly in it?? I just feel like if him taking custody was supposed to be a big plot point she should have been more prevalent to the plot.
Also I know their dad only stuck around because he was sick but what was the point of Cooper even taking custody if they were all living together anyways
— Iris is 26, doesn’t have a steady job/income and yet is somehow able to afford not one but two houses?? Make it make sense

I would have preferred if the story had focused on just the funeral ladies and the ups and down of putting together the cookbook 
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daniellemtd's review against another edition

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emotional funny hopeful inspiring sad fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes

5.0

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