Reviews tagging 'Abandonment'

Sundial by Catriona Ward

13 reviews

rosemaryslibrarian's review

dark mysterious tense fast-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Blood, Infidelity, Miscarriage, Self harm, Torture, Animal cruelty, Child abuse, Confinement, Death, Gore, Abandonment, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, and Murder

cyanide_latte's review

dark emotional mysterious tense fast-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

I'm not sure what I can say here that hasn't been said better in other reviews, but I'm glad I read this one.  It's quite thought-provoking and dark, and it weighs pretty heavy, all things considered. I'd guessed a lot of the twists early on but that's not a bad thing. This isn't one I'm sure I'll keep, but it was compulsively readable.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Medical trauma, Pregnancy, Blood, Child abuse, Death, Death of parent, Mental illness, Emotional abuse, Vomit, Animal death, Animal cruelty, Gore, Infidelity, Miscarriage, Toxic relationship, Self harm, Violence, and Domestic abuse

Moderate: Body horror, Drug use, Abandonment, Child death, Confinement, Gaslighting, Alcohol, Alcoholism, and Drug abuse

lizslazylibrary's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• 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

this book had me addicted from the first page. sundial is a gripping story about how you never truly know a person even if that person is you.

trigger warnings are in order for this book and they are: domestic violence, animal abuse/death & child abuse.

catriona ward's writing was so beautiful and i couldn't put it down.

i don't want to write about the plot because i feel it's best to go into this book blind (well with the exception of reading the brief synopsis and the trigger warnings i listed above) the twists at the ending is well worth waiting for.

although i loved this book i have a bone (pun intended) to pick with it, if i have to read the words 'sickly sick' again i might lose my mind. it almost made me not finish the book but i pushed forward hoping that the payoff would be worth my nausousness; and it was.

i don't know how i feel about how the character's mental illnesses were dealt with and as someone who suffers with a personality disorder catriona did describe what some of us feel on the inside by showing it from another's perspective. like i said i am on the fence about a lot of it but when push comes to shove i have seen worse.

the last thing i wanna say is i hate the ending. but not in the "i hate this and i wish i never read it/i hate this and it was a waste of time" i hated it in the was i hate that it was so abrupt. i wish there were more to it. i was left with so many unanswered questions. that's a pet peeve of mine. i get it that we as the reader gets to make our own assumptions as to what happens but i have way to much anxiety for that. i need to be told what happens or i am left there with my mouth open silently screaming because i will never know how it ended for the characters i just spent so long getting to know, hating, loving, rooting for them, crying with them, and seeing myself in them, it's not how i like books to end. i think because life is so unpredictable i like my escapism to have a solid ending being good or bad. i need that as a reader. and sundial will forever be left a mystery.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, and Domestic abuse

Moderate: Abandonment, Mental illness, Toxic relationship, Miscarriage, Child abuse, Blood, Gaslighting, Murder, and Emotional abuse