Reviews tagging 'Blood'

How the One-Armed Sister Sweeps Her House by Cherie Jones

31 reviews

memorable's review

challenging dark emotional tense medium-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

4.0

Ufff… this book is though, yet so good. Please be aware of all the TWs, there are a lot of them! However, go read it!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Cursing, Domestic abuse, Physical abuse, Violence, Blood, and Murder

Moderate: Grief, Death of parent, and Gaslighting

Minor: Body shaming, Child abuse, Drug use, Infidelity, Misogyny, Racism, Rape, Sexism, and Abortion

jreadsaround's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad tense medium-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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Gun violence, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Violence, Blood, and Murder

Moderate: Child death and Incest

Minor: Drug use and Excrement

sorcha's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Domestic abuse, Gun violence, Violence, Blood, and Murder

Moderate: Child death, Rape, Sexual violence, and Pregnancy

Minor: Drug use

womanwill's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional tense fast-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Incest, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Excrement, Grief, Death of parent, and Murder

Moderate: Infertility and Infidelity

Minor: Drug use, Miscarriage, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Dementia, and Abortion

literaryelephant's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad tense

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

4.0

Though I wished the characters had been given more individual personality (they are all basically embodied pain), I thought this was an incredible (historical) story of generational trauma and the wealth divide in Paradise, a Barbados beach and village. The format and prose is somewhat circular, offering a range of perspectives branching off of two recent crimes and filling in details before honing in on sharp narrative points. Brutal and sad, but well-placed on the Women's Prize shortlist this year. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Child death, Cursing, Domestic abuse, Gun violence, Incest, Misogyny, Rape, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Grief, Murder, and Pregnancy

Minor: Infidelity

breannamarie619's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child abuse, Child death, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Incest, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Racism, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Excrement, Police brutality, Death of parent, and Murder

Moderate: Infidelity, Miscarriage, Racial slurs, Vomit, Medical content, and Medical trauma

birdbrainbooks's review against another edition

challenging dark 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

4.0

Wow. This book is a tragedy from start to finish. Brilliantly written. I felt so heartbroken for some of the characters and so angry at others. It’s much more intense than I expected.
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The way Jones conveys the inner workings of an abused woman’s mind, how she has to view every item in her home and assess it for its ability to inflict pain, how she has to tiptoe constantly around anything that might anger her husband, is done painfully well.
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The way she reveals the complicated nature of power dynamics between people, particularly between men and women—and the way she explores generational trauma and how that affects who you become—is masterful.
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My main issues were that the pace was a bit slow and the sequence of events and glimpses into other character’s lives could have been tighter. I found myself not really thinking about the book when I wasn’t actively reading it, or forgetting about some characters after having been drawn into their story chapters before.
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All in all, pick this one up but prepare yourself—and I will absolutely be following Cherie Jones in the future.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Infidelity, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Grief, and Murder

Moderate: Drug use

Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Infertility, Miscarriage, Trafficking, Stalking, and Death of parent

lisabreads's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

3.75

 Thank you @harpercollinsca and @netgalley for a copy of How The One Armed Sister Sweeps Her House by Cherie Jones. All opinions are my own.

Strong content warnings for domestic and sexual abuse including incest mentioned off page. DM for specifics if you need them.

How The One Armed Sister Sweeps Her House was an incredible read. Told from many perspectives, it’s the story of women and their struggles in a resort town of Baxter Beach, Barbados. One of the main characters is Lala who spends her days braiding hair on the beach. Lala lives with her abusive petty criminal husband and she broke my heart. The characters in this novel were so well developed and complex and yet the plot moves along at a decent pace so you never want to put it down. Highly recommend this read if you don’t mind something heavier. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Bullying, Child death, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Incest, Physical abuse, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Grief, and Death of parent

katie_greenwinginmymouth's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad tense fast-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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Rape, and Murder

Moderate: Child death, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Blood, and Abortion

whatjaimereads's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective tense fast-paced

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

4.0

This is a novel that explores the many facets of humanity, through inter-generational trauma, crime, poverty, womanhood, and what it is to live in a tourism-based economy. It was these discussions around Barbadian tourism and the cavernous wealth disparity between locals and tourists that initially drew me to this novel, and Jones delivered in swathes.
Our cast of characters are treated with generosity and kindness despite the difficult choices with which they are faced. Jones’ prose style is fluid and exceptionally accomplished, it’s hard to believe that this is a debut. This is undeniably an important, approachable entry point to Barbadian literature, I look forward to keeping an eye out for her future work.
This was a great entry point for my own #ReadCaribbean journey, with a similar vibe to My Sister, The Serial Killer through the fast-pace and tension building that is reminiscent of a thriller while straddling genre-boundaries in a similar fashion.
*ARC kindly gifted by Headline in exchange for an honest review

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Incest, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Blood, Medical content, Grief, and Medical trauma