Reviews tagging 'Murder'

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

88 reviews

celestially_yours's review against another edition

dark emotional medium-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

3.5

How The One-Armed Sister Sweeps Her House
I Purchased this book from Barnes and Noble doing their half off sale. I loved the cover and the synopsis caught my attention. The title of the book is based on a short fable that the grandmother tells the granddaughter in the beginning of the story. It is not the main focus.
 
Each character of this story suffers from some kind of tragedy and unhappiness. Told from various points of view, but mainly through one of the main characters Lala, who I think was just looking for safety and love.
 The writing in itself is a character in this book. The way she softly reels you in through paragraph after paragraph- then hits you with destruction, causing you to think you didn’t really read what you thought you did. I had to re-read a couple of times to make sure I was reading correctly. 
This book m made me tell out loud several times, but I couldn’t put it down. 
Worth the read if you are a reader that yells at books while reading.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Incest, Murder, and Physical abuse

Moderate: Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, and Gun violence

Minor: Abortion

All endings aren’t happy they just end

annabulkowski's review against another edition

emotional sad medium-paced

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

4.5

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Abortion, Adult/minor relationship, Blood, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Colonisation, Cultural appropriation, Violence, Trafficking, Toxic relationship, Torture, Suicidal thoughts, Slavery, Sexual violence, Sexual harassment, Sexual content, Sexual assault, Sexism, Self harm, Rape, Racism, Police brutality, Physical abuse, Pedophilia, Murder, Misogyny, Miscarriage, Mental illness, Medical trauma, Medical content, Kidnapping, Injury/Injury detail, Infidelity, Incest, Infertility, Gun violence, Grief, Excrement, Emotional abuse, Drug use, Drug abuse, Domestic abuse, Death of parent, Death, Cursing, and Confinement

chelsearm's review against another edition

dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

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

4.25

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse and Grief

Moderate: Murder

tina94's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad 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

5.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Animal cruelty, Blood, Child death, Death, Death of parent, Excrement, Gun violence, Grief, Infertility, Infidelity, Miscarriage, Murder, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, and Violence

Moderate: Addiction, Dementia, Pregnancy, and Pedophilia

Minor: Abortion

cmvoelkel's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

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

4.5

4.5
I listened to the audio version of this book and couldn't be more grateful that I did.  The narration is really impeccable and so adds to the power of this very understated and poetic telling of an extremely gripping and devastating story.  This is truly excellent writing, the only thing I missed about listening to the audiobook was not being able to underline so many understatedly beautiful passages in this text.  The only thing which I didn't love about this story was the implausibility of the interconnectedness of all these stories, but that was a minor quibble about a truly excellent novel. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Death, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Incest, Infidelity, Misogyny, Murder, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, and Child death

edie_reads's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

3.75

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Domestic abuse, Child death, Toxic relationship, Violence, Sexual violence, Sexual assault, Sexism, Physical abuse, Murder, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Medical content, Injury/Injury detail, Gun violence, Grief, Emotional abuse, Blood, and Adult/minor relationship

Moderate: Incest and Child abuse

readwithsabs's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad 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

5.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse

Moderate: Murder

nadspowell's review against another edition

4.5

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Domestic abuse, Child death, Murder, and Gun violence

luckylauren98's review against another edition

dark emotional sad 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? It's complicated

3.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Violence, Toxic relationship, Physical abuse, Murder, Grief, and Excrement

Moderate: Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Sexual violence, Sexual assault, Rape, Murder, and Incest

Minor: Drug use

jennikreads's review against another edition

challenging dark sad tense fast-paced

5.0

 HOW THE ONE-ARMED SISTER SWEEPS HER HOUSE tells the stories of a handful of people in an island town. Two very traumatic things happen right at the beginning of the story that set the stage for the story to unfold. It’s a little bit mystery and a whole lot character study. 

 

This is gorgeously written and I could not put it down. The story that unfolds is so layered and nuanced. I loved that Jones would slip in the stories of other characters, told from their perspectives, that we could easily assume we would only hear about from the perspectives of others. It gave such a rich entangled feel to the story and made your heart ache just that much more for the central characters. 

 

I was honestly very hesitant to read this one after hearing everyone who mentioned it shout from the roof top that it was brutal and the list of content warnings (right fully so) were endless. But, a fellow bookstagrammer spoke about it in a way that intrigued me and when I reached out to ask her about her reading experience. She assured me that it is not gratuitous. And that’s absolutely true. 

 

The violence and abuse in this book are absolutely unsettling, and will genuinely trigger some people, but they are not without context and they are never there for the sake of shock. While the content warnings span the entire length of the novel, there are definitely what I would call breaks from that type of content to let your mind breathe. 

 

All that to say, that if you, like me, were unsure whether this would be for you, give it a go, but please review the content warnings first. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Blood, Child abuse, Child death, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Grief, Gun violence, Incest, Injury/Injury detail, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Murder, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Toxic relationship, and Violence

Moderate: Abortion, Drug use, Incest, Infidelity, Kidnapping, Sexual content, and Toxic friendship