Reviews tagging 'Suicidal thoughts'

Haven by Emma Donoghue

7 reviews

brogancha's review against another edition

dark tense medium-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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Animal death, Vomit, Animal cruelty, Toxic friendship, and Transphobia

Moderate: Suicidal thoughts

vireogirl's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark 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? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

This author is very good at finding perspectives I’ve never contemplated before. 
Lots of birds mentioned. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Body shaming, Religious bigotry, Toxic relationship, Animal death, and Confinement

Moderate: Abandonment, Alcohol, Suicidal thoughts, Physical abuse, Excrement, Hate crime, and Outing

smaravetz's review

adventurous challenging dark informative mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Religious bigotry

Moderate: Transphobia, Suicidal thoughts, and Body shaming

afion's review against another edition

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Religious bigotry, and Transphobia

Moderate: Emotional abuse, Excrement, and Vomit

Minor: Suicidal thoughts, Homophobia, and Self harm

hmatt's review against another edition

adventurous challenging reflective tense slow-paced

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

4.0

Fantastic characterization and a deliberately slow-moving plot that really serves its purpose of putting you in the headspace of (well, two of) the monks.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Medical content, Vomit, Body shaming, Confinement, Homophobia, and Outing

Moderate: Blood and Suicidal thoughts

Minor: Self harm

Contains graphic hate speech and hateful action towards an intersex individual (within the last chapter only)

kelly_e's review against another edition

adventurous challenging reflective slow-paced

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

4.0

Title: Haven
Author: Emma Donoghue
Genre: Historical Fiction
Rating: 4.0
Pub Date: August 23, 2022

T H R E E • W O R D S

Patient • Timely • Riveting

📖 S Y N O P S I S

In seventh-century Ireland, three men vow to leave the world behind. They set out in a small boat for an island their leader has seen in a dream, with only faith to guide them. What they find is the extraordinary island now known as Skellig Michael. The steep, rocky terrain and bare island is unforgiving, and the three must band together in order to survive.

💭 T H O U G H T S

Emma Donoghue is an auto-buy author for me, so it will be no surprise that Haven was one of my most anticipated reads of the year. If you'd have asked me if a book based in religion set in 600 AD would interest me, my first impulse would have been to say no. Yet, Donoghue has a way of taking the most uninteresting plot and making it shine.

The strength is in the evocative writing style and the vivid island atmosphere. This is a slow-moving narrative, where not a whole lot happens, yet I was captivated by the journey of these three characters. It is a story of faith and devotion, while also raising issues of gender, survival, and needs versus wants.

Haven was definitely not my favourite Emma Donoghue book, yet one of the reasons I love her writing is that each book is so different from the last. Don't let the synopsis keep you from picking up was is at its heart a story of isolation, spirituality and survival.

📚 R E C O M M E N D • T O
• Emma Donoghue devotees
• readers who enjoy isolated stories of survival

🔖 F A V O U R I T E • Q U O T E S

"To travel is to turn the pages of the great book of life." 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Religious bigotry, Emotional abuse, and Suicidal thoughts

Moderate: Animal death, Blood, Homophobia, Physical abuse, and Body shaming

alylentz's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark informative reflective sad tense slow-paced

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

4.0

I've read a handful of Emma Donoghue's books and am always surprised and intrigued by what she'll write next. This one was difficult to read not because it was boring or uninteresting to me, but because it is a sad and brutal story that doesn't pull any punches. Just when you think things can't get worse for the characters, they do, every time. However, I think the character work here is truly expert, as Donoghue's books always are. My investment in them kept me turning the pages, and the familial relationship that forms between Cormac and Trian and leads us to the climax is something that will definitely stick with me. I would recommend this book to readers who like survival stories, books with a slow build, and titles that contemplate religion and its limits.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for providing me with an ARC of this title in exchange for an honest review. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Blood, Body shaming, Injury/Injury detail, Religious bigotry, Suicidal thoughts, and Vomit

Minor: Child death