Reviews tagging 'Death of parent'

The Ocean at the End of the Lane by Neil Gaiman

6 reviews

babblefishgirl's review

emotional mysterious reflective slow-paced

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

2.0

Strange, very ethereal

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content

Moderate: Suicide and Death of parent

riverofhorton's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny hopeful inspiring mysterious reflective sad fast-paced

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

5.0

So I went into this book thinking it was a kid's book and would be a fun frolic in a fantasy world. A kid's book it most definitely is not, despite the main character being 7 through the main part of the story. Once I realised and came to terms with my own assumptions being wrong, I found the book to be really enjoyable.

It tackles a few quite mature themes through the wonder of a child's perspective, which is something I don't think I've seen before. It takes place pretty much in our world but with a bit of magic thrown in, some being things that are still magic to us as children, giving the impression that there is magic to be found in the real world, if you look through that child-like lens.

I did also appreciate some of the little call backs to things that previously seemed unimportant.

I also liked that it ends in such a way as to facilitate re-reading.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Kidnapping, Murder, Torture, Suicide, Blood, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Body horror, Violence, Confinement, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, Animal death, Gaslighting, Death of parent, Abandonment, and Physical abuse

ashhearddwrites's review

adventurous dark medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Child abuse

Minor: Death of parent

reads2cope's review against another edition

2.5

Loved the concepts explored, but the story itself and the characters fell flat. There were some beautiful lines, and the horror scene near the beginning really made me gag, but most the book left me feeling meh. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child death, Grief, Death, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, and Suicide

Moderate: Gore, Bullying, Animal death, Child abuse, Abandonment, Sexual content, and Infidelity

Minor: Death of parent

knerys's review

dark emotional mysterious reflective medium-paced

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

3.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Child abuse, Death, Death of parent, Infidelity, and Suicide

cwg's review

dark mysterious reflective 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? It's complicated

4.0

Honestly, it had been slow for me, at first, but once the story picks up, I couldn’t stop reading until the end. It is confusing and disorienting but it was lovely.

For me, specifically, it had taken one scene,

the worm body horror scene,

to get into it. 
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Note:
I read this as part of a club, and I had realized, unfortunately, that I had to finish it today. So I did. For reference, I had only gotten about 20% of the way there, and I had skimmed through the story a bit, but I have enough sensibilities to talk about it. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror and Child abuse

Moderate: Animal death and Death

Minor: Car accident, Death of parent, and Death