Reviews tagging 'Abandonment'

When the Stars Go Dark by Paula McLain

20 reviews

emgwh's review against another edition

challenging dark inspiring mysterious sad medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness, Grief, and Child death

Moderate: Sexual violence, Rape, Murder, Sexual assault, Drug abuse, Drug use, Pedophilia, Death, Kidnapping, Abandonment, Addiction, and Child abuse

Minor: Death of parent

miraculeus's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad tense slow-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? It's complicated

4.75

I really liked the (dark) atmosphere and the descriptions of nature in this book. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Kidnapping, Grief, Child death, Abandonment, and Violence

Moderate: Alcoholism and Mental illness

Minor: Sexual violence, Child abuse, and Animal cruelty

rhodas's review against another edition

dark mysterious reflective tense fast-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment and Child death

Minor: Suicide, Rape, Child abuse, and Torture

kjohnstone62's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Abandonment, Death, Death of parent, Rape, Blood, Child abuse, and Child death

Minor: Alcoholism

celina31's review against another edition

mysterious 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? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Murder, and Abandonment

Moderate: Child death and Child abuse

planreadrepeat's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious medium-paced

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

4.5

Anna, a detective specializing in finding missing people, arrives in her hometown to escape a recent, mysterious, tragedy. She reconnects with high school friends and involves herself quickly in a local missing person's case with a history eerily similar to her own. She starts working closely with her friend, Will to investigate all while intertwining her history of childhood, the town, and growing up with her foster parents, Hep and Eden. She also adopts a dog, Cricket. 

It's interesting that the book twists in a real-life missing person case, Polly Klaas, that happened at the same time as the setting of the book in 1993. Sometimes we forget how much more difficult it was to conduct searches and investigations before everything was on the internet and we had cell phones that function as computers. I found the author's note very personal and touching.

There are several content warnings I would give: child abuse, sexual assault, confinement, drug use and overdose. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief and Child death

Moderate: Abandonment, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Death of parent, Drug abuse, Torture, Sexual violence, Murder, Kidnapping, and Infidelity

Minor: Chronic illness and Mental illness

wonderfulxwonderful's review against another edition

challenging dark hopeful mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Child death

Minor: Abandonment, Addiction, Blood, Child abuse, Murder, Death of parent, Death, Suicidal thoughts, Sexual assault, Alcoholism, Kidnapping, Chronic illness, Drug abuse, Infidelity, and Rape

jeanmoreaubaby's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious medium-paced

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

4.0

this book was good! it’s takes the whodunnit trope a step further & explores generational trauma & women’s intuition & the amount of violence perpetuated against women. it also had a historical element re: polly klaas story which i really enjoyed! it obviously got dark but that’s the nature of the plot. the dust jacket summary really got me

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Content Warnings

Minor: Drug use, Death of parent, Abandonment, Child death, and Rape

jennifer8632d's review against another edition

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Child abuse, Child death, Kidnapping, and Abandonment

the_savannahhumphrey's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful informative inspiring mysterious sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Kidnapping

Moderate: Rape, Sexual assault, Abandonment, Child abuse, and Child death