Reviews tagging 'Death of parent'

Learned by Heart by Emma Donoghue

14 reviews

kers_tin's review against another edition

dark emotional funny hopeful informative reflective 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

5.0

This was so good! Historical fiction my beloved. Eliza deserved so much better 💔

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Colonisation, Death of parent, Infidelity, Abandonment, Forced institutionalization, Misogyny, Sexual assault, Injury/Injury detail, Classism, Racism, Ableism, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, and Sexual content

arayo's review

funny slow-paced

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

2.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content

Moderate: Forced institutionalization, Homophobia, Misogyny, Racism, Lesbophobia, Mental illness, Classism, and Xenophobia

Minor: Suicidal thoughts, Child death, Pregnancy, Colonisation, War, Miscarriage, and Death of parent

ajay913's review

adventurous emotional hopeful inspiring sad medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism

Moderate: Suicide attempt, Suicidal thoughts, and Suicide

Minor: Death of parent, Death, Forced institutionalization, and Homophobia

hmatt's review against another edition

challenging emotional reflective sad slow-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

3.5

I'm not generally one for slow, introspective fiction, but Donoghue does it well and I was intrigued by the premise of this one. I feel as though the story lulls midway through, though, and I didn't get much from it after that... I'm also not sure that I like the framing of the letters from the future. That didn't work for me, although I suppose I see why the author wrote it that way.

I think I would have preferred a bit of a mystery fade-to-black situation after Lister leaves with her broken leg. The end as it is felt a bit tacked-on and really jolted me as a reader out of the atmosphere the rest of the novel created.

I do think others will enjoy this more deeply, it just wasn't the right pace and vibe for me.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cursing, Colonisation, Injury/Injury detail, and Sexual content

Moderate: Death, Death of parent, Racism, Sexism, and Child death

Minor: Pregnancy, Chronic illness, and Toxic friendship

james1star's review against another edition

emotional reflective medium-paced

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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Mental illness

Minor: Racism, Death of parent, Colonisation, Misogyny, Sexism, Xenophobia, and Slavery

ruthlessreads's review against another edition

challenging funny informative reflective sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• 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

This wonderfully researched historical fiction based on a true story explores the budding relationship of two young girls at boarding school in 19th century England--Eliza Raine & Anne Lister. It's a beautiful & heart breaking love story but I do think it's quite a slow read. If you aren't interested in character studies, especially if they're delivered with historical minutiae & strict attention to detail, then this might not be the book for you. 

As someone who really enjoys reading about this time period and about historical queer people, I loved this book. It was carefully researched and I can tell that Donoghue took a lot of care in her characterization of both Lister & Raine. Be warned that this is not a story that ends happily so I don't recommend going into this if you're looking for a soft, happy romance. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Classism, Confinement, Death of parent, Homophobia, Genocide, Mental illness, and Sexual content

Moderate: Misogyny, Bullying, Chronic illness, Sexism, Forced institutionalization, Colonisation, Abandonment, and Racism

breanneporter's review against another edition

emotional sad slow-paced

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

4.0

I struggled through the first half, which I found very tedious and dull, but I’m really glad I persevered, as I really liked the second half. This is the fictionalized account of Eliza Raine and Anne Lister, who met and fell in love in English boarding school when they were only 14. It made me want to try to watch gentleman jack again (I watched one season but there was so much about her coal business and not enough lesbian fuckboy shenanigans, which is obvs why I was there). It’s tragic but beautiful, as are most tales of lesbian love before modern times, and If you can suffer through the tedium of the schoolgirls’ daily schedules and family lineages that make up the bulk of the first half, you’re in for a beautiful and emotional story of the intensity of first love. 

I’m still thinking about

how Raine didn’t want to think there were other sapphic couplings (like I thought she would have) and instead described their love as their own invention - I just love that positive reframing of the fact that lesbian love was so unseen and undiscussed (and criminalized), to believe they had discovered, for the first time maybe, something so beautiful and life altering.

I think I’ll be thinking of that, and Anne and Eliza in general, for a while longer. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Xenophobia, Mental illness, Sexual content, Racism, Grief, Suicidal thoughts, Homophobia, Forced institutionalization, Death of parent, Lesbophobia, and Confinement

kezharri's review against another edition

adventurous hopeful lighthearted reflective fast-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? No

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content and Death of parent

Moderate: Racism

Minor: Pregnancy, Homophobia, Suicidal thoughts, Lesbophobia, and War

njh_books's review

reflective slow-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

3.25

Having a decent background knowledge of Anne Lister, reading a historical fiction account about a section of her life where a lot of the information is missing, is quite interesting. Also seeing Anne Lister from someone else's eyes is refreshing as most stories about her have been either told from her perspective (her journals) or closely follow her (<i>Gentleman Jack</i>). We often discuss the adult Lister, but it is thought-provoking to think about how she was in her teens--what she would have been like and what she would have been up to.

 

That being said, this book is slow paced. The first 25 pages were long and the first 100 got slightly better, but were still long. The first really romantic scenes/actions between Lister and Raine occur in the 190s/306 pages. Slow burn of slow burns with a slow pace.

The letters from Eliza from the present back to the Eliza in 1805/1806 didn't work as smoothly for me as I would've liked. Without a lot of the information I already had about Lister and Raine, I think I would've often been left confused. 

I think the premise is nice, but the plot almost cuts off as soon as it starts. Just when Raine and Lister finally seem to have some happiness, it's gone from Lister breaking her leg by falling off the school wall. I don't think we know the real reason why Lister left the Manor School, but for who she was, breaking a leg in such a careless way seemed strangely out of character. 

 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Forced institutionalization, Mental illness, and Racism

Moderate: Sexual content, Child death, Colonisation, Death, Death of parent, and Chronic illness

Minor: Suicide, War, Suicidal thoughts, Injury/Injury detail, Miscarriage, Racial slurs, and Pregnancy

meliemelo's review

emotional reflective slow-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

3.75

For a while, I thought this would earn five-stars. Unfortunately, it wasn't the sweeping romance I hoped for, even though from the first few pages it seemed written like one - although the author can hardly be faulted since, and I hadn't realized it until the last few pages (shame on me!), the whole novel is based on a true story. I'd love to get an exquisitely written, positive historical queer romance, someday. 

Because it is beautifully written. I love Emma Donoghue's prose and found it very hard to put the book down most of the time. The ending felt a bit rushed, although it's easy to understand that the story was so contained by design. Reading the note afterwards, it seemed to me like the reader was meant to "fill the gaps" with their own knowledge of Ann Lister's story (or by reading said note), which I'm not sure is great practice in general.

I did love the "slice of life" aspect of a lot of the book, even aside of the romance, and the author's research seems to have been extensive, which I appreciate.

All in all, it's difficult to articulate what I felt about this book. Some parts of it made me slightly uncomfortable (on purpose), while others were magnificent. It's a rare case of loving the parts (so many beautiful lines!) more than the whole. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Homophobia and Racism

Moderate: Death, Child death, Sexual content, Death of parent, and Toxic relationship

Minor: War