Reviews tagging 'Grief'

A Slow Fire Burning by Paula Hawkins

40 reviews

mydearwatsonbooks's review against another edition

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief

Moderate: Infertility, Alcoholism, Animal death, Blood, Xenophobia, Car accident, Death, Miscarriage, Murder, Violence, Rape, and Kidnapping

Minor: Body shaming, Bullying, Cursing, Incest, Vomit, Fatphobia, Dementia, and Death of parent

youcancallmefi's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious tense 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

I really struggled to make sense of what was going in and didn't relate to any of the characters. the story became so confused as at some point I wasn't sure if the initial death was the main point of the story anymore. Just kept reading to make sure my suspicions of the murder were correct.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Animal death, Blood, Car accident, Child death, Chronic illness, Death, Emotional abuse, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, and Murder

kerrygetsliterary's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense fast-paced

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Blood, Child death, Cursing, Death, Dementia, Grief, Infidelity, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Murder, Panic attacks/disorders, Suicidal thoughts, and Violence

Moderate: Miscarriage, Rape, and Sexual assault

emily842752's review against another edition

medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Diverse cast of characters? No

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Car accident, Kidnapping, Murder, Alcohol, and Alcoholism

Moderate: Animal death, Vomit, and Grief

Minor: Infertility and Self harm

katbrookhart's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Kidnapping, Child death, and Animal death

Moderate: Alcoholism, Bullying, Confinement, Gore, and Grief

Minor: Rape, Dementia, Incest, Infertility, Mental illness, and Miscarriage

amressing's review against another edition

dark emotional sad tense slow-paced

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

2.0

I was really excited when I saw this book came out because I had loved Girl on a Train.  I found the book to be a little too dark and and some of the twists felt unnecessary.  While it did grab my attention, it’s ultimately my least favorite of her books.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Body horror, Ableism, Blood, Bullying, Child death, Grief, Kidnapping, and Death

Moderate: Alcohol

Minor: Sexual violence and Vomit

what_heather_loves's review against another edition

dark reflective slow-paced

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

5.0

"It was true that when Irene opened up some of the more ancient Penguins, their bright orange covers tattered and worn, the pages began to crumble beneath her fingertips. Succumbing already to slow fire, the acidification of the paper eating way at the pages, making them brittle and breakable, destroying them from within. It was terribly sad, when you thought about it, all those words, all those stories slowly disappearing."

In present day Islington and Hoxton, London, three damaged women's lives are inextricably and tragically linked. Young, poverty-stricken Laura has suffered physical and mental trauma, and struggles to fit in; middle-aged wealthy Carla, having lost her toddler son, Ben, to a tragic accident fifteen years ago, has never recovered; older, eccentric Miriam experienced a horrific tragedy as a teenager and longs to redress the balance of power; and elderly Irene is mourning the loss of beloved husband William and best friend and neighbour Angela (Carla's sister). Following the brutal murder of Daniel, Carla's nephew on a houseboat next door to Miriam, the night after Laura (who gets shopping in for Irene) stayed over, all four women are drawn in, in different ways. Any one of them could have killed Daniel, but who did, or was it someone else?

The plot is interspersed with sections from a fictional immensely popular crime novel (as book within a book)written by struggling author Theo, Carla's ex-husband, but allegedly plagiarised from Miriam's memoirs. Through the four women we understand the experiences of those with power and those who are powerless, seeing them trying to change the balance of power. They are real, relatable, female characters, with intertwined lives, all damaged and all linked by past wrongs and past deaths.

Expertly plotted (I would expect no less from this experienced author), with excellent characters, this is a very readable, dark novel about tragedies, trauma and power. Highly recommended.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder and Child death

Moderate: Alcoholism, Abandonment, and Grief

Minor: Suicide attempt

thebakerbookworm's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-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

You probably know Paula Hawkins from The Girl on the Train fame, which I have to admit I wasn't a huge fan of. I don't really remember why as I read it a few years ago and didn't write myself a review, but I remember being disappointed and not getting all the hype. So I went into this one with a little trepidation. And thankfully I was pleasantly surprised!

First off, Rosamund Pike doing the narration was fantastic! I was captivated the whole time and I loved her different voices for the characters. I highly recommend going the audio route for this one!

Secondly, the characters, though not really likable, were interesting and succeeded in making me feel empathy for them, even if I was annoyed with their choices. Though I must say, they've all been through A LOT of trauma, so beware the content warnings. And I think most of them even got some nice development over the course of the story. Not a ton, but enough to where they look different by the end.

The mystery and plot were compelling enough to keep me reading. I managed to figure out some things, so I was a little disappointed that I wasn't very surprised by the ending, but I still liked how it wrapped things up for the most part. Overall, a really good quick thriller if you're looking for something to get lost in for a while.

Thanks so much to Libro.fm, Penguin Audio, and the author for my ALC!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Cursing, Death, Emotional abuse, Grief, Kidnapping, Mental illness, Murder, Toxic relationship, and Violence

Moderate: Ableism, Adult/minor relationship, Chronic illness, Physical abuse, and Alcoholism

Minor: Dementia, Rape, and Animal death

librariangeorgia's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Death, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Kidnapping, Grief, Murder, Child death, Rape, and Incest

azazellos_fang's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Blood, Vomit, Murder, Medical trauma, Kidnapping, Grief, Forced institutionalization, Dementia, and Death

Minor: Animal death, Car accident, Child death, Chronic illness, Incest, and Rape