Reviews tagging 'Grief'

Small Pleasures by Clare Chambers

12 reviews

swaino's review

mysterious 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

3.5

This book gave me mixed emotions. The writing style was flawless, I thoroughly enjoyed reading these perfectly curated sentences and chapters. 

It’s the plot that has given me the mixed feelings. I regret to say that I believed it to be quite predictable, with the origins of the virgin birth being what I had expected from the very beginning. The ending was also quite unnecessary and, if I dare say, almost ruined the book for me (whether that was out of heartbreak for the main character or a somewhat lazy plot, I am not so sure). 

Before the end, I wanted to give this book 4/5 stars, but the ending took me back. Perhaps after a few days of ruminating over this book I may change my mind. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Pregnancy, Chronic illness, Medical trauma, Sexual content, Terminal illness, Abortion, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Sexual assault, Grief, Mental illness, Rape, and Sexism

imds's review

• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No

3.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Chronic illness, Abandonment, Ableism, Car accident, Death of parent, Infidelity, Cancer, Grief, Death, Mental illness, Rape, Abortion, and Confinement

Minor: Antisemitism

laurennicole98's review against another edition

emotional informative mysterious reflective sad 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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abortion

Moderate: Death, Grief, and Confinement

Minor: Cancer, Dementia, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Rape, and Mental illness

sundaybookclub's review

emotional hopeful lighthearted 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? No

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Grief, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Infidelity, Death, Forced institutionalization, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Terminal illness, Confinement, Pregnancy, and Rape

Minor: Cancer

skudiklier's review against another edition

emotional mysterious reflective sad medium-paced

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

4.75

I'm worried I'm too emotionally invested at the moment to be writing this review; I don't know how to write about how this book made me feel without writing about the ending. I'll spoiler warning it at the end here, but just know that all spoilers in it are very vague.

Overall I liked this book. I knew absolutely nothing about it going in--not the premise, not the genre, nothing. I picked it solely based on the cover. Throughout the first half of it I just felt a sort of rising tension, as I waited for the shoe to drop. This book was well-written and while the ending devastated me, I don't think it should have been changed. 

This book makes me want to read more by this author, because I really liked how well it showed tiny social things that feel hard to capture/explain but can make a real impact on how a situation feels or a relationship progresses. Small things that Jean worries over momentarily, that just felt really well-done. 

Honestly the ending just is so sad. I wasn't prepared. I wish I'd paid more attention to the dates so that I could have seen it coming. It makes sense as a story but I'm just too close to these characters right now, I feel too sad for them. It made it so I couldn't give this book five stars.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Abortion, Death, and Sexual assault

Moderate: Dementia, Infidelity, Medical content, Rape, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Sexism, Antisemitism, Death of parent, Grief, and Sexual content

Minor: Lesbophobia, Cancer, and Incest

train accident

biareads100's review

challenging dark emotional sad tense slow-paced

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

3.5

I'm so mad at this book. I hate it and love it at the same time. First of all the experience of reading this book was painful, the predictable plot, the pace how dark it was. But if you asked me to talk about this book now that I finished it i could talk for hours. I love the way it presented all the issues it raised. It truly made me think. Life comes with good things and bad things and we are here for the ride.

it talks about being a spinster, having the perfect societal life that you hate vs not having the perfect societal life and hating your life, having to take care of your parents more than they did of you( and the mother the real villain of the story egoism, being lonely yet never being free, being loved but never being able to love back, amazing amazing. We need to talk about the ending. Based on the dark ending of the miracle birth we can assume Howard's story took the darkest route. They did leave the Gretchen story open ended, as that guy was never sure to be the father so Howard could be injured or one of the survivers but again the book doesn't shy away from pain. Still i would've hoped after such a biter sweet book not to get the literal worst ending. Also nice nod to the fact he felt old like it's a bad thing when some people arent blessed to get to that age.

i can talk volumes about this book but the ending and the pacing would make me not recommend it

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abortion, Chronic illness, Confinement, Car accident, and Grief

Moderate: Cancer, Infidelity, Medical content, Mental illness, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Dementia

Minor: Rape

rosalynemily's review

emotional mysterious reflective medium-paced

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

4.75

I would be giving this book 5 stars, no question if it wasn't for <the ending, which I found unnecessarily heartbreaking! The book was perfectly finished without this heartbreaking final event, and it just seemed to be unnecessary upset for the reader to endure!> 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Grief, Rape, Abortion, Cancer, Medical content, Confinement, Death, Dementia, Infidelity, Medical trauma, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Pregnancy, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, and Terminal illness

bcooper21's review against another edition

adventurous emotional hopeful mysterious reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• 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: Abandonment, Chronic illness, Medical content, and Death

Moderate: Abortion, Sexual content, Pregnancy, Cancer, Rape, Homophobia, and Grief

Minor: Alcohol

alisonannk's review

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad medium-paced

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

2.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexism, Toxic relationship, Mental illness, Misogyny, Pregnancy, Rape, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Ableism, Abandonment, Blood, Chronic illness, Death, Abortion, Confinement, Medical content, Medical trauma, and Sexual assault

Moderate: Injury/Injury detail, Sexual content, Sexual harassment, Toxic friendship, Cancer, Grief, Homophobia, Infidelity, Lesbophobia, Body shaming, Dementia, Outing, and Toxic relationship

lucadonta's review against another edition

mysterious 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? Yes

3.0

Enjoyed the premise, enjoyed reading it, but didn't love how the mystery concluded (I could see something like this coming but was hoping it would be resolved differently) or the ending. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Rape, Abortion, and Grief

Minor: Sexual harassment