Reviews tagging 'Police brutality'

Näktergalen by Kristin Hannah

99 reviews

kgauthier's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional inspiring 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? Yes

4.0

Was worth the read! Had some sad parts, kind of left me feeling a little empty. One of those books you think about for a while afterwards. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Gun violence, Death, Genocide, Grief, Miscarriage, Police brutality, Sexual assault, Violence, War, Body horror, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Racism, Religious bigotry, Abandonment, and Hate crime

Minor: Alcoholism, Rape, Sexual violence, and Homophobia

rachelcrosley's review against another edition

emotional inspiring sad medium-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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Pregnancy, Torture, War, Child death, Death, Gun violence, Hate crime, Mass/school shootings, Miscarriage, Police brutality, Rape, Sexual assault, and Violence

mmjurema's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional informative sad 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? No

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Antisemitism, Rape, Pregnancy, War, Child death, Blood, Death, Forced institutionalization, Genocide, Infertility, Medical trauma, Murder, Torture, and Police brutality

llauterj's review against another edition

emotional inspiring tense slow-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

first few hundred pages have a different tone than the ending. the character development was strong and there’s a

reveal at the end i wasn’t expecting. the person telling the story in the modern day chapters isn’t the character i assumed it was. loved how it wrapped up

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, War, Torture, Violence, and Police brutality

elisalasater's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional inspiring sad tense slow-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Kidnapping, Miscarriage, Physical abuse, Torture, War, Blood, Hate crime, Racism, Rape, Sexual violence, Gore, Grief, Gun violence, Police brutality, Religious bigotry, Sexual assault, Antisemitism, Child death, Confinement, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, Violence, Death, Death of parent, and Genocide

Minor: Alcohol, Pregnancy, Alcoholism, Infertility, and Cancer

notionsofdragonsfire's review against another edition

dark reflective slow-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? No

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, War, Murder, Antisemitism, Death, Police brutality, Child death, Violence, Body horror, and Bullying

Moderate: Abandonment, Antisemitism, Death of parent, Child death, and Emotional abuse

mattiedancer's review against another edition

emotional hopeful sad tense 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? It's complicated

4.0

Writing: 4.75⭐️/5 

The writing is quite stunning. The prose is beautiful, weighted, and eloquent. There were some truly stunning standalone lines, but it also had a nice cohesion. Beyond that, it wasn’t a challenging writing style to read and was well-woven into the plot. 

Characters: 4.5⭐️/5

The characters were highly motivated and flawed, which meant that they felt uniquely human to me. The characterization of the Nazi soldiers was particularly detailed and complicated, leading to moments of pathos for these villains. At times, it felt like certain characters made very weird choices, but it was usually justified later. This just led to a slower understanding of characterization than I might have liked, but it wasn’t too jarring.

Plot: 4⭐️/5 

I know that this is kind of a fan-favourite book, so I’m reluctant to say this, but at times it felt like the author used trauma a bit reflexively to address human moments. Too many times did I know that a terrible scene was coming and, when it came, it was witnessed by one too many characters who we had grown to love, no matter how illogical it might be that they would have ended up witnessing it. I appreciate that this is dealing with the reality of war horrors that took place during WWII; however, at times, it just felt a bit too neat in how directly the trauma continuously happened. That being said, the overarching plot was really well done. I loved the story-within-a-story format that the grandmother at the beginning set up. Overall a solid plot with just a lot of trauma at the end. 

Post-Reading Rating:  4⭐️/5

The ending felt fine: necessary and complete. 

Who Should Read This? 

• Fans of WWII novels
• Fans of historical fiction
• Fans of Kristin Hannah
• Fans of real-life trauma books or books focusing on horrific moments

Final Rating: 4⭐️/5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Death of parent, Misogyny, Racism, Antisemitism, Death, Violence, Sexual violence, War, Blood, Child death, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Sexism, Sexual assault, Torture, Gore, Infidelity, Miscarriage, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, Racial slurs, Rape, Grief, Gun violence, and Murder

Moderate: Mass/school shootings, Sexual content, Sexual harassment, Police brutality, and Cancer

Minor: Alcohol, Homophobia, Chronic illness, Addiction, Infertility, and Abandonment

tojtwl's review against another edition

dark emotional informative inspiring sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

So beautiful, but so sad. I've read so many raving reviews about books by Kristin Hannah. I'm glad I gave it a try.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Grief, Sexual violence, War, Antisemitism, Genocide, Gore, Hate crime, Murder, Police brutality, Violence, Blood, Child death, Cursing, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, and Sexual harassment

shebke_21's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious reflective sad tense slow-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Blood, Grief, Gun violence, Torture, War, Violence, Death of parent, Alcoholism, Antisemitism, Genocide, Sexual harassment, Child death, Miscarriage, Murder, Police brutality, Rape, and Religious bigotry

Minor: Cancer

mbedrosian's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional inspiring sad tense medium-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? Yes

5.0

Whoa. This book is heavy. 
It made me cry, not necessarily due to the sad parts but due to the weight of this story. It's intense. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: War, Death, Death of parent, Child death, Antisemitism, and Blood

Moderate: Rape, Gore, Grief, Hate crime, Police brutality, Pregnancy, Genocide, Miscarriage, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, and Violence