Reviews tagging 'Animal cruelty'

The Strange and Beautiful Sorrows of Ava Lavender by Leslye Walton

11 reviews

queen_persephone's review against another edition

dark sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Death, Rape, and Stalking

mcft37's review

dark emotional inspiring reflective sad medium-paced

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

5.0

Really. Wow.

This book was simply stunning.  I adored the fantastical elements of magical realism woven throughout the story. Each character was richly developed. A beautifully written ode to love. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Animal cruelty, Death of parent, Blood, Injury/Injury detail, Suicidal thoughts, Sexual assault, Death, and Sexual violence

starryeyedlover's review

dark emotional hopeful reflective sad tense medium-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? It's complicated

3.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Pedophilia, Sexual assault, Violence, Rape, Animal death, Xenophobia, Grief, Sexual violence, and Suicidal thoughts

Moderate: Infidelity, Injury/Injury detail, Animal cruelty, Body shaming, Fatphobia, Blood, Fire/Fire injury, Kidnapping, Death of parent, and Eating disorder

erinfitzharris's review

emotional hopeful mysterious medium-paced

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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Violence, Animal cruelty, Death, and Injury/Injury detail

bloo_0's review against another edition

emotional hopeful mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Animal death, Rape, Stalking, Suicidal thoughts, and Adult/minor relationship

Moderate: Blood and Death of parent

elleisntabell's review

3.75

Weird. Really weird. Well written. Not really what I was expecting. Truly just exceptionally strange, which I guess can be assumed from the title.

The synopsis does not do this book justice. A good chunk of the book, between a third of it and half of it, takes place before Ava is even born. It's not really a book about HER. It's more a book about love and intergenerational trauma but told very strangely. Also, it's quite mature in terms of topics, so definitely check out content warnings before reading if that's something you might need. It can be very creepy and unsettling.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Pregnancy, Suicidal thoughts, Animal death, Animal cruelty, Injury/Injury detail, Rape, and Suicide

debz57a52's review against another edition

4.5

This book fell on my radar almost a decade ago because of the Goodreads nomination, so I'm glad I finally got around to it.  The story of Ava Lavender is quite a tale, mesmerizing and sad but joyful and lovely too.  What really makes this book, though, is the story of the women (and some men) who came before her; knowing their stories and how they feed into Ava's experiences is what gives this story the depth that enchants readers like me.  The magical realism is pretty special, too, though.  There were a few slow-ish parts, which I mostly skimmed through, but this is such an enjoyable book that I never once thought the skimming was good.  I was just an impatient reader.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Torture, Animal death, Sexual violence, Gun violence, and Animal cruelty

Moderate: Mental illness, Homophobia, Death of parent, Violence, Confinement, Infidelity, and Stalking

lilifane's review against another edition

emotional hopeful mysterious reflective sad 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? Yes

5.0

Please check trigger warnings before reading this book. 

No coherent thoughts, just tears.

I loved it so much. The beautiful writing, the magical realism, the quirky and strange characters, the small-town vibes, the multi-generation family dynamics, the heartbreak, the love, the foreboding, the perseverance, the hope. 

But it was hard to read sometimes because of all the... sorrow and trauma and heartbreak, especially towards the end. I basically cried for the last 20% of it. But I still love this book with all my heart. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Death of parent, Eating disorder, Infidelity, Pregnancy, Stalking, Animal cruelty, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Sexual violence, Death, Animal death, Child abuse, Child death, Grief, Rape, Violence, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, and Sexual assault

emmareadseverything's review against another edition

emotional reflective slow-paced

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

3.0

I really didn’t like this book. I don’t think it’s bad, per se, but I think it’s boring and a bit pretentious. 

Why did I give it a 3? I think it’s well written and sometimes has beautiful one liners, I just really don’t like magical realism and this is the paradigm of the genre. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Rape, Animal cruelty, and Violence

kestrel's review against another edition

dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

Oof I have so many conflicted thoughts and emotions about this book.
For like 80-85% of the story I was really into it. The writing was right up my alley and the "casual insanity" (when wild things happen, but the author writes them like she speaks about the weather. I used this phrase to describe the book and never looked back) of the plot was very engaging to me.
The book is about Ava Lavender, a girl who was born with wings, but we at first go through the stories of her grandmother and mother before we reach Ava herself. So it's something like a family portrait with elements of fabulism.
Then something happened and it disturbed me a lot. 
The rest of the story, after that event, is actually fine, and it has a conclusion vague enough for readers to have different interpretations (I looked it up and I agree with the more positive and hopeful ones).

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Pregnancy, Violence, Suicidal thoughts, Sexual violence, Sexual assault, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Death, and Eating disorder

Moderate: Forced institutionalization

Minor: Infertility