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mamaofperfectpayton's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
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? Yes
4.25
Content Warnings
Graphic: Addiction, Cursing, Death, Death of parent, Drug use, Gun violence, Grief, Suicide, Murder, and Blood
jess_d84's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
mysterious
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? Yes
5.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Grief, Cursing, Death of parent, Murder, Alcoholism, Fire/Fire injury, Gun violence, Suicide, Addiction, and Death
Minor: Terminal illness
kelly_e's review against another edition
emotional
mysterious
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
3.25
Title: We Begin at the End
Author: Chris Whitaker
Genre: Mystery
Rating: 3.25
Pub Date: January 1 2021
T H R E E • W O R D S
Devastating • Gritty • Compulsive
📖 S Y N O P S I S
After being convicted in a fatal hit-and-run, which killed the sister of his then girlfriend Starr Radley, Vincent King has spent the past 30 years in prison. He is now being released and returning home to his small California town. Walk, now the town's sheriff, was responsible for Vincent's conviction, yet promised him he'd look out for Star while he was in prison. However, Star's life is a mess. Her two children, Duchess and Robin, are forced to grow up all too quickly. An act of revenge will change all of their lives forever. We Begin at the End explores themes of love, loss, sacrifice and of course, family.
💭 T H O U G H T S
When I saw the absolutely stunning cover of this book, I instantly added it to my TBR. It started out quite slow, and I considered DNFing around the 30% mark. However, I persisted, deciding to seek out the audio in order to tandem read, which ended up helping some. I cannot say I loved or hated this book.
Let me start out by saying the writing is absolutely beautiful! The descriptive scenery felt in line with the cover, and the author uses his way with words in a way that works. The plot didn't instantly suck me in, and I didn't feel a strong connection to the characters and their stories. Oddly enough, Duchess is such a fierce, brave, and vulnerable character I couldn't help to root for, and yet I am not sure I will remember her. Her relationship with, her love for, and her protective nature of her younger brother is my favourite thing about this book. In fact, it is what kept me reading. While Duchess and Walk are great characters, there was definitely something missing for me with the rest of the cast. The themes of family - both born and chosen family - and the resilient nature of the human spirit ended up making this book worth reading, despite it not completely working for me.
We Begin at the End is a unique and powerful story, however, taken as a whole I was left underwhelmed. It felt like a modern Western, which would be one of the reason it didn't feel like the right fit for me.
📚 R E C O M M E N D • T O
• Western fans
• lovers of small town crime fiction
🔖 F A V O U R I T E • Q U O T E S
"None of us are any one thing. We’re just a collection of the best and worst things we’ve done."
Author: Chris Whitaker
Genre: Mystery
Rating: 3.25
Pub Date: January 1 2021
T H R E E • W O R D S
Devastating • Gritty • Compulsive
📖 S Y N O P S I S
After being convicted in a fatal hit-and-run, which killed the sister of his then girlfriend Starr Radley, Vincent King has spent the past 30 years in prison. He is now being released and returning home to his small California town. Walk, now the town's sheriff, was responsible for Vincent's conviction, yet promised him he'd look out for Star while he was in prison. However, Star's life is a mess. Her two children, Duchess and Robin, are forced to grow up all too quickly. An act of revenge will change all of their lives forever. We Begin at the End explores themes of love, loss, sacrifice and of course, family.
💭 T H O U G H T S
When I saw the absolutely stunning cover of this book, I instantly added it to my TBR. It started out quite slow, and I considered DNFing around the 30% mark. However, I persisted, deciding to seek out the audio in order to tandem read, which ended up helping some. I cannot say I loved or hated this book.
Let me start out by saying the writing is absolutely beautiful! The descriptive scenery felt in line with the cover, and the author uses his way with words in a way that works. The plot didn't instantly suck me in, and I didn't feel a strong connection to the characters and their stories. Oddly enough, Duchess is such a fierce, brave, and vulnerable character I couldn't help to root for, and yet I am not sure I will remember her. Her relationship with, her love for, and her protective nature of her younger brother is my favourite thing about this book. In fact, it is what kept me reading. While Duchess and Walk are great characters, there was definitely something missing for me with the rest of the cast. The themes of family - both born and chosen family - and the resilient nature of the human spirit ended up making this book worth reading, despite it not completely working for me.
We Begin at the End is a unique and powerful story, however, taken as a whole I was left underwhelmed. It felt like a modern Western, which would be one of the reason it didn't feel like the right fit for me.
📚 R E C O M M E N D • T O
• Western fans
• lovers of small town crime fiction
🔖 F A V O U R I T E • Q U O T E S
"None of us are any one thing. We’re just a collection of the best and worst things we’ve done."
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death of parent, Death, and Child death
Moderate: Alcoholism, Cursing, and Addiction
Minor: Abortion and Car accident
nadjaschmidt's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
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
Content Warnings
Moderate: Addiction, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Bullying, Car accident, Child death, Death, Death of parent, Gun violence, Murder, Suicide, and Violence
jennifer_bush_73's review against another edition
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
2.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Addiction, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Death, Death of parent, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Grief, Murder, Physical abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Terminal illness, Toxic friendship, Violence, and Gun violence
thespinystacks's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
reflective
sad
tense
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? It's complicated
5.0
It’s hard to say you love a book that starts sad and ends sad, but I did. I wasn’t sure that I would be a fan of this book at the beginning, there seemed to be so many names to learn but it all started to fall into place.
Duchess is a wonderfully complex character. My heart was breaking for her and Robin through the story. Children shouldn’t have to endure so much heartache, yet they do.
Walk is also terribly complex. He is your challenge of doing what’s “right” or “wrong”. The story is interwoven with choices being made under impossible circumstances, showing you that life is so often not black or white, and you have to make choices with the limited information you’ve got.
You hope throughout this story, and just when you think you’re all out of hope - you find enough to hope for the best even after it is done.
Duchess is a wonderfully complex character. My heart was breaking for her and Robin through the story. Children shouldn’t have to endure so much heartache, yet they do.
Walk is also terribly complex. He is your challenge of doing what’s “right” or “wrong”. The story is interwoven with choices being made under impossible circumstances, showing you that life is so often not black or white, and you have to make choices with the limited information you’ve got.
You hope throughout this story, and just when you think you’re all out of hope - you find enough to hope for the best even after it is done.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Grief, Death, and Death of parent
Moderate: Alcoholism, Violence, Physical abuse, Gun violence, and Car accident
Minor: Addiction, Vomit, Toxic relationship, Suicide, and Emotional abuse
happiestwhenreading's review against another edition
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
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
3.5
Unpopular opinion: This book was just fine to me. It didn't blow my socks off, and while I will probably find myself reflecting back on some of the characters, it just didn't dig in and attach to my heart in any way. The best part of the story was definitely the characters, but unfortunately, I got too distracted with all the moving pieces to really care. I can't really say one of the things that made me dislike the book the most without giving some spoilers, but suffice it to say that I liked this book, I liked the writing, and I liked the potential, but it doesn't have enough "oomph" to be memorable for me.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Car accident, Child death, Chronic illness, Confinement, Death, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Blood, Forced institutionalization, Gun violence, Grief, Murder, Physical abuse, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, and Violence
Moderate: Abortion, Bullying, Cursing, Pregnancy, and Self harm
kerrygetsliterary's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
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? Yes
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Addiction, Cursing, Death, Death of parent, Gun violence, Murder, Suicide, and Violence
Moderate: Car accident
katyisreading's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
sad
slow-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
3.5
I have put off reviewing this book because I can't decide how I feel about it. We Begin at the End is part mystery part literary fiction. It follows Walk, a local policeman in a small California town and Duchess, the 13-year-old daughter of Walk's childhood friend Star. When Walk and Star's friend Vincent is released from jail after 30 years, Walk has to defend him from new accusations (that's the mystery part) while Duchess works to take care of her little brother.
We Begin at the End did not feel fleshed out enough for me, and there are a few things (listed below) that bothered me to the point that I could not enjoy it. That being said, I think if you don't sweat the small stuff and you're a lover of literary fiction, you will probably like this. Duchess's character and story arc are heartbreaking and the "mystery" aspect of the book did hold some suspense, especially at the end.
The has an interesting plot, but the majority of the book focuses on the characters. Despite the amount of time given to them, I struggled to connect to them beyond the stereotypes that I felt were playing out: small-town cop, beautiful drug addict, old-for-her-years teenager. The book touches on a variety of issues: the brutality of the American prison system, lying cops, drug addiction, gun violence, and more. But none of them were properly explored. When I found out the author was British, I questioned why he felt the need to set his book in the US. There were strange undertones of politics that felt ripped from the headlines, like a random mention of the Keystone Pipeline and how it would "bring jobs to the area" (this coming from a 13-year-old girl who doesn't seem like the type who would read the news). It all just felt a little off to me, to the point that I struggled to enjoy the book.
We Begin at the End did not feel fleshed out enough for me, and there are a few things (listed below) that bothered me to the point that I could not enjoy it. That being said, I think if you don't sweat the small stuff and you're a lover of literary fiction, you will probably like this. Duchess's character and story arc are heartbreaking and the "mystery" aspect of the book did hold some suspense, especially at the end.
The has an interesting plot, but the majority of the book focuses on the characters. Despite the amount of time given to them, I struggled to connect to them beyond the stereotypes that I felt were playing out: small-town cop, beautiful drug addict, old-for-her-years teenager. The book touches on a variety of issues: the brutality of the American prison system, lying cops, drug addiction, gun violence, and more. But none of them were properly explored. When I found out the author was British, I questioned why he felt the need to set his book in the US. There were strange undertones of politics that felt ripped from the headlines, like a random mention of the Keystone Pipeline and how it would "bring jobs to the area" (this coming from a 13-year-old girl who doesn't seem like the type who would read the news). It all just felt a little off to me, to the point that I struggled to enjoy the book.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Addiction and Death
Moderate: Child death, Child abuse, Death of parent, and Gun violence
rachelreadthese's review against another edition
dark
emotional
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? Yes
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death
Moderate: Violence, Physical abuse, Child abuse, Child death, and Car accident
Minor: Incest, Infidelity, Sexual assault, and Abortion
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