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proudtobeabookaholic's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
4.0
För 30 år sedan sattes den då 15-årige Vincent King i fängelse för att ha kört ihjäl en flicka. Nu är han frisläppt och återvänder till sin hemstad Cape Haven i Kalifornien. Hur kommer han att tas emot av Star Radley, sin ex-flickvän, vars lillasyster han dödade? Och av Walk, hans bästa vän och numera polischef, men även den som satte dit honom för 30 år sen? Duchess Day Radley, Stars 13-åriga dotter, försöker skydda både sin mamma och sin 5-årige lillebror Robin, men i och med det drar hon igång en kedja av händelser som får ödesdigra konsekvenser.
Den här boken har jag velat läsa sedan den gavs ut och jag såg författaren på Babel. Nu blev det äntligen av då vi ska diskutera den i min ena bokcirkel. Jag får erkänna att det tog ett tag innan jag fastnade och jag hade även problem med att skilja på vissa karaktärer, men det brukar vara ganska vanligt för mig när jag lyssnar och inte ser namnen i text. Man kan väl säga att det är mer än ett par tragiska liv vi får ta del av i "Slutet blir vår början". Det är lätt att känna med karaktärerna och särskilt Duchess och Vincent hittade en väg till mitt hjärta.
Vi har inte träffats i bokcirkeln än, men jag tycker nog att den här boken har en bra grund för diskussioner. Till exempel föräldraskap, förlåtelse, fosterhem och hur långt man är beredd att gå för att skydda sin familj. Om man, som jag, gillade "Där kräftorna sjunger" och "Under magnoliaträden" så tror jag att man även kommer att uppskatta "Slutet blir vår början".
Content Warnings
Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Chronic illness, Drug abuse, Abandonment, Violence, Fire/Fire injury, Gun violence, Murder, Death, Death of parent, and Grief
Minor: Stalking, Suicide, Child death, and Car accident
michelles_book_nook's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-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
5.0
⚠️ CW: murder, alcoholism, drug abuse, suicidal ideations, violence, child abuse, brief mentions of self harm, ableism and racism ⚠️ Wow sometimes you just know when a book is going to stay with you long after you close it, and this is definitely one of them. This book follows the complicated and heartbreaking lives of Duchess and Robin Radley, two young siblings who have had to do a lot of growing up way too soon. Duchess is a 13 year old self-proclaimed outlaw, and at school her and her brother are constantly picked on or avoided for their torn clothes and messy hair. But while the other kids throw sticks, Duchess will counter with stones. On the outside she is seen as troubled and broken but really she is just trying her best to survive and be the best sister-parent to her 5 year old brother as well as take care of her mother, Star. On the other side of their story is the dependable childhood friend of their mother, Chief Walker. He's healing from the deep wounds of the past and despite never moving on from their small town roots he has continuously fought to protect Duchess and Robin while Star slid ever further into self-destruction. But as the past comes back to greet them all things become even more complicated but they know they have no other choice but to deal with it somehow. This book has my whole heart and had me up until 5am binge reading it through tears! It is the most beautiful but messy representation of found family all wrapped up in a page turning crime mystery and I loved it so much! It is so hard to review without giving spoilers but it so powerful and hard hitting that I wish I'd read it sooner and as soon as I closed the book I wanted to read it all over again just so I didn't have to part with the characters. Overall, I highly recommend this book but be warned it may leave you in a book hangover with how amazing it is!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Death of parent, Gun violence, Drug abuse, Child abuse, Alcoholism, and Murder
Minor: Self harm, Racism, and Ableism
malbenigno's review against another edition
dark
emotional
sad
slow-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? Yes
2.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Murder, Physical abuse, Alcoholism, and Drug abuse
sfbookgirl's review against another edition
challenging
dark
sad
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
2.5
I went into this one with really high expectations after bookstgram raved about it last year. Unfortunately, I didn’t enjoy it, but I can see how other readers found it memorable. The novel revolves around three central characters: Duchess Day Radley - a 13-year-old self-proclaimed outlaw, Walk - a police chief in a small California coastal town, and Vincent King - a friend of Walk’s who was recently released from prison. These three characters are intertwined in a complicated web of events that lead them to make difficult decisions. Please note that this novel includes some dark themes that may not work for all readers.
It’s been a while since I’ve read this one and I think I avoided writing a review for it just because I didn’t especially enjoy the novel. I didn’t love the characters and I felt like the plot went in circles. I felt pretty meh about the whole thing, but I would be interested in seeing the plot in television form as Disney snagged the rights to it last year.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death of parent, Violence, Death, and Gun violence
Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, and Abortion
Minor: Emotional abuse and Child abuse
shanekate's review against another edition
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
fast-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
4.0
This book redeems the murder mystery genre for me. It was heart wrenching, beautiful, and utterly engrossing.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Bullying, Child death, Child abuse, Suicide, Gun violence, Murder, Death, Death of parent, Grief, Self harm, and Stalking
Moderate: Sexual violence, Blood, Trafficking, Addiction, Alcoholism, Chronic illness, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, and Mental illness
Minor: Abortion, Adult/minor relationship, Car accident, Racism, Sexual assault, and Vomit
Not recommended to people who went through trauma related to foster care. Sexual violence is referenced several times but does not occur.seejanereadbooks's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
mysterious
sad
medium-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
4.75
Content Warnings
Moderate: Gun violence, Violence, Suicide, Sexual assault, Physical abuse, Alcoholism, and Bullying
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
quirkygirlreads's review against another edition
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.0
Do you ever get the sense that an author is trying to write this hard-hitting contemporary novel - but they don't seem to have experienced any of the things they are writing about?
Like the story is beautiful and the type of story you want to read, but yet there is something missing?
The Good: The plot of We Begin at the End, was interesting, the mystery was engaging. It was like a deviation from the normal tropes you see in mystery/thrillers, but it wasn't so different that you felt lost.
Someone mentioned a comparison between this novel and Where The Crawdads Sing - I think that is a perfect comparison. Sure, this is a mystery... but there is also a huge emphasis on coming of age and heartbreak and friendship. At times I forgot I was even reading a mystery story, and felt more like I was reading a historical fiction.
The Bad: oh boy... please don't hate me. The characters ages were SO UNBELIEVABLE! Not only did Duchess seem FAR too young for the deep philosophical quotes she was speaking, but you're telling me that Vincent, Walk and Star are in their FORTIES! No way. Also, the names in this book were strange, that is all.
I found Duchess rather annoying, to be perfectly honest. Frankly, her repeating "I'm an outlaw" constantly was the only part of her story that felt like it was told from a 13 year old perspective.
Lastly, normally I love when the title of a book is hidden within its text. Almost like the author is leaving a breadcrumb that pulls it all together. But not only did this novel never really explain what "we begin at the end" meant, it was repeated over and over as an attempt to sound.... deep?
The Consensis: We Begin at the End feels like the last draft of a novel before it gets sent to print. There were just a few tweaks that could have been made to round this read up to 5 stars, but instead it just fell short...
Like the story is beautiful and the type of story you want to read, but yet there is something missing?
The Good: The plot of We Begin at the End, was interesting, the mystery was engaging. It was like a deviation from the normal tropes you see in mystery/thrillers, but it wasn't so different that you felt lost.
Someone mentioned a comparison between this novel and Where The Crawdads Sing - I think that is a perfect comparison. Sure, this is a mystery... but there is also a huge emphasis on coming of age and heartbreak and friendship. At times I forgot I was even reading a mystery story, and felt more like I was reading a historical fiction.
The Bad: oh boy... please don't hate me. The characters ages were SO UNBELIEVABLE! Not only did Duchess seem FAR too young for the deep philosophical quotes she was speaking, but you're telling me that Vincent, Walk and Star are in their FORTIES! No way. Also, the names in this book were strange, that is all.
I found Duchess rather annoying, to be perfectly honest. Frankly, her repeating "I'm an outlaw" constantly was the only part of her story that felt like it was told from a 13 year old perspective.
Lastly, normally I love when the title of a book is hidden within its text. Almost like the author is leaving a breadcrumb that pulls it all together. But not only did this novel never really explain what "we begin at the end" meant, it was repeated over and over as an attempt to sound.... deep?
The Consensis: We Begin at the End feels like the last draft of a novel before it gets sent to print. There were just a few tweaks that could have been made to round this read up to 5 stars, but instead it just fell short...
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death of parent
Moderate: Abandonment, Addiction, Rape, Alcoholism, Chronic illness, and Sexual harassment
danidamico's review against another edition
dark
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
3.0
Me resulta difícil puntuar esta novela. En primer lugar, no soy una lectora asidua de policiales o thrillers, suelo leer uno o dos por año. Los libros de suspenso que leo en general se inclinan más hacia el terror. Seguramente si me gustaran más los policiales, sería fácil ponerle 4 estrellas o más a We Begin at the End, pero la realidad es que, si bien reconozco su valor objetivo, personalmente no conecté tanto con la historia como otros lectores.
El relato está bien construido, el misterio bien desarrollado, la prosa me pareció buena, aunque un poco melodramática (algo normal en este género). No tengo nada negativo para decir sobre este libro en cuanto a los aspectos técnicos, a veces simplemente sucede que una obra nos conmueve más o nos conmueve menos, te impacta o no te impacta. A la hora de leer textos para la facultad intento ser racional, analizar los detalles, pero como lectora en mi tiempo libre me dejo llevar muchísimo por lo emocional y lo instintivo. Me gustó esta novela. Listo. Eso es todo lo que puedo decir. Está bien hecha y es recomendable para gente que disfrute del género.
A medida que iba leyendo, me imaginaba una adaptación cinematográfica dirigida por Sean Penn o Clint Eastwood porque la novela me dio muchas vibes de historia clásica norteamericana de drama Hollywoodense. De hecho, me sorprendió mucho descubrir que el autor es británico.
El relato está bien construido, el misterio bien desarrollado, la prosa me pareció buena, aunque un poco melodramática (algo normal en este género). No tengo nada negativo para decir sobre este libro en cuanto a los aspectos técnicos, a veces simplemente sucede que una obra nos conmueve más o nos conmueve menos, te impacta o no te impacta. A la hora de leer textos para la facultad intento ser racional, analizar los detalles, pero como lectora en mi tiempo libre me dejo llevar muchísimo por lo emocional y lo instintivo. Me gustó esta novela. Listo. Eso es todo lo que puedo decir. Está bien hecha y es recomendable para gente que disfrute del género.
A medida que iba leyendo, me imaginaba una adaptación cinematográfica dirigida por Sean Penn o Clint Eastwood porque la novela me dio muchas vibes de historia clásica norteamericana de drama Hollywoodense. De hecho, me sorprendió mucho descubrir que el autor es británico.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Child death, Death of parent, Grief, Gun violence, Murder, and Suicide