Reviews tagging 'Child death'

Briefly, A Delicious Life by Nell Stevens

23 reviews

elliv's review

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adventurous emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5


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whoisrois's review against another edition

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dark mysterious reflective tense slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.5

Technically well written but no spark ⚡️😬

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illtakethenightshiftx's review

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emotional reflective medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Looking for a Portrait of a Lady on Fire read-alike? Then look no further! I really loved this novel, the prose, the characters, and the storytelling structure. I loved seeing the world through Blanca’s eyes and learning about her life and the lives of George, Chopin, and the children. It’s definitely a minimal plot kind of story 
Also the YEARNING and how imperfect/human the characters are?! *chef’s kiss*

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vael's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional hopeful reflective tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.25


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natalie027's review

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emotional 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

4.0


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silver_lining_in_a_book's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional reflective 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

3.5

 
The women that survived me! They stepped out of their houses into the daylight and if I'd had any breath I would have been breathless at the sight of them. The hands of women. The ankles of women. The voices of women as they called to each other across the square.

This is a very interesting and original take on historical fiction. The perspective of a bisexual young ghost who has been wronged by the boy that she loved and now finds comfort in the presence of strong independent women is not one that I have seen before. All in all, I enjoyed the reading experience and found that I learned a lot about Chopin and George Sand as people, which I did not expect to find.

The writing was gorgeous: sensual, intimate and disturbingly explicit. The audiobook was also very well produced and added to the telling of this tale. I enjoyed the fragmented timeline structure - it is something that almost always works for me in books - I was equally interested in both the past and present timelines. Importantly, this book made me interested in checking out more books about Chopin and/or Sand (maybe even her novels)!

Unfortunately, I did have some problems with certain scenes. It is not surprising that Blanca feels used and betrayed by the men around her and she despises the way powerful men abuse that power, and yet, her fascination and objectification of women when she is a ghost troubled me. It is difficult to assign our morality to supernatural situations, but I think that the more intimate of these scenes could have been omitted without negatively impacting the story. I wish that had been done to avoid the problematic area of consent in those cases. 

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lollythegiant's review against another edition

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

5.0


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sheriffrockyraccoon's review

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emotional mysterious tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

I really enjoyed this book for the supernatural elements it used to portray ordinary life.
My one disappointment was that Blanca did not ever get a real “response” from the other characters, but I understand why that is not the case!

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blackthornfaery's review

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DNF halfway through. it wasn't the worst book i've ever read but i was having issues with the pacing and the way the author described things made me feel ill (which i think may have been the point but i couldn't continue)

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veliana's review

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dark emotional funny hopeful reflective sad medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.25


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