Reviews tagging 'Child death'

Briefly, A Delicious Life by Nell Stevens

23 reviews

maite_moonchild's review

dark emotional sad medium-paced

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

3.5

It was a very strange book, sometimes in the best ways. I really liked the perspective of the ghost of a bi girl, but I feel that it lacked connection between her and George Sand. We can guess why she is attracted to her, but it is never shown organically. Also, this book made me dislike George Sand, which is not that much of a problem since she was flawed, as any human, but I feel like her selfishness, ego and disregard for hee family was exaggerated. I also didn't understand why the ghost girl was so stupid and naive when she was alive. Even if women were not educated at the time, I truly couldn't understand why she wasn't more combative.
In a nutshell, it's a really desharming book, very original, but I feel like it lacked some true editorial work.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Pregnancy, Religious bigotry, Sexism, and Xenophobia

Moderate: Child death, Classism, Confinement, Adult/minor relationship, Mental illness, Body shaming, Death, Animal cruelty, Gaslighting, Misogyny, Bullying, Chronic illness, and Pedophilia

sonygaystation's review against another edition

mysterious reflective slow-paced

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

2.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Pregnancy, Chronic illness, Child death, and Sexual content

Moderate: Grief and Infidelity

Minor: Adult/minor relationship

questingnotcoasting's review against another edition

emotional reflective sad 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

4.0

In terms of its premise, this is one of the strangest books I've read this year. However I was amazed how quickly I got used to the idea of a ghost narrator watching fictionalised historical figures. It was both much funnier and much more tragic than I anticipated. The narrative was split between the events of 1838 and Blanca's backstory hundreds of years earlier and Blanca's chapters were often the more engaging parts of this for me. There were a few occasions when I found George quite irritating and I was impatient to find out what happened to Blanca while she was alive. I listened to the audiobook which was a good decision and I felt very attached to Blanca which I wasn't expecting, I think due to the narration. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Child death, Chronic illness, Death, Medical trauma, and Pregnancy

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Sexual content, Grief, Infidelity, Pedophilia, and Sexual assault

nialiversuch's review

dark emotional funny reflective sad medium-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Sexism, Sexual assault, Abandonment, Mental illness, Rape, Confinement, Suicidal thoughts, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Adult/minor relationship, Blood, Body shaming, Child death, Chronic illness, Classism, Death, Incest, Infidelity, Medical content, Misogyny, Pregnancy, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Child abuse, Vomit, and Xenophobia

hue's review against another edition

challenging

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Homophobia, Child death, Pedophilia, Sexual content, and Xenophobia

Moderate: Domestic abuse

dimmie's review against another edition

adventurous hopeful reflective fast-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

2.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Pregnancy, Xenophobia, Suicide attempt, Child death, and Infidelity

esihler's review

emotional reflective medium-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Chronic illness, and Sexual content

Moderate: Religious bigotry, Infidelity, Death, and Pedophilia

Minor: Child death and Suicidal thoughts

hollyd19's review

adventurous emotional funny hopeful reflective sad tense slow-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

4.75

 What a spectacularly creative novel. Nell Stevens’s historical fiction centers on a tumultuous year in the lives of two pretty famous people: George Sand and Frédéric Chopin. In the early 1800s, the lovers absconded to Mallorca seeking “curative sea air” for the ever-sickly composer and Sand’s son. What makes the book delightful and unique is that our narrator is the ghost of a fourteen-year-old girl who died four hundred years prior to the ragtag crew taking up temporary residence in the monastery where she died.

I am not well-versed in the history of Romantic era writers or classical composers, but you needn’t be to enjoy this read. George Sand is such a distinctive person — a feminist and rebel and dotting mother — which gave Stevens much to work with. The book’s narrator, Blanca, is an exceptionally shrewd device for providing commentary and insight throughout. She can “inhabit” the bodies of living people and share their sensory experiences while also mining their memories. The novel darts between the various characters giving the story a real emotional depth even as the plot is fairly simple.

Beyond being an inventive work, Stevens has a real deftness with words. I wrote down several excerpts, floored by the poetic, playful perceptiveness. The book is rich with descriptive language of both the setting and the characters’ inner lives. Consider this early passage from Blanca:

“Imagine you are about to bite into an apple. Imagine never having bitten an apple before. The fruit at your lips is an unknown thing. It might burst like a tomato! Yield like a peach! Snap like a carrot! You have no idea about its insides: what color or texture. You have no reason to suspect it will be cloud-white, bloodless, foamy, crisp. An apple could be like an orange: segmented, oozy. An apple could be salty and jaw-breaking like a rock.

This is what it was like for me, the first time I heard Chopin play the piano.”

If I were a historical fiction writer, this book would be the sort I’d strive to emulate. Reading it was such an unexpected pleasure. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Suicidal thoughts, Chronic illness, Sexual content, Death, Vomit, and Medical content

Moderate: Pregnancy, Gaslighting, and Blood

Minor: Sexual assault and Child death

linguaphile412's review against another edition

emotional reflective sad slow-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Blood, Sexual content, Chronic illness, and Pregnancy

Moderate: Lesbophobia, Incest, and Sexism

Minor: Child death, Eating disorder, and Pedophilia

piglets1995's review

adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad medium-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death

Moderate: Mental illness

Minor: Suicidal thoughts and Pedophilia