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thealienamongus's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
Graphic: Blood, Child death, Miscarriage, Slavery, Death, Pregnancy, Medical content, and Terminal illness
Moderate: Child abuse, Physical abuse, Slavery, War, Classism, and Forced institutionalization
Minor: Alcohol
phoebeeandjam's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Loveable characters? Yes
5.0
Though it isn’t the central focus, it is queer! I felt like the characters were written beautifully.
It took me a minute to get used to the writing style, and there were a lot of nouns I hadn’t heard before because I was not alive in 1918 and I am not Irish lol but I was able to use context clues to get the idea. Despite this, I loved every second of The Pull of the Stars, and I read it every chance I got. I was sad when it ended, and I will likely reread it in the near future.
Graphic: Pregnancy, Medical content, Miscarriage, and Child death
Minor: War and Forced institutionalization
wreathedinviolets's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.5
Graphic: Medical content, Pregnancy, Child death, Blood, and Death
Moderate: Child abuse and Forced institutionalization
ladysanctuary's review against another edition
- 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
5.0
Graphic: Child death, Blood, Death, Pregnancy, and Medical content
Moderate: Abandonment, Sexism, Classism, Death of parent, Forced institutionalization, and Medical trauma
Minor: War
atrkula's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? N/A
- Loveable characters? Yes
4.0
Graphic: Blood, Death, Forced institutionalization, Grief, Medical content, Miscarriage, Sexism, and Terminal illness
kathleencoughlin's review against another edition
- 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? No
3.5
Graphic: Blood, Chronic illness, Death, Medical content, and Medical trauma
Moderate: Body horror, Domestic abuse, Forced institutionalization, Grief, Misogyny, and Child abuse
Minor: War, Suicide, Pedophilia, and Excrement
katie_biggs7's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Death, Child abuse, and Blood
Minor: Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Forced institutionalization, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, and Suicide
carlybellesbooks's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
Graphic: Blood, Medical content, and Medical trauma
Moderate: Religious bigotry
Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Child death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Forced institutionalization, Homophobia, Incest, Miscarriage, Physical abuse, Rape, Religious bigotry, and Vomit
eniatea's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
Graphic: Blood, Body horror, Child abuse, Death, Death of parent, Excrement, Forced institutionalization, Gore, Medical content, Medical trauma, Miscarriage, Pedophilia, and Physical abuse
linesiunderline's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
It’s about the strength and suffering of women, the resilience of humanity, the politics of illness and poverty, and ordinary heroism.
I might have thought that reading a book about a pandemic during a pandemic would be too much, but I was surprised to find a strange sort of comfort in this story. Imagining the many lives before ours, the struggles and loss and the will to continue - it gave me hope. It’s a grim tale, but there is a lot of tenderness to be found in it as well.
There’s a love story that took me by surprise, and I’m not entirely sold on whether or not it was necessary to the narrative or consistent with the characters. This isn’t to say that it wasn’t well portrayed and that I didn’t accept it fairly quickly, but I didn’t see it coming at all.
Donoghue’s writing has a directness and immediacy about it, perfect for the intensity of this story, and then every so often a more lyrical passage shines out and is all the more memorable in the contrast.
Don’t be put off by the apparent darkness of this story. It’s full of hope and humanity.
Graphic: Medical content
Moderate: Child death, Grief, and Blood
Minor: Domestic abuse and Forced institutionalization