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jodar's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.75
The setting is the 19th century, post-Darwin’s publications. The local pub fulfils today’s role of social media – spreading information and rumour, eliciting speculation and stories that attempt to understand and entertain. There are ordinary people who focus on folk-story, but there are the more educated as well, who grapple with social and natural/medical challenges from the point of view of newer knowledge and concepts. Sometimes the latter, though, seem to me to edge into 21st-century sensibilities, bordering anachronism. All the same, characters are portrayed in an engaging way, and their various conflicted emotions develop realistically.
Least successful to me was the nebulous, mystical, Charon-like character of Quietly, saving or taking those imperilled by the river. A metaphor I think for humans’ lack of complete control over nature and its powers, but a metaphor that sits uneasily with the tenor of the novel as a whole.
The resolutions at the end of the novel are a bit clichéd, though I feel that that is probably fine for a novel set in Victorian England!
Moderate: Death, Toxic relationship, and Violence
emmagreenwood's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
Graphic: Ableism, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Racism, Kidnapping, Grief, Alcohol, and Classism
Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Bullying, Suicide, Toxic relationship, and Gaslighting
cookiecat73's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.0
Graphic: Ableism, Animal death, Body horror, Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racism, Sexism, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Stalking, Suicide attempt, Murder, Pregnancy, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Chronic illness, Domestic abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Death of parent, Gaslighting, and Sexual harassment
cutepatzie's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.5
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child abuse, Child death, Cursing, Deadnaming, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Infidelity, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Grief, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Gaslighting, Abandonment, and Classism
yaizacanopoli'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? It's complicated
5.0
Graphic: Ableism, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Kidnapping, Grief, Stalking, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Gaslighting, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Animal death, Misogyny, Sexism, Blood, Medical content, Fire/Fire injury, Alcohol, and Classism
Minor: Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Slavery, and Sexual harassment
peytonktracy'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? It's complicated
5.0
Graphic: Child death, Death, and Grief
Moderate: Bullying, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Pregnancy, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail
This book centers around multiple parents and their relationships to children and the losses or changes in those relationships - it is truly what this hinged upon. Several sets of parents lose a children in several of the narratives, so that’s my big warning. Everything else is in passing in the narratives and not at the focus and very rarely described in great detail.izzybell'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? It's complicated
5.0
Graphic: Child death
Moderate: Child abuse, Chronic illness, Death, Suicide, Terminal illness, Kidnapping, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Rape and Sexual assault
shannonsnell's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
3.5
Graphic: Child death
Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Death, and Sexual assault
booksandmo's review against another edition
- 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
3.0
Moderate: Child death, Death, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Medical content, Kidnapping, Stalking, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, and Gaslighting
jenn_bookstitcher'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? Yes
4.75
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Rape and Sexual assault