Reviews tagging 'Child death'

We Need to Talk about Kevin by Lionel Shriver

54 reviews

annie_brewer's review against another edition

challenging dark tense fast-paced

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

5.0

Read via audiobook (Orion Publishing Group Limited)

. Delivered through letters, Eva's tone alludes to indifference and 

The nuances within Kevin and Eva's relationship are expertly crafted, rendering the relationship constantly at risk of obliteration. Teetering between obliteration and mutual respect

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child death, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Gaslighting, Mass/school shootings, and Murder

Fetal Alcohol Syndrome - Unspecified but implied.

tiffany_stevenson's review against another edition

dark tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

Bit of a hard read - took me a long time to get into it but made me extremely reflective on my own desire to have children. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, and Mass/school shootings

fernash's review against another edition

dark tense slow-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Adult/minor relationship, Death of parent, Violence, Child death, Gun violence, Toxic relationship, Body shaming, Gaslighting, Mass/school shootings, Body horror, and Cursing

Moderate: Alcohol, Eating disorder, Sexual harassment, Rape, Fatphobia, Pedophilia, and Sexual content

Minor: Antisemitism, Medical trauma, Drug use, Bullying, Incest, Racial slurs, Sexism, Xenophobia, and Homophobia

aliengirlreads's review against another edition

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual harassment, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Mass/school shootings, Physical abuse, Grief, Child abuse, Child death, Murder, and Hate crime

Moderate: Pregnancy, Racial slurs, and Racism

kira_sha2024's review against another edition

dark medium-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Mass/school shootings, and Child abuse

phoenix13's review against another edition

challenging dark sad 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? Yes

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Fatphobia, Mass/school shootings, Violence, and Death of parent

lucykae's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad tense slow-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Child death, Violence, Blood, Death, Mass/school shootings, and Murder

parboiledlentils's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious tense slow-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Mass/school shootings, Death, Injury/Injury detail, and Violence

megelizabeth's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character

3.5

I'm glad I finally got around to reading this, having had it sitting on my shelves for ages and having heard so much about it over the years. It's a slow, dense read, and not at all an enjoyable one, but definitely a fascinating one overall. The ending also really surprised me, and it's definitely well-written and cleverly thought-out as a whole. The main thing that stopped me giving this a higher rating is that, while the protagonist is clearly deliberately unlikeable, there were times where it wasn't clear whether particular awful things were purely Eva or instead were reflective of the author's views. I also really struggled to see any real love or connection between Eva and her husband, which made that element of the story (and it's quite a big one) super hard to care about or link with everything else.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Ableism, Child abuse, Blood, Death, Child death, and Racism

Moderate: Animal cruelty

Minor: Genocide

pierreadsbooks's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional tense slow-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Grief, Death, Violence, Toxic relationship, Pregnancy, Adult/minor relationship, Murder, Mass/school shootings, and Child death

Moderate: Bullying and Medical content

Minor: Sexual content and Animal death