Reviews tagging 'Bullying'

A Fatal Grace by Louise Penny

4 reviews

jhbandcats's review

adventurous dark sad 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? Yes

4.5

I recall that when I read Still Life, the first in Louise Penny’s Chief Inspector Gamache series, I didn’t get why everyone loved her books. Since then I’ve watched the Three Pines series on TV - the first two episodes are based on A Fatal Grace - and Alfred Molina makes Gamache such a warm, sad, and sympathetic character that it has changed my perception. 

Gamache and most of his team work well together and have a long history that the reader hasn’t (yet) seen. An inexperienced and, frankly, destructive member is foisted onto them, and this is part of a mysterious backstory that’s repeatedly referenced but not spelled out. I kept reading hoping to find out more, but was instead entertained by the mystery in the foreground, the murder of a villager whom everyone hated. 

Against this backdrop of tension and distrust, Gamache and his team must solve more than one murder to understand the misery in a family that’s been in Three Pines only a year or so. Seeing the interactions of the quirky villagers is the real delight here - Penny creates a whole system of friends and friendly rivals that expands with each book. We learn more and more about these characters, and about Gamache, and that’s the pleasure of these books. 

I really enjoyed this and I hope to read the first one again to see if I like it any better now than I did five years ago. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness, Alcoholism, Death, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Fatphobia, Infidelity, Murder, Body shaming, and Bullying

saricostanzo's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious reflective sad medium-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Death of parent, Murder, Suicide attempt, Fatphobia, Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Self harm, and Suicide

emably's review against another edition

hopeful mysterious 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? It's complicated

1.0

I tried to give this series a second shot, but I was supremely disappointed. I guessed the “twist” ending within the first couple chapters. I understand it’s a cozy mystery, but that doesn’t mean it needs to be so predictable. This was minor, though, in comparison to the horrific fatphobia rampant throughout. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Fatphobia, Vomit, Murder, Mental illness, Excrement, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Death, Death of parent, Colonisation, Child abuse, Bullying, Body shaming, Alcohol, and Fire/Fire injury

katymaryreads's review against another edition

emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

• 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

4.5

I think Chief Inspector Gamache is going to rival Josephine Tey's Alan Grant as my favourite fictional detective. I love how human he is.

Wheels within wheels as Gamache's own problems run alongside the murder mystery, with a bit of a cliffie on that at the end.

The mystery itself kept me guessing, and the descriptions of Three Pines, its' inhabitants, the weather - and the food - were a treat.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Body shaming, and Emotional abuse

Moderate: Murder, Child abuse, Suicide attempt, Death, and Death of parent

Minor: Excrement, Vomit, and Police brutality