Reviews tagging 'Domestic abuse'

Notes on an Execution by Danya Kukafka

260 reviews

billcbentley's review against another edition

dark emotional sad tense fast-paced

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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Death, Child abuse, Abandonment, and Murder

kaitlouise94's review against another edition

dark reflective sad tense medium-paced

• 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Death, Toxic relationship, Domestic abuse, and Violence

Moderate: Racism, Child abuse, Abandonment, and Misogyny

bluedesi's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

A great book from different perspectives from women and how they each contributed/played a role in Ansel’s life.

Wasn’t expecting this book to be a look into prisons and the death penalty but it was a good exploration on how it feels to have the death penalty assigned to you and how demeaning it can be.

Also digging into how the death penalty always platforms the killer but never the victims, how their life becomes tainted because of spectacle.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Animal death, Confinement, Abandonment, Animal cruelty, Death, and Domestic abuse

jennykre's review against another edition

dark emotional tense medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Animal cruelty, and Animal death

Moderate: Violence and Abandonment

maikepdf's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Emotional abuse, Death, Misogyny, Animal death, Alcoholism, Addiction, Animal cruelty, and Murder

Moderate: Abandonment, Addiction, Child abuse, Death of parent, Drug use, Sexual violence, Murder, Physical abuse, Sexism, Death, Mental illness, Misogyny, Terminal illness, Confinement, Domestic abuse, Sexual assault, Drug abuse, Grief, Rape, Violence, Stalking, Alcoholism, and Emotional abuse

hbic's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad medium-paced

• 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? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Child abuse, Child death, and Murder

Moderate: Sexism

maello's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad tense 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

5.0

Notes on an Execution is an excellently written book that travels through multiple POVs. It uses 2nd person 'you' pronouns for the killer which kind of draws you into his mind. It is uncomfortable, and you do not want to be there. You may find yourself trying to make sense of it, to ask why, to indulge in this attempt to humanize him. You may find yourself repulsed by it when you realize it. Along with his POV, there's also the POVs of the women related to him, or the ones he's killed. The emotions in this book are brilliantly written, some of my favorite quotes are listed in the spoiler below.

The book lets you come to your own conclusion about what makes a person good or bad, about whether people who do bad things can be saved. It looks our criminal justice system and the weird cultural obsession with serial killers right in the face, and it makes you really think if it's really worth trying to look into these people. You are constantly reminded that these people he killed were not just names. They were people, with memories, families, things that they loved, things they would be doing if they were alive. Their impact, the lives they may save, the children they could've had. These things that made them human are taken away, their prospects removed. They become names in a paper, etchings engraved in stone. And the serial killer becomes a renowned name. He gets to be remembered, for all the cruel things that he has done. He gets to feel important.


This is a beautiful book, and combines wonderful prose, interesting and suspenseful plot, as well as a stance on society. Everyone is human, everyone has these ugly emotions, and this book delves deep into examining people, and this definitely is a book that will stay with me for a while. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Domestic abuse, Murder, and Child death

Moderate: Animal cruelty and Child abuse

Some of my favorite quotes:

- "His smile melted instantaneously off his face the second he did not need it--he held Jenny with a rigid back and a shallow happiness, impermanent as wet paint." - “…and she thought how sad it was that a single bad thing could turn you into a story, a matter to be whispered about. Tragedy was undiscerning and totally unfair.” - "She knew violence, from the lifetime she had spent chasing it—she knew how it lingered, how it stained. Violence always left a fingerprint."

tayterchip's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

This book was tense, but beautifully written and kept me wanting to come back and keep reading. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse and Child abuse

Moderate: Murder

kenziemick's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Domestic abuse, Sexism, Grief, Murder, Pregnancy, Mental illness, and Child abuse

agnela's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious reflective sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• 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: Domestic abuse

Moderate: Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Stalking, Medical content, Violence, Death, Toxic relationship, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Murder, Sexual content, Alcohol, Addiction, Alcoholism, Death of parent, Abandonment, Blood, and Grief