Reviews tagging 'Dementia'

Once There Were Wolves by Charlotte McConaghy

41 reviews

sharanle0808's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious 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

3.5

At the beginning of the book, I was immediately hooked. I expected that this would be a favorite read of mine. The first few pages started off strong, and I highlighted so many lines. Nonetheless, upon finishing it, I have a few points to critique.

I consider myself to be a fanatic of carefully curated prose. I know it's not everyone's cup of tea, but I cannot help myself. At first, the writing was captivating and I expected myself to be impressed even further. However, towards the end, the quality of the prose declined, and I couldn't fail to notice, at which point, I became rather annoyed. Again, I'm well aware that prose is not the sole criterion to evaluate the value of a book, but this is entirely down to my personal taste.

Plot-wise, I think it's okay. The first half stood out to me more, and it was a harmonizing blend between mystery/thriller and litfic, which is usually up to my alley. But as the story proceeded, it shifted into being slightly unbelievable. I don't mind the violence mentioned, but I also struggle to feel that they're necessary. Some of the plotlines or details could have been omitted. I wasn't really intrigued by the backstory of Aggie's trauma, despite how relevant I recognized it was to the primary plotline. I have a feeling that had McConaghy decided to diminish that aspect of the book, I would have been more engrossed. In short, I could have done without it. On top of that, I'm quite nitpicky when it comes to a rushed ending. The ending just flashed by, or it seemed, and I was totally underwhelmed. Some conflicts were solved very easily within a few lines. 

It's such a shame because, at the start, I had so much connection with the main character, but due to the rushed ending combined with the increasingly plain prose, Inti was turned from a complex female character with profound thoughts into a violent caricature (I do not deny her traumatic experiences, but the author failed to inflict a strong emotion on me with the character).

However, I'm still glad that I read this book. I don't think it's a bad book at all. In fact, I think it's pretty impressive. It was a nice palette cleanser to my reading slump, and it was the first book I've ever read on Kindle so I do hold a sentimental attachment to it. Moreover, the book conveys a vital message about wildlife conservation. I would definitely recommend it to someone who opts for mystery/thriller novels and is interested in diving into an atmospheric setting of the wild forests.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Medical trauma, Mental illness, Torture, Terminal illness, Animal death, Death, Pregnancy, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Emotional abuse, Murder, Sexual content, Sexual harassment, Violence, and Domestic abuse

Moderate: Vomit

Minor: Dementia

neni's review

dark emotional mysterious reflective 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? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Domestic abuse, Gore, Death, Emotional abuse, Pregnancy, Cursing, Animal death, Blood, Dementia, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Rape and Sexual assault

vanesst's review against another edition

challenging inspiring mysterious medium-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Death, Animal death, Blood, Injury/Injury detail, Pregnancy, Domestic abuse, and Grief

Moderate: Death of parent, Alcohol, Animal cruelty, and Dementia

Minor: Infidelity, Stalking, and Suicide

oceanxbluess's review

challenging emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious reflective sad tense

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Injury/Injury detail, Physical abuse, Domestic abuse, Murder, Blood, Death, Pregnancy, Rape, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, and Sexual assault

Minor: Dementia, Death of parent, and Abortion

atalea's review

dark hopeful mysterious sad 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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Injury/Injury detail, Domestic abuse, Rape, Violence, Toxic friendship, Blood, Sexual violence, and Animal death

Moderate: Abandonment, Death of parent, Infidelity, Animal cruelty, Pregnancy, and Mental illness

Minor: Dementia, Suicide, Drug use, Infertility, Grief, and Alcohol

navayiota's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional informative inspiring mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

I originally saved this cause it was recommended by Leena Norms for spooky October novels, and spooky it was, although not in the way I had expected. I ended up picking it up cause it was narrated by Saskia Maarleveld, and I really enjoyed her previous work narrating Kate Quinn novels. I didn't expect it to stay with me the way it did. I am in shock. Visceral is the perfect way to describe this writing. McConaghy got me to feel every light touch and savage hit taken by the characters. She tied every aspect of the story up in a neat bow that lovingly punched me in the gut at every opportunity. I refuse to believe that a human can write like this, and yet it's so painfully obvious that a human wrote it, because what other species could describe the human experience in such a vivid way? My heart aches for these characters, who are painfully fleshed out with all their jagged edges and ugly sides. I wish more people read this book. I can't wait to read more but must stop myself from binging anything else she has written cause it just wouldn't be enough. May her fingers never tire of typing or holding a pen, may her mind never cease creating and may her soul experience every joy the world has to offer. Simply incredible.

I can't believe that I finally encountered a book where the pregnancy trope is treated with justice and respect. I was in awe at the mastery with which she ended the story, the way she made it all make sense. Every major or subplot is a full circle and that feels incredible to me

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Grief, Suicide, Abandonment, Physical abuse, Toxic relationship, Alcohol, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Blood, Death, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Gun violence, Pregnancy, Rape, Torture, and Violence

Moderate: Cursing, Dementia, Confinement, and Child abuse

Minor: Drug abuse

susannah_knox's review

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad fast-paced

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

3.0

I loved a lot of things about this book, but found it increasingly melodramatic, which made it hard for me to enjoy at the end.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Physical abuse, and Mental illness

Moderate: Dementia and Death of parent

alexandrathegreat89's review

adventurous challenging dark 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

I went into this book thinking it would be a moody murder mystery that explored the tensions that arise between conservation efforts and traditional/longstanding ways of living in Scotland. It was not. 

This was more an exploration of the capacity have have to be awful one another with a heavy focus on the abuse women face at the hands of theen supposed to love them the most.

Having previously lived in Scotland I was hoping to feel a sense of the beauty and wildness of that country while reading this, but it just wasn't there for me. 

That being said, the writing was compelling and despite wanting to look away I was invested in finding out how it all ended to finish the book. Some of the tropes at the very end to be a bit disjointed and the last 30 pages or so felt like I was ready a completely different book. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Physical abuse, Suicide, Animal death, Death of parent, Rape, Sexual violence, Domestic abuse, and Pregnancy

Moderate: Emotional abuse, Child abuse, Dementia, and Grief

fluffernutterfriday's review

dark emotional informative mysterious fast-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

3.5

I lapped this book up like a wolf drinking from a stream. I'm a sucker for alive writing right now, and this writing is alive. The story moved quickly, and I read the book in functionally two sittings. I had to stop in the middle for our book club meeting, and it drove me nuts that I had to wait. The suspense hooked me in so tightly that I spent an hour and a half before work reading the next day, to the point that I didn't exercise or eat breakfast or shower. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug use, Sexual violence, Stalking, Child abuse, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Grief, Infidelity, Pregnancy, Rape, Sexual assault, Violence, Vomit, Death, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Mental illness, Murder, Sexual content, Emotional abuse, Gore, Infertility, Injury/Injury detail, Dementia, and Cursing

ashleysbookthoughts's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

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

4.0

My IRL book club read this and overall, we really enjoyed it. I loved that I was immediately immersed in the story. It had short chapters (thank goodness!) and was a fast-paced, propulsive read. After struggling for weeks to be gripped by a book, I was so grateful to actually want to read. That alone left me feeling overwhelmingly positive about the book, and upon finishing, I rated it pretty highly. But then the more I thought about it, the more there were elements that really didn’t work for me. 

 

The wolves are excellent and are some of the best characters in the book. The human characters weren’t always well fleshed-out and their relationships didn’t always make a ton of sense (there seemed to be more telling than showing of the fact that characters cared for each other). The main character has a rare neurological condition that is mentioned constantly, but doesn’t really seem to add anything to the book. Finally, the ending is kind of a mess and way too rushed to really make sense of anything. However, overall, the book was a compelling, mostly satisfying read. I prefer Migrations, but I’ll continue reading McConaghey’s work. Lots of content warnings in this one though.

 

CW: animal death, gore, murder, sexual assault, abusive relationship, dementia, domestic violence

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Toxic relationship, Gaslighting, Animal death, Blood, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, Rape, Sexual violence, Emotional abuse, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, and Violence

Moderate: Dementia