Reviews tagging 'Grief'

Once There Were Wolves by Charlotte McConaghy

95 reviews

blizzardwolf1's review

adventurous emotional inspiring mysterious reflective medium-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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Blood, Grief, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Rape, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Violence, Vomit, Stalking, and Pregnancy

miaromano's review

dark mysterious sad tense fast-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Death, Domestic abuse, Gore, Rape, Blood, Grief, and Murder

mel_j's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad tense slow-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Blood, and Grief

Moderate: Ableism, Child abuse, Toxic relationship, Blood, and Alcohol

Minor: Sexism, Pregnancy, and Alcohol

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

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

lauramcc7's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Pregnancy, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

bebidocrimes's review

emotional mysterious 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

3.0

Pushed through to finish this after they dropped the unexpected pregnancy, and I can kinda see where it fits in the story but overall felt like an afterthought. The plotline of the wolves scaring the farmers was a fine plot on its own, and even the murder mystery. I just don't think the romance (?) really added anything because I don't think Inti can ever fully trust Duncan after everything that happened in her life.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Animal death, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Gore, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Pregnancy, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

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

kiwico's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective tense 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Bullying, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Grief, Stalking, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Toxic friendship, and Sexual harassment

Minor: Abortion

dustghosts's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective tense slow-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

2.75

+ Beautifully written; McConaghy knows how to construct gorgeous, evocative sentences and scenes. I think this shines the most in her nature writing and an awe towards that subject resonates. There’s a lot of tenderness towards people and humans alike. The ending aside, the majority of the book struck emotionally true, even if not always relatable and often? Messy.

o An interesting and complicated array of characters who feel frustratingly human, though not necessarily… like “rational” humans. Despite not necessarily liking them, I found most of the people here to be engaging, and I think the mystery/thriller aspect of the story worked well because of this.

- Themes are muddy at best and troubling at the least favorable. This book covers a lot of ground (domestic abuse, the gray areas of morality, the human-animal conflict inherent in rewilding/conservation, codependency and shared-but-not trauma, the echoes of inaction, and so on) and doesn’t really strike true on most of them. A book doesn’t have to have a clear thesis but you could feel this one trying to get to it— there’s moralizing but no moral.
- While domestic and sexual violence are definitely key themes, the most direct victims of it are sidelined and written out of the story. It’s troubling to me to see Aggie and Lanie disappear from the narrative (one very literally) and for the arguable two main characters (and love interests) to be the two people cast as their could-be (but failed?) saviors.

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Content Warnings

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

Moderate: Death, Gore, Dementia, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Gaslighting, and Abandonment

Minor: Suicide

madisenelizabeth's review

dark emotional informative inspiring mysterious reflective sad tense fast-paced

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

5.0

A fantastic first read of the new year. I loved the emphasis on the importance of rewinding that was weaved into a thrilling story.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death

Moderate: Emotional abuse, Sexual violence, and Violence

Minor: Blood and Grief