Reviews with content warning for Child death - The Nightingale

Ok, so this book broke me… healed me enough to break me again and then made me appreciate the breaking. Seems right that I finished this book on my birthday. I told a friend that 41 wasn’t much to celebrate and she said, “Every one we get is worth celebrating!” Great reminder 💔❤️

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mskog's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional inspiring sad tense slow-paced

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

3.75

It took a bit to get going and the pace was a little slower than I had expected, but once it got moving I was relatively engaged in the story and interested in what came next. You can't help but care about the characters, and the ending has to evoke at least some emotion from a reader.

Even though it was a good read, I have to say the characters are not particularly complex. Vianne and Isabelle can mostly be reduced to a sentence or two of character description. Julien/the father might appear complex because we don't get to hear too much from him directly, but any attempt at probing whatever complexity he may have is repeated as "well he was broken in the war." When characters are this simple, I feel like anything that is intended to be an evolution for them (e.g.

Vianne hiding Jewish kids

) appears to be either a departure rather than an evolution, or simply a situation with no other possible choice and therefore mutes the commentary on the character.

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elisa_atkins's review against another edition

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dark emotional sad tense slow-paced

Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

It’s hard to put into words the emotional journey this book takes you through. It is beautifully written and gives a new perspective to the horrors that happened in ww2.

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caitlinemccann's review against another edition

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challenging emotional reflective sad 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

4.0

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jessicaannise's review against another edition

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inspiring slow-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? No

4.0

Content Warnings

mcnoble's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging emotional reflective sad 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

5.0

An absolutely heartbreaking but beautiful story of two heroic sisters who, in their own ways, navigate and survive the challenges cast at them during a Nazi-occupied France during WWII. In her writing, Kristin Hannah transports you to Paris, the mountains, the countryside, and to the hidden places in between where survivors gather. She shares how there is not one way to be a hero, to be a friend, or to be a sister. This book was tense but well-paced, and, as one can imagine, an absolute tear jerker at times. Thank you to the wonderfully brave women who silently carry the world during war and thank you Kristin for sharing their stories.

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