Reviews tagging 'Police brutality'

The Nightingale by Kristin Hannah

103 reviews

mattiedancer's review against another edition

emotional hopeful sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

Writing: 4.75⭐️/5 

The writing is quite stunning. The prose is beautiful, weighted, and eloquent. There were some truly stunning standalone lines, but it also had a nice cohesion. Beyond that, it wasn’t a challenging writing style to read and was well-woven into the plot. 

Characters: 4.5⭐️/5

The characters were highly motivated and flawed, which meant that they felt uniquely human to me. The characterization of the Nazi soldiers was particularly detailed and complicated, leading to moments of pathos for these villains. At times, it felt like certain characters made very weird choices, but it was usually justified later. This just led to a slower understanding of characterization than I might have liked, but it wasn’t too jarring.

Plot: 4⭐️/5 

I know that this is kind of a fan-favourite book, so I’m reluctant to say this, but at times it felt like the author used trauma a bit reflexively to address human moments. Too many times did I know that a terrible scene was coming and, when it came, it was witnessed by one too many characters who we had grown to love, no matter how illogical it might be that they would have ended up witnessing it. I appreciate that this is dealing with the reality of war horrors that took place during WWII; however, at times, it just felt a bit too neat in how directly the trauma continuously happened. That being said, the overarching plot was really well done. I loved the story-within-a-story format that the grandmother at the beginning set up. Overall a solid plot with just a lot of trauma at the end. 

Post-Reading Rating:  4⭐️/5

The ending felt fine: necessary and complete. 

Who Should Read This? 

• Fans of WWII novels
• Fans of historical fiction
• Fans of Kristin Hannah
• Fans of real-life trauma books or books focusing on horrific moments

Final Rating: 4⭐️/5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Death of parent, Misogyny, Racism, Antisemitism, Death, Violence, Sexual violence, War, Blood, Child death, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Sexism, Sexual assault, Torture, Gore, Infidelity, Miscarriage, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, Racial slurs, Rape, Grief, Gun violence, and Murder

Moderate: Mass/school shootings, Sexual content, Sexual harassment, Police brutality, and Cancer

Minor: Alcohol, Homophobia, Chronic illness, Addiction, Infertility, and Abandonment

tojtwl's review against another edition

dark emotional informative inspiring sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

So beautiful, but so sad. I've read so many raving reviews about books by Kristin Hannah. I'm glad I gave it a try.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Grief, Sexual violence, War, Antisemitism, Genocide, Gore, Hate crime, Murder, Police brutality, Violence, Blood, Child death, Cursing, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, and Sexual harassment

shebke_21's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious reflective sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Blood, Grief, Gun violence, Torture, War, Violence, Death of parent, Alcoholism, Antisemitism, Genocide, Sexual harassment, Child death, Miscarriage, Murder, Police brutality, Rape, and Religious bigotry

Minor: Cancer

mbedrosian's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional inspiring sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

Whoa. This book is heavy. 
It made me cry, not necessarily due to the sad parts but due to the weight of this story. It's intense. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: War, Death, Death of parent, Child death, Antisemitism, and Blood

Moderate: Rape, Gore, Grief, Hate crime, Police brutality, Pregnancy, Genocide, Miscarriage, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, and Violence

sarahaf712's review against another edition

slow-paced

• Loveable characters? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Antisemitism, Kidnapping, Mass/school shootings, Medical trauma, Murder, Police brutality, Racial slurs, Pregnancy, Blood, Body horror, Child death, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Death, Death of parent, Forced institutionalization, Grief, Hate crime, Racism, Rape, Slavery, Torture, Violence, War, Confinement, Genocide, Gun violence, Infertility, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Chronic illness, Excrement, Eating disorder, Vomit, Abandonment, Alcoholism, and Cancer

Content warning: Holocaust; concentration camps; forced labor camps; dead bodies; bombings

katie_lacour's review against another edition

emotional sad medium-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

2.5

I feel like she really did Isabel a lot of injustice. Isabel was a hero in the end, but the author often reduced her to her beauty or her love for a guy she had maybe 2 full conversations with. Good read if you don’t want to critically think, but after finishing it I feel like I was just picking it apart in my head.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Rape, Police brutality, and Murder

patslibrary's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful informative inspiring mysterious reflective sad tense medium-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? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Genocide, Gaslighting, Antisemitism, Blood, Colonisation, Confinement, Mass/school shootings, Murder, Physical abuse, Police brutality, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Slavery, Torture, Trafficking, Violence, and War

Moderate: Infertility, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Pregnancy, Terminal illness, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Emotional abuse, Gore, Grief, Infidelity, Sexism, Suicidal thoughts, Death of parent, Death, Abandonment, Child abuse, Child death, Chronic illness, Hate crime, Homophobia, Vomit, and Excrement

Minor: Animal death, Religious bigotry, and Cancer

nicole_g_'s review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring reflective sad tense medium-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? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Emotional abuse, Excrement, Genocide, Gun violence, Hate crime, Miscarriage, Murder, Abandonment, Alcoholism, Death of parent, Forced institutionalization, Grief, Racial slurs, Sexual assault, War, Child death, Addiction, Cancer, Confinement, Mass/school shootings, Physical abuse, Police brutality, Pregnancy, Homophobia, Infertility, Infidelity, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Rape, Sexual violence, Slavery, Torture, and Violence

shibaunited's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional informative reflective sad fast-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Antisemitism, Blood, Death, Genocide, Xenophobia, War, Violence, Torture, Religious bigotry, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Abandonment, Vomit, Trafficking, Torture, Suicidal thoughts, Stalking, Sexual violence, Sexual harassment, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Rape, Racism, Pregnancy, Police brutality, Physical abuse, Misogyny, Miscarriage, Medical trauma, Medical content, Mass/school shootings, Infidelity, Infertility, Gun violence, Grief, Gaslighting, Excrement, Emotional abuse, Confinement, Chronic illness, Child death, and Cancer

mel_s_bookshelf's review against another edition

challenging emotional inspiring reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? N/A
• Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Antisemitism, Blood, Child death, Confinement, Death, Death of parent, Forced institutionalization, Genocide, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Physical abuse, Police brutality, Racial slurs, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Torture, Violence, and War