Reviews tagging 'Violence'

A Spark of Light by Jodi Picoult

19 reviews

juliaathomsonnn's review

dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

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

4.25

Timeline moves in a very confusing way at first (backwards)

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Miscarriage, Murder, Abortion, Violence, Sexism, Gun violence, Mass/school shootings, Death, and Blood

Moderate: Sexual assault, Pregnancy, and Medical content

brookey8888's review

dark emotional informative inspiring mysterious tense slow-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

4.5

I really enjoyed this! It did start off slow, but I got into it when I started to learn and care about the characters. I really liked the topics did and how they were discussed. I learned a lot. I do wish that this was told a different way. I wish it was from start to Finish not kind of the finish to the start and then the end. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Gore, Terminal illness, Blood, Cancer, Cursing, Sexism, Self harm, Domestic abuse, Gaslighting, Grief, Gun violence, Infidelity, Injury/Injury detail, Mass/school shootings, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Murder, Pregnancy, Racism, Rape, Misogyny, Racial slurs, Kidnapping, Panic attacks/disorders, Abortion, Death, Emotional abuse, Medical content, Miscarriage, Religious bigotry, Violence, Physical abuse, and Vomit

kyrstin_p1989's review

challenging dark emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad tense fast-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

4.0

Even with the weird plot structure that kept confusing me (the book is written backward), I can’t discredit the way Jodi tells a story. The social commentary, the unexpected plot twist, the dissection of the human experience, and the understanding that everything is complex. This is a story about women. Their choices, their secrets, their battles, their love. Another stellar Picoult novel. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Religious bigotry, Cancer, Chronic illness, Infidelity, Injury/Injury detail, Vomit, Abortion, Death, Infertility, Medical content, Pregnancy, Medical trauma, Miscarriage, Murder, Rape, Sexual assault, Grief, Gun violence, Racism, Racial slurs, Terminal illness, Mass/school shootings, and Violence

elerosemac's review

emotional tense slow-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Rape, Abortion, and Violence

haz19's review

emotional informative reflective 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? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abortion, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Gun violence, Violence, Death, Mass/school shootings, Murder, Sexual assault, and Sexual violence

Minor: Pregnancy, Self harm, Adult/minor relationship, Miscarriage, Cancer, Child death, Incest, and Sexual harassment

blueskies157's review

challenging emotional hopeful tense slow-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abortion, Blood, Violence, Pregnancy, Gun violence, and Medical content

Moderate: Abandonment, Addiction, Alcoholism, Death, Sexual violence, Sexual assault, Rape, Religious bigotry, Racism, Misogyny, Miscarriage, Injury/Injury detail, Gun violence, Grief, and Domestic abuse

Minor: Death of parent, Cancer, Vomit, Incest, and Child abuse

sfmarsh's review against another edition

challenging emotional reflective 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? No

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abortion, Gun violence, Violence, Pregnancy, Murder, and Mass/school shootings

awells96's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad tense fast-paced

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

3.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Cancer, Child abuse, Confinement, Death, Gore, Gun violence, Grief, Hate crime, Mass/school shootings, Medical content, Rape, Religious bigotry, Sexual assault, Terminal illness, and Violence

gemmascott's review

challenging reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

3.5

This book was very brave to tackle such a divisive subject - abortion - and to offer explorations of so many different sides of the debate. It also showed the importance of access to women’s reproductive health care more broadly and how measures designed to prevent abortions actually have a much wider impact. 

However, I would have liked more discussion regarding the aftermath of the event, especially for some of the side characters. Similarly, I wasn’t a big fan of the book’s “backwards” structure - I found it quite repetitive and found myself growing impatient at times, as I felt myself becoming more and more detached from the plot. This had the effect of making me less interested in the characterisation, not more, as I just wanted to know what was happening! 

Altogether though, a nuanced look at a difficult, yet incredibly important topic. The author’a note at the end carried perhaps the most important message of the book - the fact that preventing access to legal abortion, will not make it stop, it will just put more women’s lives in danger. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Death, Hate crime, Medical content, Medical trauma, and Violence

Moderate: Terminal illness