Reviews tagging 'Toxic relationship'

This Must Be the Place by Maggie O'Farrell

5 reviews

lauratoline's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful reflective sad medium-paced

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

5.0

Another fabulous story of family from Maggie O'Farrell. Lovable but flawed characters who you will root for.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Addiction, Death of parent, Gun violence, Infertility, Abandonment, Alcohol, Death, Infidelity, Abortion, Murder, Drug use, Grief, Alcoholism, and Eating disorder

Minor: Medical content, Sexual content, Mental illness, and Toxic relationship

tinkthings's review

adventurous challenging emotional hopeful inspiring tense medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism

Moderate: Toxic relationship

Minor: Eating disorder, Child death, and Abortion

chris_reads's review against another edition

adventurous funny lighthearted reflective medium-paced

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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Gun violence, Toxic relationship, Abortion, and Chronic illness

Moderate: Alcoholism, Death, Death of parent, Infertility, Infidelity, and Medical content

Minor: Panic attacks/disorders, Gun violence, Drug abuse, and Eating disorder

sarah_eggleton's review

emotional hopeful reflective medium-paced

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

3.5

I expected to me more gripped by this book, I particularly care about the main characters as much as I did the side characters. It made me laugh and is wonderfully descriptive, but I think having so many perspectives didn’t leave enough time to get fully invested in the main characters stories 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Alcoholism, Child death, Drug use, Gun violence, and Toxic relationship

Minor: Abortion and Eating disorder

garlinds's review against another edition

emotional hopeful reflective sad slow-paced

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

4.0

I always forget how much I love family sagas until I pick one up. In this novel, Maggie O'Farrell weaves together the relationship between Daniel and Claudette in such a beautiful and heartbreaking way. 

I fell in love with the characters and their complexities, despite the frustration they caused. I enjoyed how the chapters of this book read like a series of interwoven short stories as each character crossed paths with one another, offering a fresh perspective to the story. And though I got a bit mixed up as the story jumped back and forth in time, I liked how the book explored how our pasts are linked to our futures.

Thank you to @fictionmatters for selecting this as the May book club pick! As always, last weekend's discussion took my reading of this book to a whole new level.

This was my first Maggie O'Farrell, and it certainly won't be my last!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abortion, Alcoholism, Mental illness, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Addiction, Child death, Death, Death of parent, Drug use, Gun violence, Infertility, and Pregnancy

Minor: Animal cruelty, Infidelity, and Miscarriage