Reviews tagging 'Animal death'

Then She Was Gone by Lisa Jewell

158 reviews

aags's review

4.25

dark emotional hopeful mysterious sad tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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The beginning was SLOWWW, but right about half way through it got much better! 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Animal death, Child abuse, Death, Emotional abuse

clarklyn's review against another edition

2.75

dark mysterious reflective sad tense 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: Yes

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I have a lot of feelings about this book. I devoured it for one. It kept me hooked from the very beginning and reminded me of Lovely Bones. There really wasn’t a twist in my opinion-

it is pretty obvious who Poppy’s mother is even before the book spells it out for you. I think a real twist would have been Ellie living but maybe that is just me wanting her to have survived. 

I was also very disturbed by the way Laurel talked about her other daughter, Hanna. “Laurel had never accepted Hanna as a consolation prize”…

”Laurel is about to say, Oh, she was much prettier than Hanna”…

”Hanna. Her middle child. The difficult one. The tiring one. The one she wouldn’t want to be stranded on a desert island with. And a terrible thought shot through her, so fast she barely registered it. It should be you missing and Ellie eating beans on toast.“

 I mean what kind of mom thinks this way about her daughter? I understand she is grieving but it’s horrible. Extremely disturbing, IMO, and left unaddressed other than a half-ass voicemail apology.

 

It loses some serious points from me because I was disturbed by how Laurel talked and thought about her middle child and how the book never really addresses these thoughts. The ending was also very unsatisfying and lacked a feeling of justice. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Kidnapping, Pregnancy

Moderate: Child abuse, Child death, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Suicide, Murder

Minor: Animal cruelty, Animal death

dfriend12's review against another edition

4.0

dark mysterious medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Complicated

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Child death, Death, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Kidnapping, Grief, Stalking, Pregnancy

Minor: Animal death

katounettetae's review

4.25

dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

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Fun, quick read. I figured out the twist very early on…. But still wanted to keep reading, which is a testament to Jewell’s writing skills. Not my favourite book of hers, but still a great read.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Child death, Death, Kidnapping, Pregnancy

k8_mart's review

4.5

dark mysterious sad tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Plot

Strong character development: No

Loveable characters: No

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Suicide, Kidnapping

Moderate: Rape, Murder

jessi_lou95's review against another edition

4.0

dark mysterious tense 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: Yes

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Kidnapping

Moderate: Child abuse

Minor: Animal death, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Car accident, Pregnancy

tetrootz's review

3.75

dark mysterious sad fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: No

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: No

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Emotional abuse, Infertility, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Terminal illness, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Kidnapping, Grief, Medical trauma, Stalking, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Gaslighting, Alcohol, Sexual harassment

akoyareads's review

2.5

dark emotional sad slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: No

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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This book didn’t read like a thriller, there was no thrill or suspense, just sadness and desperation for answers. I think that the plot being predictable was intentional. that Everyone told their side of events connecting all the pieces like a lifetime movie.

This book was so devastating I almost cried at the end when I read Ellie’s letter, because she was never given a chance.I had so much hope that she would return to her family even after her remains were found.

But Laurel was a horrible mother and her apology to Hanna felt so so shallow because we knew it truly meant nothing. She still thought that it should’ve been her that was taken, she still thought that Hanna wasn’t as beautiful as Ellie. And even tho I pity Hanna for having such a horrid mother I think dating my missing little sister’s bf is a bit trashy. One great lesson that needs to be learned is that there aren’t just horrible men out there, but women too. Women that will do vile things for the validation of men, those are the women you stay away from because they will go to the earths end for a crumb of 

male validation. 

There was no silver lining to the book just poppy being passed around from one sad shell to the next, and then both trauma dumping on her. You don’t tell her the actual truth about her mother but u tell her that the man that’s been raising her for all those years took his life because of guilt? That didn’t make sense to me.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Rape, Murder, Pregnancy

kmthorson2's review

3.75

dark emotional mysterious sad slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Plot

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: No

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Child death

Moderate: Animal death, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Medical content, Dementia, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Grief, Medical trauma, Stalking, Death of parent, Murder, Gaslighting

koreydobbert's review against another edition

2.5

dark mysterious sad medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: No

Loveable characters: No

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Toxic relationship

Moderate: Addiction, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child abuse, Child death, Miscarriage, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Suicide, Kidnapping, Murder, Pregnancy

Minor: Infertility, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Terminal illness, Medical content, Grief, Car accident, Death of parent