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the_kristin_amber's review
- 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
Tragic the whole way through
Kept me up late -- a page turner
Moderate: Infertility and Miscarriage
Minor: Cancer
sophiemcauley's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
Graphic: Grief and Miscarriage
Minor: Cancer and War
jodar's review against another edition
- 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
3.5
And yet… I found some of the plot a little too tidy in places, a bit too melodramatic. And at times the characters felt almost stereotypical and uncomplicated; the feeling that “this is exactly how this dramatis persona would think, speak and act ”.
Further, the male MC holds some grim, cynical philosophical attitudes to life:
A life had come and gone and nature had not paused a second for it. The machine of time and space grinds on, and people are fed through it like grist through the mill. (Chapter 10)
Years bleach away the sense of things until all that’s left is a bone-white past, stripped of feeling and significance. (Chapter 37)
Soon enough the days will close over their lives, the grass will grow over their graves, until their story is just an unvisited headstone. (Chapter 37)
And the authorial voice, too, comments of the society:
History is that which is agreed upon by mutual consent.
That is how life goes on – protected by the silence that anaesthetises shame. (Chapter 17)
So yes, it is a story of love and grief and of love reclaimed despite the loss and tragedy, but in the end it feels to me to be a story of ultimate despair.
Graphic: Miscarriage, Child death, Grief, and Death
Moderate: Infertility, Xenophobia, War, Cancer, and Suicidal thoughts
Minor: Sexual harassment, Vomit, Confinement, and Alcohol
hanngigi's review
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
Graphic: Grief, Death, Miscarriage, and Child death
Moderate: War and Death of parent
Minor: Cancer, Sexual harassment, Terminal illness, Xenophobia, Suicidal thoughts, and Vomit
jg34's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.75
Graphic: Kidnapping, Death, Pregnancy, and Miscarriage
Moderate: Blood, War, Death of parent, Injury/Injury detail, and Grief
Minor: Vomit and Cancer
I think you could consider the entire premise of this book is about kidnapping thought not exactly in a criminal way. Lots of description and grief over miscarriages and stillborn birth, some mention of war and death.honeyenbee's review
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Graphic: Grief, Child death, Infertility, Death, War, and Miscarriage
Minor: Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Terminal illness, Cancer, Suicide, Alcoholism, and Vomit
pollyhall's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
Moderate: Pregnancy, Racism, Terminal illness, Grief, Miscarriage, War, Abandonment, Death, Cancer, Death of parent, Hate crime, Kidnapping, and Classism
stupidgoldfish's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Graphic: Miscarriage
Moderate: Cancer
silverrose187's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Graphic: Cancer, Child death, Death, Grief, Miscarriage, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Pregnancy, War, and Xenophobia
maya_books's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
1.0
Graphic: War, Death, and Miscarriage
Moderate: Grief
Minor: Xenophobia, Cancer, Terminal illness, Vomit, and Pregnancy