Reviews tagging 'War'

The Nightingale by Kristin Hannah

509 reviews

madis0ny's review against another edition

inspiring reflective 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

The way I immediately had to finish this book once I hit chapter 11. The pace is great, the characters experience so much growth, the sadness of the war is captured so perfectly. There is an element of mystery annd hope around the narrator that kept a historical fiction fresh. I spent the last 100 pages bawling my eyes out and just in love with all of the characters and story line. One of the best books I have read with such a beautiful ending, I will think of these characters for a long time. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: War, Torture, and Rape

tflowers's review against another edition

sad medium-paced

4.25

I found the book slow to start but once I started getting further into it, I couldn’t stop. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: War

missemmacrabtree's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Sexual violence, Alcohol, Grief, Murder, Physical abuse, Torture, Violence, War, Miscarriage, Addiction, Alcoholism, Antisemitism, Child abuse, Confinement, Deportation, Genocide, Gun violence, Blood, Cancer, Sexual assault, Death, Racism, and Terminal illness

ladybug12793's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional inspiring reflective sad tense medium-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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Death, Gun violence, Misogyny, Police brutality, Racism, Grief, Bullying, Hate crime, Colonisation, Sexual assault, Violence, War, Child death, Kidnapping, Miscarriage, Rape, Domestic abuse, Genocide, Murder, Religious bigotry, Slavery, Emotional abuse, Xenophobia, Animal death, Antisemitism, Mental illness, Infertility, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Physical abuse, Deportation, Pregnancy, and Sexism

wardenred's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful reflective sad 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

4.75

We are all fragile, Isabelle. It’s the thing we learn in war.

I’m still not sure if it’s a good idea for me to be reading war novels at the time, but yeah, I’ve picked up another one. While these stories make me angry-sad at the humanity for repeating the same horrors over and over, there’s something almost calming about how they acknowledge those horrors and their evil. Yes, this happened. Yes, this is what people did to each other. Yes, somehow, life went on.

This book is shaped by the intertwining stories of two sisters living through the Nazi occupation/World War 2 in France. The two of them start off as practically polar opposites in how they handle their circumstances. Vianne, the eldest, is already a mother and a responsible member of her community, and her focus is on perseverance. She wants to keep her head low and wait the worst out. Isabelle, on the contrary, is all about defiance. She’s not afraid, she’s angry, and she’s only ever cautious in the sense that she does her best not to betray the resistance she is a part of.

I admit that while Isabelle’s ideals resonated with me deeply, her storyline was hard for me to get into for a large chunk of the book. The way it was written almost clashed with the heavy, real historical backdrop—as if amidst all the regular people suffering, Isabelle was this one special heroine for whom it was all about daring adventure and romance. But as the book progressed, it became clear this was a feature and not a bug, so to speak. The narrative doesn’t specifically frame Isabelle as this YAish heroine; Isabelle does. This is her defense mechanism: reframing horrors as a grand adventure. It helps her for quite a while, and it doesn’t save her at the end, but she sure saves everyone she can reach and is just an amazingly strong character. 

Vianne has her defense mechanisms too, ones initially rooted in conformism and almost-denial. She understands what’s going on, but she needs to survive long enough to reunite with her husband. She has a daughter to take care of. She has her sister with her for a while. She has her charges at school and her friends to look out for, so she tries to play by the new rules. But the rules twist, the game gets darker and darker, and eventually she makes a journey from reluctantly adding the name of her Jewish friend to a list of bad elements to saving Jewish children. Her strength is different from Isabelle’s, quieter and slower to unfold, but evident all the same.

Both of these characters are so vivid, it’s like they were in the room with me as I read, and the same can be said for a lot of others on these pages. I don’t know if I can say I’m glad I’ve read this book; I cried a lot and I’m very angry. But it’s a good one for sure.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: War, Genocide, Torture, and Rape

eroseperry's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional inspiring sad medium-paced

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

5.0

This book made me love reading again. Kristin Hannah’s writing is so intricate and beautiful and I can picture the plot so clearly in my head. I sobbed, everything hurt reading this book but god I wish I could read it for the first time again

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Antisemitism, Death of parent, and Genocide

Moderate: Physical abuse, Violence, Torture, War, Police brutality, Rape, and Classism

Minor: Injury/Injury detail and Infertility

victoriarosalesvt's review against another edition

dark emotional informative reflective 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? No

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Hate crime and Antisemitism

Moderate: Violence, Rape, Sexual violence, War, and Pregnancy

rachelsb's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional 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? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Alcoholism, Blood, Cancer, Death, Torture, Child death, Death of parent, War, Injury/Injury detail, Sexual violence, Physical abuse, Miscarriage, and Sexual assault

karinreadsalot's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring sad tense 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? No

4.5

Ok, so this book broke me… healed me enough to break me again and then made me appreciate the breaking. Seems right that I finished this book on my birthday. I told a friend that 41 wasn’t much to celebrate and she said, “Every one we get is worth celebrating!” Great reminder 💔❤️

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gun violence, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, War, and Child death

Moderate: Rape and Sexual assault

zealandrc's review against another edition

emotional informative sad tense 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? No

3.75

Sad but good

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Content Warnings

Graphic: War

Moderate: Rape and Violence