Reviews tagging 'Child death'

The Nightingale by Kristin Hannah

317 reviews

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

ariennegd's review against another edition

adventurous emotional reflective tense medium-paced

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

5.0

This is my all-time favorite book. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Child death, Pregnancy, and Sexual assault

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

mskog's review against another edition

adventurous emotional inspiring sad tense slow-paced

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

3.75

It took a bit to get going and the pace was a little slower than I had expected, but once it got moving I was relatively engaged in the story and interested in what came next. You can't help but care about the characters, and the ending has to evoke at least some emotion from a reader.

Even though it was a good read, I have to say the characters are not particularly complex. Vianne and Isabelle can mostly be reduced to a sentence or two of character description. Julien/the father might appear complex because we don't get to hear too much from him directly, but any attempt at probing whatever complexity he may have is repeated as "well he was broken in the war." When characters are this simple, I feel like anything that is intended to be an evolution for them (e.g.

Vianne hiding Jewish kids

) appears to be either a departure rather than an evolution, or simply a situation with no other possible choice and therefore mutes the commentary on the character.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Rape and Child death

elisa_atkins's review against another edition

dark emotional sad tense slow-paced

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

5.0

It’s hard to put into words the emotional journey this book takes you through. It is beautifully written and gives a new perspective to the horrors that happened in ww2. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Miscarriage, Deportation, Hate crime, Torture, Abandonment, Child death, Death of parent, War, and Genocide

Minor: Rape, Infertility, and Alcoholism

caitlinemccann's review against another edition

challenging emotional reflective sad tense 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? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racial slurs, Torture, Genocide, Death of parent, Death, Body horror, Blood, Police brutality, Murder, Grief, Confinement, Child death, Antisemitism, Medical content, Injury/Injury detail, War, Bullying, Violence, Racism, and Gun violence

Moderate: Pregnancy, Infidelity, Sexism, Rape, Miscarriage, Sexual violence, and Suicidal thoughts

Minor: Cancer, Vomit, and Homophobia

jessicaannise's review against another edition

inspiring 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Child death, and Rape

mcnoble's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional reflective sad tense 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? Yes

5.0

An absolutely heartbreaking but beautiful story of two heroic sisters who, in their own ways, navigate and survive the challenges cast at them during a Nazi-occupied France during WWII. In her writing, Kristin Hannah transports you to Paris, the mountains, the countryside, and to the hidden places in between where survivors gather. She shares how there is not one way to be a hero, to be a friend, or to be a sister. This book was tense but well-paced, and, as one can imagine, an absolute tear jerker at times. Thank you to the wonderfully brave women who silently carry the world during war and thank you Kristin for sharing their stories. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Child death, Xenophobia, Murder, War, Torture, Violence, Antisemitism, Gun violence, Death, and Genocide

Moderate: Pregnancy, Alcohol, Rape, and Alcoholism

livlaughlit's review against another edition

medium-paced

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

2.0

I was intrigued to read this book, as I’d heard practically nothing but rave reviews, but sadly this missed the mark for me.

I thought the writing style was somewhat unsophisticated and repetitive, with Hannah often implying something and then immediately clarifying what she meant, just in case we hadn’t picked up on the nuance. Regardless, the pervasive anachronisms were the real bug-bear for me. On every other page, there was an error that made me roll my eyes (oral antibiotics? A Flemish farmer smoking like a true Frenchman? The flippant mention of concentration camps on official warnings?). This read as Historical Fanfiction, rather than a well-researched piece of Historical Fiction. It was also extremely forgiving of Vichy France’s passing antisemitic legislation independently of Nazi requirements.  

Too often, the characters were reduced to flat stereotypes, and the development of the romantic plots were poorly paced (especially between Isabelle and Gaetan). I was also unconvinced by Isabelle and Vianne’s relationship, which seemed not to develop much at all.  

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Antisemitism, Genocide, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Rape, Sexual assault, War, Xenophobia, Child death, Murder, Violence, Death of parent, Physical abuse, Torture, Misogyny, Death, Sexism, and Sexual violence

Minor: Alcoholism, Cancer, and Miscarriage