Reviews tagging 'Animal cruelty'

Notes on an Execution by Danya Kukafka

191 reviews

amberjackonski's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

3.5

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Domestic abuse, Animal death, and Animal cruelty

tyreadsbooks_'s review

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

✦ synopsis 

Ansel Packer, a serial killer on death row, is scheduled to die in 12 hours. But this is not his story. 

Told through the eyes of 3 women in his life - a mother, a sister, & a detective - we discover the choices that culminate in tragedy & the impact on those in his wake.

This is the story of the women who survive.

✦ Read if you like :

-complex, thought provoking reads 

-character driven stories 

-multiple POVs

-books you’ll want to binge read

-audiobooks with multiple narrators

-true crime/detective stories 

✦ my thoughts 

I was utterly captivated from start to finish, I could not put it down. I read this book cover to cover in one day.

Given the subject matter, I was surprised how beautifully & emotionally written it was. It was poetic, insightful, & gracefully done. A compelling, unsettling, thought provoking work of literary suspense that challenges the sensationalism of serial killer stories by putting the focus on the women’s voices.

Notes on an Execution would make for a great book club read. The themes in the book beg for a discussion - the death penalty, redemption, sympathy, nature vs nurture, inherent good vs evil, the glorification of serial killers. I could go on & on.

This is one of those books that will stay with you for a very long time. I highly, highly recommend it! And if you do, read the author notes. It added a whole extra layer of insight.

★★★★★ 5/5 stars

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Murder, Death, Abandonment, and Violence

ellenisntcool's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective medium-paced

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

2.0

 I believe that this book was really good, truly. However, I think we could have taken out Ansel’s chapters and bring even more focus onto the women as I feel they weren’t given a chance to speak as Ansel would slip in with his weird stuff about his theory that I really don’t care about as I don’t care for that man and never will.

I’m struggling to know how to rate this, so I’ll come back later but or right now I’m on the fence about giving it anything higher than a three as the ending felt off especially with one of the women spoken about almost forgiving him, and we don’t get to see why. 

(As I’m writing I’ll probably give it that three anyway.)

Edit: dropping my rating to two stars, the more I think and talk about this book the more I dislike it.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Death, Child abuse, and Domestic abuse

Moderate: Gore

Minor: Pregnancy and Grief

vanessa_black_03's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional medium-paced

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

5.0

This book will make you think and think. It should be read by everybody who has ever thought about the person behind the unmistakable cloud of death by a killer. 
Shows us how circumstances lend to our making but justifying anything you do with it and not acknoledging a problem within you is all that makes the difference

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Addiction, Alcohol, Death, Medical trauma, Abandonment, Child abuse, Gore, Suicide, Medical content, Murder, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Animal death, and Emotional abuse

Moderate: Blood and Stalking

Minor: Car accident

shostakofish's review

dark emotional sad medium-paced

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

4.5

I have a complicated relationship with True Crime style media. One the one hand: It's deeply interesting and a look into very real issues society sometimes would rather ignore. On the other hand it's rife with exploitation, and often falls into the trap of glorifying male violence and reducing women to objects violence is inflicted on.

This book does a fantastic job avoiding those pitfalls. It takes a nuanced look at a killer and the women in his life including those he kills. Every single one is shown as a full human, with their first person perspectives allowing for depth and introspection. Each character is biased in their own realistic ways but the book as a whole takes a determinately neutral stance on the issues it brings up, allowing the reader to form their own opinions on things like male violence, the prison system and death penalty, mental health support, and media for murder.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Sexism, Death, Racial slurs, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Stalking, and Murder

withloveandlights's review

Learned of the extensive animal cruelty within the book as well as not feeling comfortable continuing the book

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty and Animal death

bexgil's review

challenging dark emotional reflective slow-paced

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

2.5

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Death and Murder

Moderate: Animal cruelty and Animal death

geminireader's review

dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

5.0

A deeply challenging, disturbing novel. Undoubtedly worth the read. I don’t think I need to delve into it more; the synopsis perfectly covers what is about and how thought-provoking it is. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Animal death, Physical abuse, Animal cruelty, Death, Sexism, Violence, Abandonment, and Misogyny

arayo's review

dark emotional mysterious reflective medium-paced

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

4.25

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: Domestic abuse, Murder, Drug abuse, Abandonment, Violence, Grief, Death of parent, Death, Child abuse, and Confinement

Minor: Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Sexual content, Sexual assault, Animal death, Suicidal thoughts, Racism, and Pregnancy

imogenlj's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful reflective sad tense medium-paced

4.5

When I finished this I felt like I'd been punched in my diaphragm- it's devastating, righteous and empathetic, yet hopeful. I felt tense the entire time I was reading. I want to push this into the hands of anyone fascinated with True Crime and say 'Look! It's not about the killers!' It doesn't dwell too much on anything but this is a dark book so check trigger warnings if you're keen to avoid something.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Child abuse, Physical abuse, and Domestic abuse

Moderate: Alcoholism, Addiction, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Death, Grief, Murder, Child death, and Toxic relationship

Minor: Police brutality, Suicidal thoughts, Sexism, Self harm, Drug abuse, Car accident, Death of parent, Racism, and Sexual assault