Reviews tagging 'Injury/Injury detail'

The Crane Husband by Kelly Barnhill

31 reviews

gondorgirl's review

challenging emotional mysterious reflective slow-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Animal death, Sexual content, Cancer, Domestic abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Toxic relationship, Blood, and Death of parent

itsemmaofc's review

challenging dark emotional funny mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

• 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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Domestic abuse, Toxic relationship, Terminal illness, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child abuse, Death, Death of parent, Physical abuse, Injury/Injury detail, and Emotional abuse

jashanac's review

3.5

Summary:
 Award-winning author Kelly Barnhill brings her singular talents to The Crane Husband, a raw, powerful story of love, sacrifice, and family.

Re-Readability:
Probably wouldn't re-read this.

Characters:
This is a novella and you know how I tend to fare with novellas. The characters felt slightly surface-level, I guess. I liked the main character and her resilience and practicality and protectiveness over her brother.

Plot:
Obviously this is kind of an "odd" story and there's a lot that isn't quite explained, as far as whether it's meant to be real or fantasy -- very much a magical realism/fabulism vibe. (I'm not sure if it's actually categorized as that or not.) I imagine that anyone who saw abuse in the household as a child would relate to this story a lot and perceive it entirely differently from those of us who didn't have that experience. 

The ending felt really rushed and kind of tacked-on, to me. I think I would have liked the ending more if the main character's narration had ended pretty soon after the Big Event. Like, having her explain what happened 20 years later in such a rushed fashion just fell a bit flat for me. 

Themes: 
Sacrifice. Family. Abusive relationships. Fear. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Body horror

qarina's review

dark emotional medium-paced

• 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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Body horror, Domestic abuse, Injury/Injury detail, and Terminal illness

Moderate: Abandonment and Animal death

farireadsbooks's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced

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

4.5

Beautifully written and poignant retelling of the Crane Wife mythology. A short but effective story, that touches on domestic violence and the effects it can have on a family through the eyes of a unnamed teenager who, through circumstances outside of her control, has been forced to grow up young and take on the burden of protecting her family. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Death of parent, and Domestic abuse

Moderate: Violence and Toxic relationship

meaghanelizabook's review

dark emotional mysterious sad medium-paced

• 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Death, Cancer, Child abuse, Body horror, Gaslighting, Injury/Injury detail, Grief, Torture, Terminal illness, Blood, Physical abuse, Death of parent, and Domestic abuse

melissamalicious's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad fast-paced

• 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? It's complicated

4.25

All the feelings! This one is a twisted retell of a Japanese folktale The Crane's Wife. A dark tale narrated by a weaver's daughter, this story is one filled with

This book reminds me of a dark fractured fairytale. The twists of the retell is conveying an old message, rather than a more modern one: "mothers fly away like migrating birds. And fathers die too young. This is why farmers have daughters. To keep things going in the meantime, until it’s our time to grow wings. Go soaring away across the sky.”  

The crane as an allegorical character is going to have me thinking about this story for a bit. The feathers shedding everywhere, suffocating and obscuring views, the talons taking over the past and damaging it, just whoa. The author presents this story to us and takes the outside world away. 

The crane as literal character is done visually, both beautiful and a bit of the grotesque that makes this an enjoyably dark read. The crane as a metaphoric character, whether representing abuse, or expectations of women, or freedom, 

I'm really looking forward to getting to discuss this a bit, specifically to what it means when a crane can represent different things. The author weaves this together into an evocative fable. It makes me want to read more of their work.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Toxic relationship

Moderate: Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, and Physical abuse

Minor: Injury/Injury detail and Vomit

annaavian's review

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced

• 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

3.0

In "The Crane Husband," Kelly Barnhill reimagines the traditional Japanese folktale "The Crane Wife" for a modern Western audience through a devastating dark fantasy that explores domestic violence, cycles of abuse, fear of abandonment, and the exploitation of women. While staying true to the core theme of the original folklore - the mistreatment of women by men - Barnhill introduces additional layers of complexity and insight. However, the protagonist does not alter the story's ending from tragic to uplifting. Despite the crane's demise, nothing is truly salvaged.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Blood, Animal death, Injury/Injury detail, Adult/minor relationship, Physical abuse, Abandonment, Death of parent, Toxic relationship, and Violence

arayo's review

challenging mysterious tense fast-paced

• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse and Death of parent

Moderate: Gun violence, Physical abuse, Toxic relationship, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, Grief, Eating disorder, Chronic illness, Animal death, Terminal illness, and Body horror

merlinwinter's review

challenging dark mysterious 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? It's complicated

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Toxic relationship, Sexual assault, Physical abuse, Emotional abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Death of parent, Sexual violence, Rape, and Domestic abuse

Moderate: Animal cruelty