Reviews tagging 'Violence'

The Crane Husband by Kelly Barnhill

28 reviews

lcg527's review

dark sad tense fast-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence and Domestic abuse

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

devynreadsnovels's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual violence, Animal death, Blood, Death, Abandonment, Injury/Injury detail, Physical abuse, Terminal illness, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Sexual assault, and Violence

Moderate: Child abuse, Mental illness, Cancer, Eating disorder, and Grief

pm_me_book_recs's review

dark emotional mysterious 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

4.0

Heartbreaking; a tale of neglect, abuse, and violence, but also about gaining self-agency and powerful enduring love.

This one may be a tough read for those who had to grow up to early and became sibling-parents due to neglect, or anyone who has survived domestic violence. Multiple times this little story had me ugly crying. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness, Abandonment, Body horror, Bullying, Child abuse, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Gaslighting, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Misogyny, Murder, Physical abuse, Toxic relationship, and Violence

clstrifes's review

challenging dark emotional tense medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Death of parent, and Sexual violence

Moderate: Animal death

Minor: Murder and Violence

thelittle_seokmin's review

challenging dark emotional sad medium-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Animal cruelty, Body horror, Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Physical abuse, Toxic relationship, Violence, Injury/Injury detail, Animal death, and Blood

Moderate: Eating disorder

Minor: Addiction, Alcohol, and Alcoholism

bubblegirl858's review

challenging mysterious sad tense slow-paced

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

3.0

Kelly Barnhill loves to turn people in creatures. The transformation aspect seems to be a recurring theme of her books. I didn’t like this book as much just due to how awful every single character was. No one made it out unscathed in the end which is just so heartbreakingly sad. The crane was a dick. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Violence, Domestic abuse, Toxic relationship, Physical abuse, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Sexual content

triciajk's review

challenging dark emotional sad tense

5.0

The Crane Husband will tear you to shreds. It is violent and wrenching and filled with truths the way most good fairy tales are. The main character remains nameless throughout the story, her invisibility a product of her neglect as she becomes the caretaker for her family. This is a story of sacrifice, a story of abuse, a story of generational trauma, a story of the effects capitalism and monopolization can have on working families. Barnhill weaves all of these themes into her story, the story of a nameless girl disillusioned by the harshness of the world too soon as she finds her own path to survival. At the end, the reader is left to deal with the pieces as they fall.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Domestic abuse, and Violence

Moderate: Sexual violence and Blood

reading_rainbow_with_chris's review

dark mysterious fast-paced

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

3.75

“The Crane Husband” by Kelly Barnhill
At 15 years old, and mature for her age, a young girl in the Midwest carries far more than her fair share of household duties in the wake of her father’s death and her mother’s artistic impulses. But when her mother brings home a giant crane as her next lover, things in the house became far more tense than ever before.

In this tight 120 page tale, Kelly Barnhill has once again revealed herself as a master of magical realism. I pounced on this after having read her stunning novel “When Women Were Dragons” and devoured this in 24 hours. I do think it’s worth noting, however, that “The Crane Husband” has its fair share of flaws. If I sit and think through the experience with a critic’s eye, the pacing feels off for how quickly the major twist becomes apparent to the reader ahead of the characters. As a result, the suspense is not as effective. I also found myself at times incredulous at how skilled, how brilliant, how effective the protagonist was in roles well beyond her years or experience. Yet she was never found out. Somehow, this felt less believable than the giant crane lover. And yet, this story was riveting from start to finish and I absolutely loved the journey. It’s imperfect, but some of the best things in life are. Highly recommend for fans of magical realism tinged with a touch of horror.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Violence and Blood

Minor: Gun violence, Vomit, Sexual content, and Domestic abuse

its_thekla's review

challenging dark emotional slow-paced

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

4.0

For such a short book, this was not an easy read. It was dark and grim and difficult to stomach, topped with a vague sense of underlying discomfort throughout. The vibe was a weird mix of mildly dystopian, magical realism set in some Midwest adjacent town. 

There's not much you can really say about a book that's 140ish pages without spoiling anything, which would be a disservice to our unnamed narrator and her story. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Toxic relationship, Sexual assault, Violence, Murder, Gaslighting, Emotional abuse, and Child abuse