Reviews tagging 'Blood'

The Crane Husband by Kelly Barnhill

33 reviews

daniellekat's review

challenging dark emotional fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated

4.5

Beautiful and simple but the writing often surprised me with its power of capturing certain moments and feelings. I loved the added element of the not-too-far-future dystopian environment. Overall, a stunning novella with an interesting perspective on a tragic and all too common experience. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Domestic abuse, and Terminal illness

Moderate: Death of parent

Minor: Blood

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

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

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

ellekiriel's review

challenging dark emotional reflective sad medium-paced

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

4.75

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Content Warnings

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

rachelle_reads's review

dark emotional sad tense 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? Yes

4.0

I read this in one sitting, but I’ll be thinking about it for a while. The author deftly walks the reader down a murky road that crosses just over into futuristic fantasy from the stark reality of the present day.  Sometimes that takes the edge off the violence in the book; sometimes, the bizarreness makes everything that much more nauseating.

The images of the weaver stitching up her wounds will stick with me for a long time.

 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gun violence, Blood, Domestic abuse, and Death of parent

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

archaicrobin's review

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective 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

5.0

The Crane Husband is a dark and emotional tale of a 15 year old girl who is basically the parent to her 5 year old brother and irresponsibly selfish mother. She manages to just barely keep them all housed and fed by selling her mother’s tapestries and homemade cheese until her mother brings a new man around, which she often does, but this time he stays and he’s also a Crane.  The crane (or man) is abusive and soon her mother becomes obsessed with keeping the crane happy as her children slowly starve. The girl tries to save herself, her brother, and her mother in a situation where she is entirely alone. 

Everything in this novella was superb for me, the narrator, the writing, the pacing, the plot, I absolutely loved it. I had a personal connection with this one and immediately connected with the 15 year old narrator since I was also the sole provider for my younger siblings when I was 14 and on. Making sure they’re fed, in bed, happy, and cared for. Lying to social workers when they came to visit out of the sheer terror I’d never see these kids that were like my own again. This book touched on a lot of trauma for me, but that’s one of the reasons it struck me in such a powerful way. One of my favorite books of 2023 by far!!

Sometimes Mothers fly away, and we’re left picking up their messes. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Abandonment, Gaslighting, Grief, Animal cruelty, Blood, Physical abuse, Death of parent, Child abuse, and Chronic illness

citrus_seasalt's review

dark mysterious slow-paced

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

3.5

 I liked the writing, the narrative fit very well inside the novella format and didn’t feel crammed in. The plot stays within the magical realism/fantasy genre, but borders on horror and I wondered at times if it was also meant to be a thriller with its tone.  This was easy to breeze through in an hour or two due to both the actual writing and the book’s length, but my reading experience nor perception was anything to write home about. (Then again, that might’ve been my headspace was piss poor.)

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Death of parent, and Domestic abuse

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Blood, Cancer, Injury/Injury detail, and Sexual content

Minor: Gun violence

huntress's review against another edition

dark mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

2.75

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Content Warnings

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