Reviews tagging 'Murder'

The Crane Husband by Kelly Barnhill

12 reviews

booksthoughtsandtea's review

dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

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

4.5

This book shows the lengths older siblings will go to protect younger siblings, that love isn't enough to live on, the power of selfishness and selflessness, and the burden of grief. I wish this book had a more satisfying ending. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Cancer, Murder, Sexual violence, Terminal illness, Violence, Death of parent, Toxic relationship, Body horror, Emotional abuse, Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, and Grief

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

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

frfiallo's review

challenging dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Murder, Child abuse, Toxic relationship, and Domestic abuse

Minor: Terminal illness

bookmaddie's review

dark mysterious sad fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse and Murder

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

cryfest's review

dark emotional mysterious reflective fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Blood, Body horror, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Physical abuse, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, and Grief

luckylulureads's review

challenging reflective tense medium-paced

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

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Abandonment, Child abuse, Murder, Animal death, Blood, Misogyny, Cancer, Domestic abuse, Physical abuse, Sexual violence, and Injury/Injury detail

pagingmrsvarnum's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

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

4.25

The Crane Husband is a brilliant retelling of the Crane Wife myth, but it’s so much more than that. It’s an insightful novella (or would it be considered a short novel at just over 100 pages?) that explores the metaphorical - and literal - transformative nature of love and art. The narrator is the teenage daughter of a very disturbed woman who is trying to make sense of the unhealthy relationship she sees playing out between her mother and, yes, an actual crane.

Kelly Barnhill’s Newberry-winning book, The Girl Who Drank the Moon, is possibly my favorite middle grade novel of all time, so I went into this with high expectations. This book is completely the opposite of her middle grade works - it’s dark and without true restoration at the end. And yet, I still adored it. Barnhill is a master at using language to set a ton and to paint a picture. With this being such a short book, not a sentence is wasted. Every word packed a punch, and the overall result was a powerful story that asks difficult questions about love, sacrifice, art, duty, and family. This is the kind of book I can easily imagine discussing in one of my undergrad English classes; in fact, I could see it discussed in high school English classes and libraries as well. In fact, I wish I could attend a discussion on this novella, because I would love to hear other perspectives and interpretations! 

This book is not for everyone, but if you love magical realism, subversive texts, retellings of myths and folktales, or just stories that make you really think, then I would definitely recommend it!  

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse

Moderate: Murder and Violence

Minor: Child abuse