Reviews tagging 'Death of parent'

The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield

18 reviews

magpienicky's review against another edition

dark mysterious sad medium-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Physical abuse

Moderate: Death and Abandonment

Minor: Death of parent and Rape

siebensommer's review against another edition

adventurous mysterious reflective slow-paced

• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Abandonment, Death of parent, Forced institutionalization, and Mental illness

valentinavl's review against another edition

dark mysterious medium-paced

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

2.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Child death, and Incest

Moderate: Death of parent and Pregnancy

Minor: Domestic abuse

amlombardo13's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious reflective sad medium-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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Incest, Bullying, Pregnancy, Murder, Sexual violence, Mental illness, Infidelity, Abandonment, Child abuse, Toxic relationship, Sexual assault, Rape, Grief, Death of parent, Torture, Injury/Injury detail, Forced institutionalization, Fire/Fire injury, and Death

buildingtaste's review

dark emotional mysterious slow-paced

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

3.75

The Thirteenth Tale is a satisfying gothic send-up, complete with name drops of all the usual 19th-century suspects. However, by placing all the dark twists in the distant past, Setterfield keeps the book from being too tense; like the narrator, readers are encouraged to approach the story-within-a-story as a puzzle, and the "present" action is mostly sedate. Still, with its laundry list of grim events, this one is not for the faint-hearted. Mind the content warnings!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Gun violence, Terminal illness, Child abuse, Eating disorder, Medical trauma, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Bullying, Child death, Fire/Fire injury, Forced institutionalization, Incest, Mental illness, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Suicide, Confinement, Death, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Excrement, Gaslighting, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Murder, Toxic relationship, Violence, and Vomit

Moderate: Pregnancy, Sexism, and Infidelity

Multiple relationships are codependent, violent, controlling and incestuous/bordering on incestuous.

Major characters are revealed to be the likely product of incest and rape.

Multiple violent and disturbing deaths, self-inflicted and by others. Some characters live in isolation and neglect their home; the decay and unsanitary conditions are described in detail. Terminal illness is a major plot point. The death of siblings and grief is a major plot point. A character is institutionalized. A character is confined for a medical/psychological experiment. Multiple characters are shown self-harming as children and adults.

A character attempts to murder an infant.

rtmn93's review

dark emotional mysterious reflective 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Incest, Grief, Death of parent, Mental illness, Rape, Forced institutionalization, Pregnancy, and Toxic relationship

lskr's review

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Mental illness, Death, and Child abuse

Moderate: Incest

dragonaion's review

adventurous dark emotional mysterious reflective sad 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? Yes

5.0

This isn't my usual genre (fantasy or historical fiction), and when I started the book I was skeptical. However, the storytelling not only kept me reading, but set me down new paths that were completely unexpected and a delight to discover. The story itself is also darker than most, but it was well placed and not excessive; the story is told in such a way I'm certain that someone, somewhere, knows these lives very well.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Fire/Fire injury, Domestic abuse, Addiction, Self harm, Emotional abuse, and Incest

Minor: Physical abuse, Bullying, Death, Mental illness, Adult/minor relationship, Excrement, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Ableism, Death of parent, Grief, Pregnancy, Rape, and Toxic relationship

This is meant for an adult audience and has a lot of dark themes within one family that is absolutely unhealthy mentally, physically, and emotionally.

rachel1's review

dark mysterious 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? No

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Fire/Fire injury

Moderate: Child death, Forced institutionalization, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Incest, Pregnancy, and Terminal illness

Minor: Death of parent

bre88's review

dark mysterious sad slow-paced

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

4.0

It’s not for everyone and a book I would need to read a couple times to catch everything. You have to power through the first couple of chapters but the book does become immersive and I don’t regret reading it. There’s multiple layers of stories and you feel yourself chasing to keep up like the protagonist.  I can’t say it was the best thing I’ve ever read; however, I can’t stop thinking about the story and characters. It was interesting and challenging and the kind of book you need to discuss with a friend. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Medical trauma, Medical content, Fire/Fire injury, Abandonment, Grief, Violence, Child death, Death of parent, Toxic relationship, Terminal illness, Death, Mental illness, and Bullying

Moderate: Sexual violence, Child abuse, Forced institutionalization, Pregnancy, Sexual assault, Rape, Incest, and Self harm

Minor: Animal cruelty