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iriwindel's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Graphic: War, Death, Gore, Abortion, Suicide, Blood, and Infidelity
Moderate: Vomit, Sexual content, Self harm, Pregnancy, Violence, and Medical content
Minor: Fire/Fire injury and Homophobia
minniepauline's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Graphic: Sexual content, War, Gore, Death, and Blood
steviaplath's review
- 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
Graphic: Suicide attempt, Death, Abortion, Blood, Suicide, Xenophobia, Child death, Injury/Injury detail, Infidelity, Homophobia, Lesbophobia, War, Violence, and Gore
Moderate: Classism, Medical content, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Transphobia, Abandonment, Death of parent, Antisemitism, Confinement, Toxic relationship, Cursing, Fire/Fire injury, Sexual content, Medical trauma, and Misogyny
Minor: Emotional abuse, Adult/minor relationship, Outing, Ableism, Miscarriage, Pregnancy, and Vomit
rieviolet's review against another edition
- 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
I do not question her writing style (she clearly is really a very accomplished writer) but I was left quite disappointed with the story itself.
I had a really hard time connecting with the characters and their relationships and even understanding their actions/motivations. Aside from Kay and Duncan a bit, for the others, I have to be honest, I cared very little and I was not much captivated by their storylines.
I'm not sure that I really understand the author's decision to rearrange the chronological order of the events, I do not think that it added to the story, quite the opposite actually.
In the first section you are thrown into the characters' circumstances without
knowing anything about how they got there and, at least for me, it made it hard to get through the story, it was difficult to understand and get close to the characters. I think that the end also suffered from this narrative choice; it felt quite abrupt and like we were left with nothing much in terms of a closure, just loose threads.
Lastly, be mindful of the trigger warnings, there were a couple of scenes that very really difficult for me to read, Helen's scene of self-harm was especially hard and upsetting.
Graphic: Abortion, Blood, War, Toxic relationship, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Sexual content, Sexism, Self harm, Panic attacks/disorders, Mental illness, Medical content, Infidelity, Injury/Injury detail, Gore, Grief, Fire/Fire injury, Death, and Child death
Moderate: Vomit, Suicidal thoughts, Pregnancy, Body shaming, Homophobia, Lesbophobia, and Classism
Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Antisemitism, Transphobia, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Genocide, Cursing, Excrement, and Ableism
abbie_'s review against another edition
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In this book we have Kay, Viv, Duncan, Helen and Julia, all with their own secrets and ties to one another. It’s an interesting structure, as we start in 1947, after the war has ended, and work back to 1941, so you sort of know the results before you know exactly what happened and how. Usually I’m not much one for wartime fiction but obviously this is a different angle (🏳️🌈) so I make the exception! It was actually super interesting to see how the war gave women new and more liberated roles, even as these terrible things were happening (as well as, gasp, being allowed to wear trousers 😱). She also wove in a storyline about the conscientious objectors to the war, which I’ve not read much about at all.
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It’s not quite as ~saucy~ as some of her other books, but really it wouldn’t be a Waters novel without a good sex scene or two 😏 Now that I’ve read them all, here are my rankings:
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1. Fingersmith
2. The Night Watch
3. Tipping the Velvet
4. The Paying Guests
5. Affinity
6. The Little Stranger
Graphic: Abortion, Blood, Death, Gore, Infidelity, Injury/Injury detail, Self harm, Suicide, and War
Minor: Racial slurs and Racism
nakutski's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
Graphic: Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Suicide, Self harm, Panic attacks/disorders, Medical trauma, Infidelity, Homophobia, Grief, Gore, Death, and Abortion
jamesflint's review
3.0
Graphic: Abortion, Self harm, Gore, and Suicide