Reviews tagging 'Police brutality'

The Unmaking of June Farrow by Adrienne Young

9 reviews

rachelgreenreads's review

emotional mysterious reflective tense slow-paced

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

3.5

Pros

The prose style is done well overall if a little bit boring at times. 

The premise was interesting. 

The setting was well-described. 

Cons:

I was left with more questions than answers.

Reveals were so obvious from the beginning it was hardly ever satisfying/ surprising. 

The characters fell pretty flat. 

I have no reason to be convinced of the central romance and in fact, the LI had so many red flags I thought he might have been a villain. 

There’s a lot that goes unexplained- this would be fine if it simply required a suspension of disbelief, but some things introduced to the narrative felt random and superfluous because of the lack of explanation. 

Once again (I’m looking at you Addie LaRoux), we see a narrative of a white woman with a [insert specfic premise] who remains completely decontextualized from history or culture, and is not impacted by/ does not impact either. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gaslighting

Moderate: Police brutality and Domestic abuse

katievallin's review

dark emotional hopeful mysterious 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

4.75

This was so beautiful, and it's left an ache in me that feels a bit like grief.

I liked the time travel and amnesia tropes,

and the romance was so beautiful. I related to the small, southern town aspect even though I didn't grow up in Appalachia.

I'm sad that the only kind of Christianity that the Farrows were exposed to was the yucky kind, but I also related to a bit of the theology and attitudes from my own childhood.

This book makes me think about prejudices against people who are seen as odd and about the assumption that mental illness is always obvious.

I thought there wasn't really closure for June's friendship with Mason, which was a bit disappointing; but I also like that it wasn't wrapped up super neatly because that seems more realistic.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Death, Death of parent, Religious bigotry, Abandonment, and Murder

Moderate: Mental illness, Police brutality, Grief, Cursing, Sexual content, Domestic abuse, Stalking, and Alcohol

Minor: Pregnancy and Gun violence

melissaslibraryy's review against another edition

emotional hopeful mysterious reflective sad 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? Yes

4.5

This book is unlike any other I’ve read (or at least remember reading lol.) The magical realism was well written throughout the story and once I got over the initial confusion I felt, I knew I was hooked. While I’m aware the romance wasn’t a huge part of the story, I would’ve appreciated June and Aemond coming together more other than her relying on her memories for her to love him again.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Grief, Police brutality, Murder, Violence, Death of parent, Abandonment, Blood, and Injury/Injury detail

lindsayerin's review

adventurous challenging emotional mysterious slow-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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder and Abandonment

Moderate: Police brutality

Minor: Domestic abuse

aklovekorn's review

emotional 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? Yes

4.5

I really loved this! The writing and description of the setting is just so beautiful and magical and loved the concept and the woven timelines. If I had one complaint it would be that it just wrapped up a little too quickly - I would have loved it to be a little longer and just take a tiny bit more time getting through the ending!

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Blood, Death of parent, Murder, Domestic abuse, Police brutality, Death, Grief, and Misogyny

mandareads222's review

adventurous emotional hopeful mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

Moderate: Murder, Grief, Abandonment, Religious bigotry, and Death

Minor: Stalking, Sexual content, Death of parent, Police brutality, and Medical content

whatbeccareadnext's review against another edition

adventurous mysterious 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

5.0

Adrienne Young writes the most beautiful prose. I adored this novel. It was a little bit outside of my usual genre, but I was absolutely captivated by the mystery and magic of June's life. I read Adrienne's other adult novel 'Spells for Forgetting' when it came out last year and, although I did enjoy it, it wasn't something I found myself thinking about or wanting to read again. This story, however, had me hooked all the way through. It is relatively short, which helped keep the story moving at a good pace, and it is full of intrigue and mystery and just a dash of romance. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death and Blood

Moderate: Blood, Police brutality, Gun violence, Murder, Sexual content, Stalking, Death, Abandonment, and Death of parent

Minor: Pregnancy, Grief, Religious bigotry, Stalking, Gun violence, Police brutality, Gore, and Violence

gondorgirl's review

challenging emotional mysterious sad tense slow-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death, Grief, Dementia, Murder, Police brutality, Religious bigotry, Death of parent, and Stalking

chronicacademia's review

adventurous emotional hopeful mysterious reflective slow-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Domestic abuse, Abandonment, Death, Death of parent, Grief, Medical content, Physical abuse, Police brutality, Sexism, and Suicide