Reviews tagging 'Death of parent'

The Little Stranger by Sarah Waters

11 reviews

singalana's review against another edition

mysterious reflective tense slow-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? It's complicated

4.5

Kirjan kuvaus oli sen verran hämmentävä, että en oikein tiennyt minkä tyyppistä kirjaa olin alkamassa lukea: onko tämä jännityskertomus, salapoliisikertomus, romanssi vai kummitusjuttu? No, oikeastaan tämä on vähän niitä kaikkia.

Kirja sijoittuu 1940-luvun sodanjälkeiseen Englantiin. Kirjan päähenkilö, tohtori Faraday kutsutaan hoitamaan sairastunutta palvelustyttöä rappioituneeseen kartanoon. Faraday tututstuu perheeseen ja saa pian huomata, että kartanossa tapahtuu kummallisia asioita.

Tunnelmaa rakennetaan vähitelle ja se kantaa läpi kirjan. Kirjailija on onnistunut toteuttamaan mysteerin niin, että lukijan epäilykset säilyvät loppuun asti. Teosta on vaikea kuvata ilman että paljastaa tarinasta liikaa, mielestäni se kannattaa ehdottomasti kokea itse avoimin mielin. 

Tässä tarinassa on elementtejä, joista monet lukijat eivät välttämättä pidä, joten lista niistä spoilerilinkin takana. Mielestäni kaikki nämä elementit olivat kuitenkin paikallaan tässä kirjassa ja sopivat hyvin yleiseen tunnelmaan ja siihen, mitä kirjailija todennäköisesti tavoitteli.

• Kirja on yleissävyltään ahdistava, melkein masentava.
   
• Kirjailija rakentaa tunnelmaa hitaasti. Itse nautin tästä, mutta osa lukijoista saattaa olla sitä mieltä, että kirja on turhan pitkä ja tekstiä olisi pitänyt trimmata.
• Päähenkilö tohtori Faraday ei välttämättä ole samaistuttava hahmo. Hän tuntuu "gaslightaavan" hahmoja. Lisäksi hän painostaa perheenjäseniä tekemään asioita mitä he eivät halua.
• Kirjan loppu jätetään eräällä tavalla avonaiseksi. Jos tällaisista lopusta ei tykkää, saattaa loppuratkaisuun pettyä.

Kansi: Kirjan kansi voisi olla parempi jos ylimääräiset elementit otettaisiin pois ja jätettäisiin vain kartano ja värimaailma.

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Content Warnings

Minor: Medical content, Alcohol, Gaslighting, Mental illness, Sexual content, Death of parent, Injury/Injury detail, Fire/Fire injury, Suicide, Blood, Self harm, Classism, Death, Grief, Animal death, and Child death

moemore's review

medium-paced

3.5

Previously, I’ve read Waters’ Tipping the Velvet and had expected something similar. This is not that. But, it does show how excellent talent for storytelling because while I found most of these characters irritating I was still engaged. However, the very end seemed to peter out into just normal Faraday protective snobbishness as to be an utterly maddening end to a book that I still wanted to like to the very end. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide, Sexual harassment, and Death of parent

nikii_js's review

mysterious sad tense slow-paced

• 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

2.5

Personally, not it for me - I had to read it as part of an assignment. The writing style is good, but i think the writer kind of missed with this one. I kind of thought the overall storyline was slow and slightly convoluted to me & the narrative style just felt quite dull, and stopped me from being able to enjoy the book.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Forced institutionalization, Body shaming, Death of parent, and Mental illness

Moderate: Misogyny, Toxic relationship, and Suicide

Minor: Child death and War

exhumedprince's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad tense slow-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Death of parent, Forced institutionalization, Animal death, Grief, and Suicide

Moderate: Racial slurs, Alcoholism, Classism, and Medical content

Minor: Child death and Self harm

jaren's review

dark mysterious tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Death of parent, Death, and Suicide

saltedsnail's review

dark emotional mysterious slow-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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide, Death of parent, Mental illness, Animal death, Self harm, Death, and Forced institutionalization

Moderate: Child death

sofipitch's review

dark mysterious slow-paced

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

3.75

Pretty boring and predictable for a haunted house story. I didn't much care for any of the characters, no strong feelings one way or another, the horror elements weren't strong

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Death of parent, Suicide, and Mental illness

Moderate: Child death

annaki_laila's review against another edition

mysterious slow-paced

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

2.5

A gothic novel that forgets it's  supposed to be a gothic novel. The first third is promising, the supernatural elements begin to appear and the suspense is there. Then halfway through, the narrator swiftly becomes unlikeable as he initiates a relationship with one of the main characters (with an age gap of over a decade and some generally uncomfortable vibes). The relationship should've been a subplot at most, but it begins to take up far too many pages, and as it continues the narrator just gets more and more selfish and irritating. I began skim-reading some parts at this point because there were so many pages of stuff that was annoying and unrelated to the whole supernatural plot. Having finished the book now, I can safely say that the relationship being romantic was unnecessary. Whatever overarching points about class were being made (which weren't as strong as I thought they'd be based on the blurb anyway) could've been made with the relationship being purely platonic. Anyway!! Rant over, save your time and probably just don't read this book, or read it with lowered expectations, because it really doesn't contain much 'gripping' or 'chilling' content like the blurb describes.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Forced institutionalization, and Suicide

Moderate: Alcohol, Animal death, Grief, Medical content, Panic attacks/disorders, and Self harm

Minor: Sexual assault and Racial slurs

digitalroses's review

dark mysterious sad tense slow-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

Graphic: Child death, Death, Grief, Animal death, Death of parent, and Suicide

Moderate: Panic attacks/disorders, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Medical content

Minor: Cursing, Fire/Fire injury, Racial slurs, and War

caseythereader's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad medium-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Animal death, Blood, Child death, Cursing, Death, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Forced institutionalization, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Panic attacks/disorders, Self harm, Suicide, and Vomit