Reviews tagging 'Child death'

Things in Jars by Jess Kidd

5 reviews

clarabooksit's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious medium-paced

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

3.5

I want to say I really enjoyed it because I did—I kept flipping back and forth between the audiobook and physically reading it because I couldn’t put it down—but I also thought parts of it were really disappointing.

I loved the main character, Bridie, and wanted to know everything about her and what her connection was to Ruby, the ghost who was haunting her/looking out for her. I loved the world-building—Kidd exquisitely uses all the senses to capture a time and place—the grungy, macabre Victorian medical setting, and the eeriness of how myth and man entwine and who really is the monster.

But the plot was predictable with clunky foreshadowing, and I didn’t care about the machinations of the other characters. I just wanted more Bridie and Ruby. There were also a few too many characters and not enough space given to properly flesh them all out. And while I dug the atmosphere overall, I do wish more explanations were given for the fantastical elements.

I don’t know. I liked it but the flaws nag at me. Maybe it was just so well paced that my enjoyment outweighed my disappointment. A perfectly paced book makes up for a lot.

If you like historical fiction with magical realism, potent world-building, characters you can root for and/or gothic vibes, then I’d say check this one out. But if you like to be surprised by mysteries, this one probably isn’t for you.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Child abuse, Violence, and Abortion

Moderate: Child death, Death, Gore, Misogyny, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Medical content, Kidnapping, Medical trauma, Murder, Sexual harassment, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Minor: Gun violence

foldingthepage_kayleigh's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense fast-paced

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

4.25

This book gave me Miss Fisher’s Murder Mysteries meets Alias Grace and The Quick. Much darker and more gruesome than I expected, definitely further on the Dickensian spectrum of the Victorian era. Loved the different storytelling perspectives throughout and I found the is or isn’t elements of magical realism kept me pretty engaged. So happy to have done this book as a buddy read with my mom @kirstensviews as I probably would’ve DNF’d this book without her as it took me about 1/3 of the book to get into the story and find my footing in Bridie’s world. But once I did, I was hooked! Just a heads up though—check the storygraph content warnings as there are many of them!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Drug use, Gore, Physical abuse, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Kidnapping, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

evnfig's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional mysterious sad tense 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? No

4.75

Reading this book was like building a relationship: at first things were slow and awkward but interesting, then things got easier and we grew to understand each other more, then, when finished, we parted having thoroughly enjoyed each other's company, hoping to see each other again someday.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Violence, Medical content, Kidnapping, and Stalking

Minor: Addiction, Child death, Confinement, Death, Suicide, Blood, Grief, and Alcohol

cactuswren's review against another edition

challenging mysterious sad medium-paced

• 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? No

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child abuse, and Child death

mandkips's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious sad tense medium-paced

• Strong character development? N/A
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No

2.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Child abuse, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Medical content, and Kidnapping