Reviews tagging 'Infidelity'

Small Pleasures by Clare Chambers

30 reviews

sundaybookclub's review against another edition

emotional hopeful lighthearted 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? No

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Confinement, Death, Infidelity, Mental illness, Rape, Terminal illness, Forced institutionalization, Grief, Medical trauma, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Pregnancy

Minor: Cancer

skudiklier's review against another edition

emotional mysterious reflective 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? It's complicated

4.75

I'm worried I'm too emotionally invested at the moment to be writing this review; I don't know how to write about how this book made me feel without writing about the ending. I'll spoiler warning it at the end here, but just know that all spoilers in it are very vague.

Overall I liked this book. I knew absolutely nothing about it going in--not the premise, not the genre, nothing. I picked it solely based on the cover. Throughout the first half of it I just felt a sort of rising tension, as I waited for the shoe to drop. This book was well-written and while the ending devastated me, I don't think it should have been changed. 

This book makes me want to read more by this author, because I really liked how well it showed tiny social things that feel hard to capture/explain but can make a real impact on how a situation feels or a relationship progresses. Small things that Jean worries over momentarily, that just felt really well-done. 

Honestly the ending just is so sad. I wasn't prepared. I wish I'd paid more attention to the dates so that I could have seen it coming. It makes sense as a story but I'm just too close to these characters right now, I feel too sad for them. It made it so I couldn't give this book five stars.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Death, Sexual assault, and Abortion

Moderate: Infidelity, Rape, Sexism, Sexual content, Antisemitism, Medical content, Dementia, Grief, Death of parent, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

Minor: Cancer, Incest, and Lesbophobia

train accident

fleursreads's review against another edition

adventurous mysterious relaxing medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

never thought a book about an investigation would be so relaxing

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Homophobia, Infidelity, and Medical content

Minor: Rape

biareads100's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad tense slow-paced

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

3.5

I'm so mad at this book. I hate it and love it at the same time. First of all the experience of reading this book was painful, the predictable plot, the pace how dark it was. But if you asked me to talk about this book now that I finished it i could talk for hours. I love the way it presented all the issues it raised. It truly made me think. Life comes with good things and bad things and we are here for the ride.

it talks about being a spinster, having the perfect societal life that you hate vs not having the perfect societal life and hating your life, having to take care of your parents more than they did of you( and the mother the real villain of the story egoism, being lonely yet never being free, being loved but never being able to love back, amazing amazing. We need to talk about the ending. Based on the dark ending of the miracle birth we can assume Howard's story took the darkest route. They did leave the Gretchen story open ended, as that guy was never sure to be the father so Howard could be injured or one of the survivers but again the book doesn't shy away from pain. Still i would've hoped after such a biter sweet book not to get the literal worst ending. Also nice nod to the fact he felt old like it's a bad thing when some people arent blessed to get to that age.

i can talk volumes about this book but the ending and the pacing would make me not recommend it

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Chronic illness, Confinement, Grief, Car accident, and Abortion

Moderate: Cancer, Infidelity, Mental illness, Medical content, Dementia, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

Minor: Rape

rosalynemily's review against another edition

emotional mysterious reflective medium-paced

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

4.75

I would be giving this book 5 stars, no question if it wasn't for <the ending, which I found unnecessarily heartbreaking! The book was perfectly finished without this heartbreaking final event, and it just seemed to be unnecessary upset for the reader to endure!> 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Cancer, Confinement, Death, Infidelity, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Terminal illness, Medical content, Dementia, Grief, Medical trauma, Abortion, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Pregnancy

ilinki's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• 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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Chronic illness, Infidelity, Rape, and Abortion

Moderate: Medical content and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

Minor: Death

alisonannk's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious 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? No

2.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Chronic illness, Confinement, Death, Mental illness, Misogyny, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Toxic relationship, Blood, Medical content, Medical trauma, Abortion, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Pregnancy, and Abandonment

Moderate: Body shaming, Cancer, Homophobia, Infidelity, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Dementia, Grief, Lesbophobia, Outing, Toxic friendship, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail

bibliothecolle's review against another edition

mysterious reflective 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? Yes

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Infidelity and Abortion

Minor: Animal cruelty, Rape, Sexual content, Dementia, and Lesbophobia

esw's review against another edition

emotional lighthearted relaxing medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.0

This is a lovely read for anyone in S.E London. Being familiar with the areas the characters visit really adds another layer to the enjoyment. It was the first I've felt so in tune with the characters in a book just on locality.

As for the plot, it's okay. Predictable in areas, but it shines best on Chamber's depiction of the titular Small Pleasures. While the characters may not be incredibly complex in areas, it makes up for it by them being genuinely sweet. It's a novel dealing in the sweetness of intimacy and learning to love.

Now for the ending.

The ending can make or break the book, and frankly it broke it for me in a 4 hour binge. It's both predictable and sudden and overall really unsatisfying when so many expectations have been built. In short, Jean can't catch a W. I feel the ending might have been stronger if it ended happier, even if the events of the ending still happened or were slightly altered. In addition, the truth of Gretchen's pregnancy felt easy to predict. I don't exactly know how it could have been done without feeling so obvious, but it was expected and didn't throw me through many loops. I did enjoy the reveal of Gretchen being a lesbian.

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Content Warnings

Minor: Cancer, Death, Drug use, Infidelity, Rape, Abortion, and Death of parent

heliaroghani's review against another edition

emotional hopeful lighthearted mysterious reflective relaxing sad slow-paced

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

2.75

For me, this is a complicated book to review. On one hand, I loved the comforting aspects of the story; just the general feeling of warmth I got by reading about Jean performing daily household tasks and giving elaborate descriptions of food. That, I really enjoyed.

However ... the ending. I mean ... what? I was shocked, but not in a good way. I felt like I had read the author's attempt to end her story in a shocking, sad, and tragic way; all of that, but in a way that completely missed the mark. Not only did my shock dwarf the upset I should have felt, but the main plot, its conclusion was almost completely erased. One can explain that away with the ending, but it still felt very incomplete. Reading a whole book to discover the mystery of parthenogenesis ... for what? I don't even know.

Anyway, I really wish I could give this a higher rating. I really wanted to like it, having read it based off the recommendation of one of my favorite booktubers. Looking back, though, I should have paid more attention to their emphasis of an odd ending. The conclusion of a story usually makes or breaks it for me.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Infidelity, Abortion, and Pregnancy

Minor: Alcoholism and War