Reviews with content warning for Sexual content - Trespasses

Reviews tagging 'Sexual content'

Trespasses by Louise Kennedy

26 reviews

laedyred's review against another edition

dark reflective sad slow-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? Yes

2.5

I was strangely compelled to finish this book quickly, but I think that is due to some quality of the writing I haven't identified yet. The lack of quotation marks is strange and doesn't lend itself well to being a stylistic choice. Save one, I hated every single character. It seems we're supposed to be sad that

Michael is killed or that Cushla is finally free of shit abuse.

There's nothing redeemable about the love interest. I didn't leave this book feeling sad, because the "love story" is just two selfish people who are most definitely not in love. What was the author trying to say? What were we supposed to learn? Belfast was violent? Yeah, we know. Cheating is bad? Obviously. I didn't hate the book, but I don't understand how it made it to the shortlist.

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jennaz's review against another edition

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dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.25

I really enjoyed this book, though it took me a while to finish for some reason (I would read a good bit at once then put it down for a month). I love the writing style.

The suddenness of Michael Agnew’s death caught me off guard, though there were hints that he was in some kind of danger, it was simply a single sentence about it happening. Wasn’t as dramatic (like having Cushla find him or something) than I would’ve imagined.

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caitlin_123a's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

3.75

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qqjj's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional tense medium-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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kaddictwithapen's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful informative mysterious reflective sad tense fast-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

5.0

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itsnotsarah's review against another edition

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dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

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

2.5

The overall tone of this book is very depressing, which is not really surprising given the topic, but I would still advise against reading this book if you are currently not feeling so well already or if something traumatic has happened to you recently. Chances are pretty high that this one would make it worse (it did for me).
The heavy drinking and alcoholism of many characters was very triggering for me, but I had to read this book for one of my university classes. I think it is a good book, if you want to know what it felt like living in Northern Ireland during The Troubles, but otherwise just depressing and uncomfortable to read.
The main relationship also comes out of nowhere and he is double her age, which is not necessarily bad, but I personally didn’t like it. Especially since it’s also

an affair

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greatexpectations77's review against another edition

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dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-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? Yes

4.0

This one didn't upend my brain, but I liked it. I think it's an interesting look at survival during basically wartime. Everyone has to keep moving, but it also feels impossible to do so. I didn't love Cushla, but I don't think I had to, and maybe it created a nice separation to be able to look at the whole story. I DID love the precious little boy at school. And I do tend to like a little forbidden romance.

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