Reviews tagging 'Death of parent'

Horse by Geraldine Brooks

18 reviews

marycage's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative sad tense medium-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Racism, Rape, Slavery, Police brutality, Murder, and War

Moderate: Death of parent

chelle22's review against another edition

challenging hopeful inspiring tense

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Genocide, Gun violence, Hate crime, Infidelity, Misogyny, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Slavery, Torture, Violence, Blood, Police brutality, Medical content, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, Cultural appropriation, Alcohol, War, and Pandemic/Epidemic

jourdanicus's review against another edition

emotional reflective medium-paced

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

3.75

I'm finding it so hard to rate this book. 

Based on the summary and my past experience with the author, I figured this would be a resounding 5⭐ read for me. The going was really good, and I loved the writing style. Having multiple narrators made the audiobook so engaging (although the English narrator for Theo has an awful American accent... Lol, sorry).

But... I just... Felt that the ending was SUCH a flop. Maybe I'm spoiled on having happy endings from reading so much romance, I don't know...

Aside from the ending, I mainly have complex feelings on how the topic of race was handled in this book. There was so much detail and sensitivity, and yet... Not a lot of nuance? I know from the Afterword that Brooks really did her research for this book, including having Black early readers, which is good to do. But there were still some parts that felt a little forced. And then (back to my problems with the ending)

to kill Theo off, in a police shooting no less?

Like... Why? I'm not against tragedy in a story, but tragedy that seems to serve no purpose to the plot? Okay, maybe that was the point, since police violence against Black people is so senseless in real life. But I was then made uncomfortable by the focus shifting to Jess's awkward grief and white guilt over the whole thing.

I wish the end hadn't soiled the rest of the book for me, because really it was an interesting, uncommon story, beautifully told. It just needed a stronger finish.

I'm off to look up nonfiction accounts of Black equestrians now!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism and Slavery

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Death, Gun violence, Police brutality, Death of parent, Murder, and War

Minor: Racial slurs, Grief, Alcohol, and Pandemic/Epidemic

whiteraven191's review against another edition

1.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Slavery, and Police brutality

Moderate: Death of parent

clairebartholomew549's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional informative reflective medium-paced

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

3.0

I have really mixed feelings about this book. On the one hand, I loved the storyline with Jarrett - it was so richly told and sketched an era of time I don't know much about, from a perspective that is not given much air time. I found the deep diving into 1860s horse racing incredibly fascinating, and I really enjoyed the science aspect of the modern-day storyline. But basically everything else about the modern-day storyline bothered me. Brooks completely forces Jess and Theo together - they have really no chemistry, and I don't really believe they'd have a romantic connection after she had a racist reaction to seeing him standing over what she thought was his bike - and their clashes about their differing backgrounds and perspectives feel incredibly ham-handed and forced. The ending is also completely abrupt, ridiculous, and useless, and really left a bad taste in my mouth.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Emotional abuse, Racism, Slavery, Violence, Grief, Death of parent, War, and Classism

lmcarr0314's review against another edition

dark sad slow-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

3.0

This book was okay, The story itself was good. The multiple POVs in this story were not my favorite and were a little confusing at times for me.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Slavery, and Police brutality

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, and War

Minor: Rape, Sexual assault, and Death of parent

mariposa517's review against another edition

challenging emotional reflective 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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Death, Gun violence, Infidelity, Racism, Slavery, Violence, Blood, Police brutality, Death of parent, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Alcoholism, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Xenophobia, Medical content, Abandonment, Alcohol, and War

Minor: Cursing, Islamophobia, Car accident, Pregnancy, and Fire/Fire injury

chickaboogawah's review against another edition

challenging emotional informative inspiring 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

I loved this book by Geraldine Brooks. She is such a great author, and she skillfully wove the various storylines together. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Gun violence, Hate crime, Racism, Slavery, Torture, Police brutality, Trafficking, Murder, Colonisation, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Minor: Death, Gore, Excrement, Death of parent, and Pandemic/Epidemic

mitchelldavis1997's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful informative fast-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? It's complicated

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gun violence, Hate crime, Physical abuse, Racism, Blood, Grief, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Murder, and War

ahorowitz25's review against another edition

informative

4.5

As a lifelong horse girl, I loved the way Brooks wrote about the horses and their people. I just couldn’t give the book five stars, however, because Jess and Theo’s relationship was just so awkward and totally unnecessary to the plot.

There was no reason it was necessary for Theo to be killed at the end, and it really distracted from Jarret and Lexington’s story — which is what I picked up the book for.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexual violence, Slavery, Violence, Police brutality, Trafficking, Death of parent, and War