Reviews tagging 'Infidelity'

Lute by Jennifer Marie Thorne

15 reviews

nancydrew023's review against another edition

challenging dark hopeful mysterious 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? Yes

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death

Moderate: Gun violence, Blood, Murder, and Alcohol

Minor: Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Grief, Suicide attempt, Fire/Fire injury, and War

livlamentloathe's review

4.25

Jennifer Thorne does an excellent job introducing main characters who could so easily be unreliable. I won’t say if that exemplifies Nina. But I love how she creates secrets and tensions and allows the narrator to feel like maybe she IS the problem. For us to do the work of deciding. And then after the climactic event, the little traits that we never noticed paint a much more vivid picture. The details are great. And I loved the way Nina thought.

The Day built so well, but the novel never drifted as far into horror as I’d have liked. Also there are no predictions of death a la Final Destination the characters don’t “cheat death” by avoiding a particular fate. It reminded more of The Cabin in the Woods. [spoiler for movie:

The way they bet on who would die and which characters would trigger which events. And basically the conclusion was foregone but how the story played out depended on the individual players

.] But even so, it was very enjoyable. I went in thinking it would be one thing, which it was not. But I really enjoyed the soft ghostly story nonetheless.

Lute was a haunting story about community and resilience and love. About faith and trust and holding onto one another during dark times. And it's also a reminder that you should more fully understand someone before you marry them. Especially a man.

Does the dog die?

NO!! :)

P.S. fuck Hugh.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death and Grief

Moderate: Body horror, Gun violence, Infidelity, Toxic relationship, Violence, Gaslighting, Abandonment, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Alcoholism, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Car accident, and Death of parent

nrogers_1030's review against another edition

emotional mysterious sad tense

• 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Gun violence, Blood, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Alcohol

Minor: Infidelity, Suicidal thoughts, and Fire/Fire injury

mand_al_orian's review

dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child death, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Infidelity, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Mass/school shootings, Car accident, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Terminal illness and War

piendorabox's review

3.5

pack it up, Ari Aster

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Gun violence, Violence, and Suicide attempt

Moderate: Infidelity and Xenophobia

ayngeleastevens's review

emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child death, Cursing, Death, Gun violence, Infidelity, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Blood, Grief, Car accident, Death of parent, Murder, and War

rosemaryandrue's review against another edition

dark emotional tense slow-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? It's complicated

2.0

Nina Treadway is the lady of Lute, but she’s only lived there for seven years, since she got married to Hugh. As a foreigner, she doesn’t believe in the island’s day of the tithe, but as things start going wrong all around her, she wonders if it might be more than a superstition.

Folk horror! A mysterious day of human sacrifice as an island extracts the price of its bounty from its residents! An American abroad! And that cover is so very beautiful, and so very haunting. Alas, Lute didn’t really live up to my expectations.

This is quite an atmospheric read, and the author does a good job of painting a picture of Lute, an isolated, idyllic island that has sinister undertones at times. There’s a lot of talk of Lute “wanting” things, and the author convinced me enough that the island was alive enough to have a will of its own. The close knit community is vivid, the characters both minor and major who populate the island well-sketched.

However, I did think there were some odd choices made in the framing of the plot and setting that felt unnecessary and impacted my enjoyment. For example, there’s a lot made of Nina being unlucky, but her backstory when revealed was underwhelming. There’s apparently a third world war raging in this setting, but it has pretty much no impact on the story. I didn’t really feel Nina’s affection for her children and husband, which decreased any sense of urgency the reader might feel about their welfare.

I read the audiobook version of this book, which is narrated by Victoria Blunt. I thought she did a good job as Nina’s voice, sometimes soothing and sometimes direct. She elevated the story for me – I’m not sure I would have enjoyed it as much as I did had I read a physical version.

Disclaimer: I received an ARC of this book from NetGalley. This is my honest and voluntary review.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death and Gore

Moderate: Gun violence and Infidelity

Minor: Suicidal thoughts and Suicide attempt

carlywho's review

dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gun violence and Violence

Moderate: Suicide attempt and Murder

Minor: Infidelity and Vomit

batcaves's review

dark emotional sad medium-paced

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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death, Gun violence, Infidelity, Panic attacks/disorders, Violence, Blood, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Alcohol, War, and Injury/Injury detail

bookcaptivated's review

dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense 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

3.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Violence, Blood, Grief, Car accident, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Child death, Panic attacks/disorders, Self harm, Toxic relationship, and Alcohol

Minor: Ableism, Cancer, Child abuse, Infidelity, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Vomit, Dementia, and War