Reviews tagging 'Car accident'

Notes on an Execution by Danya Kukafka

14 reviews

chels_ro's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad fast-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? Yes

4.5

a beautifully written story on the nature of a serial killer through the lens of the women across his life. Kukafka questions how an individual’s choices make up their morality, the hopeful and obsessive idea of parallel universes, and the damage of making serial killer stories so consumable.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Rape, and Abandonment

Moderate: Murder

Minor: Alcoholism, Drug use, Racism, Police brutality, Grief, Stalking, Car accident, and Death of parent

ashleymg99's review against another edition

challenging dark reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

This was a book i was skeptical about. as a former true crime junkie, i’ve grown weary of the way we talk about real life tragedy, as if it’s a piece of salacious gossip. Too many times are cases talked about callously, carelessly, and real people suffer because of this.

What drew me to true crime is the curiosity of “What makes a person do THAT?” and anyone who spends any amount of time will have a lot of answers, patterns that we look for that have clearly damned theses poor monsters. Abusive parents, a hit to the head at a young age, various traumas that explain away why they weren’t quite right in the head. 

At first, I was afraid that Notes was going to focus on the wasted brilliance of Ansel Packer, the evil genius who got away with murder, until he didn’t. A poor child who never had a chance to be anything but tragic. but what was surprisingly refreshing was that as you go on, the book gives him no grace. He is revealed to be exactly what he is, middling intelligence, cruel, selfish, and ultimately, a man who is nothing special. 

There are millions of men out there who want to hurt women—people seem to think that Ansel Packer is extraordinary, because he actually did.

I devoured this book. while this is not based on a real crime, the story is not far from not just one, but dozens, hundreds of real life cases. It handles every character with care and grace, even Ansel, in the end, in a way he doesn’t deserve. He’s give the voice that his victims don’t have, and realizes that just the fact that he could have been good in another time and place  isn’t enough to undo the evil he’s done in the here and now. 

This is not a crime drama, a whodunnit mystery, or an exploration of the twisted mind of a serial killer. it is the stories of many fractured individuals, weaving together a tragic fabric that urges the reader to reflect on life, death, justice, and humanity. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death and Abandonment

Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Racism, Violence, Car accident, Murder, and Pregnancy

justinareads's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad 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? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Violence, and Murder

Moderate: Car accident and Abandonment

vanessa_black_03's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional medium-paced

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

5.0

This book will make you think and think. It should be read by everybody who has ever thought about the person behind the unmistakable cloud of death by a killer. 
Shows us how circumstances lend to our making but justifying anything you do with it and not acknoledging a problem within you is all that makes the difference

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Suicide, Medical content, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Murder, Abandonment, and Alcohol

Moderate: Blood and Stalking

Minor: Car accident

imogenlj's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful reflective sad tense medium-paced

4.5

When I finished this I felt like I'd been punched in my diaphragm- it's devastating, righteous and empathetic, yet hopeful. I felt tense the entire time I was reading. I want to push this into the hands of anyone fascinated with True Crime and say 'Look! It's not about the killers!' It doesn't dwell too much on anything but this is a dark book so check trigger warnings if you're keen to avoid something.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Physical abuse, and Abandonment

Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child death, Death, Toxic relationship, Grief, and Murder

Minor: Drug abuse, Racism, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Police brutality, Car accident, and Death of parent

haileyeh's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious reflective sad fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• 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: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child abuse, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Physical abuse, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Grief, Medical trauma, Stalking, Murder, Pregnancy, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Child death, Misogyny, Racism, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Medical content, Car accident, and Abandonment

Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Gore, Xenophobia, Vomit, Islamophobia, Death of parent, and Alcohol

wholesomeghost's review against another edition

dark sad tense 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? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Physical abuse, Sexism, Toxic relationship, Violence, Stalking, and Murder

Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Cancer, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Grief, Car accident, Murder, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

desiderium_incarnate's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful reflective tense fast-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? Yes

4.75

There are millions of men out there who want to hurt women - people seem to think that Ansel Packer is extraordinary, because he actually did. 

This book was amazing! Yes it's incredibly dark and it hurts but it is so skillfully written and immersive and makes so much sense, I am pretty much in awe. The cover also makes so much sense when you read it and that's really cool. I didn't give it 5 stars because of a principle I have, if animals get unnecessarily hurt or die in a story, it isn't 5 stars,but yeah otherwise I fully recommend it. It really gives you a new perspective on the obsession people have with murderers or serial killers specifically - is the murderer really the most important thing about that? Is it most interesting, what made them like this? How their psyche works? What would be if they wouldn't have made those decisions? How they impacted the people around them and vice versa? 
The book is not pro death penalty or police it shows flaws in the system, it also isn't against reporting on serial killers, it is just in some ways a comfort, hope, warning and another perspective from death row as well as from impacted outsiders left behind and I think that is all it should be. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Cancer, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Police brutality, Grief, Stalking, Car accident, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Abandonment, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail

toofondofbooks_'s review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious tense slow-paced

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

5.0

This book was an absolute stunner. The writing was beautiful and the structure of the storytelling was just *so* the right way to do it that I felt spoiled with every page. Every character felt extremely real to me both in good and bad ways. This book asked so many questions and challenged me with every new piece of information. I loved the focus on the women affected by the main character's actions in this story as opposed to just the pov of the perpetrator and the themes that surrounded them. This was the most solid read that I've read in a long time. Absolutely brilliant.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Gore, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racism, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Stalking, Car accident, Death of parent, Murder, Abandonment, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail

augustinedreams's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Gore, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Blood, Grief, Murder, Abandonment, and Alcohol

Moderate: Bullying, Sexual content, Stalking, and Car accident