Reviews tagging 'Child death'

Picnic at Hanging Rock by Joan Lindsay

24 reviews

picnicatthehangingtree's review against another edition

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dark mysterious reflective sad tense slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

Beautifully written and atmospheric
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s_l's review

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adventurous challenging dark mysterious tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

I liked it and it was pretty interesting, and emotionally it did have a clear ending
I don't think it was built correctly for the ending it had (which - yeah, there was another chapter that got cut, I guess the plan was a bit different), and it's more about the life of people around the disappearance rather than the actual mystery itself but it was still a nice read
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edamamebean's review against another edition

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challenging dark 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? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

I’ve been wanting to pick this up for at least three or four years. It was just as good, if not better, than I hoped it would be. Lovers of open-shut mysteries won’t like it very much, as it leaves you with more questions than answers, but those questions linger long after the last page. This one will definitely stick with me and I won’t be surprised if I end up reading it again someday. 
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rebeccafarren's review against another edition

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dark mysterious sad tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.5

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mfrisk's review against another edition

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mysterious tense slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

2.0

I wish I liked this read more than I did. The backstory of the book itself and even the movie and tv series to me are far more interesting and add more depth to the story. This book has beautiful writing and is very visual in nature but this and the mystery itself is filled down by all the side plots and elements I didn’t care about. I wish this had been a novella and that the focus was narrowed to less characters. In essence this book had a good base idea to it but the pacing was incredibly slow and didn’t take the idea much further. 
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vif's review against another edition

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dark mysterious fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? No
  • 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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chiaralestino's review against another edition

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

4.0

I really enjoyed the flow of the story and the mystical energy surrounding the setting, which was really impactful as a result of effective imagery. A mix of intricate and vague details gave the book a somewhat fantastical backdrop despite being set in rural 1900s Australia. It was interesting to me how the events of the book really contrasted the vestal symbols of the young girls' white dresses, flowers and vanity. 
The book definitely had moments where it lost its magic for me, however the writing never felt boring. I still wish it was creepier throughout the whole text. Another reason why it isn't more than 5 stars is because it felt like it has very obvious flaws that are characteristic of white-Australian writing from the past. Despite this, I expected it to be worse so it's a nice surprise that I enjoyed it.
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elzbethmrgn's review against another edition

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dark mysterious tense slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.5

Mysterious mystery is mysterious
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simone_ebony's review

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challenging dark mysterious 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

5.0

Although the writing at times felt almost deliberately full of jargon, I think the end really saved it from being about a 3 and a half. As soon as
Dora Lumley died, it really took a turn for the better and I really enjoyed the end. The suspenseful and mysterious atmosphere was very well crafted and I think I'll be thinking about this book for a long time. I see why its a classic
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machenn's review

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dark mysterious tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

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