Reviews tagging 'Child death'

The Rose Code by Kate Quinn

80 reviews

megritchey's review against another edition

adventurous emotional hopeful informative sad slow-paced

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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: War, Mental illness, Medical trauma, Grief, Forced institutionalization, Child death, Sexual assault, and Death

Moderate: Cancer, Racism, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail, Religious bigotry, and Racial slurs

Minor: Abortion, Excrement, Antisemitism, Genocide, Blood, Suicide, and Pregnancy

catherine_t's review against another edition

adventurous emotional 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? It's complicated

4.0

Three very different women find purpose working at Bletchley Park during World War II. Osla Kendall is a Canadian-born debutante who fled cousins in Montreal for London so she could join the fight and do her bit. Mab Churt is a Londoner who's struggled to put her past behind her, looking for the next rung on the ladder that will lift her out of the poverty she grew up in. Beth Fitch is a mousy spinster under her domineering mother's thumb. Together, they join the women and men breaking codes to win the war. 

But there's a traitor in their midst, and only Beth can crack the code to learn their identity...

I can't say I enjoyed this book as much as the last one of Quinn's I read. I figured out who the traitor was early on, and basically read through to the end to see if I was right. In fact, barring one twist, I saw everything coming. I'm not sure if I'm particularly sharp or if the twists were just that obvious.

I'm also not sure that Quinn realizes that Canada declared war on Germany just days after Great Britain did, from the attitudes she has Osla express. Women here might not have been building bombers, but they were definitely building bombs for the bombers to drop, among other important war work. (And yes, some of them worked in intelligence--even as spies for the Allies.) 

I didn't dislike The Rose Code. I liked the characters, especially Beth, who had the most dramatic transformation, from beaten-down woman dominated (even abused) by her mother to brilliant code-breaker with a life of her own. Overall, it was an enjoyable read.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Forced institutionalization, Bullying, Child death, Grief, and Physical abuse

jennp28's review against another edition

emotional informative inspiring 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? No

5.0

A fascinating story of secrets, friendship, love, treason, and code breaking during WWII. And an interesting connection to the royal wedding! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief and War

Moderate: Child death, Forced institutionalization, and Xenophobia

Minor: Infidelity

jbpalumbo's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark informative inspiring mysterious medium-paced

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

4.25

A sweeping historical war-time novel; almost a math geek's League of Their Own. I enjoyed learning about an aspect of WWII history that I had not previously heard about. I also thoroughly enjoyed coming along for the ride of the (fictionalized) rise, fall, and rise again of a trio of war-time friends. As one would expect with a novel set in England during WWII, there is a fair amount of discussion around loss and violence. As the book is centered on a trio of women, the loss and violence they experience is, to a certain degree, reflective of their gender and the patriarchal constructs of the time, though I do appreciate the author's challenge to these experiences. There was just enough romance blended into the book and a solid HEA/HFN for each of the primary characters to keep it from being a complete, war-time downer, though please do read through the content warnings if you have any sensitivity to specific issues because, in more than 600 pages, pretty much every type of loss/traumatic experience is explored to some degree. I did not love that the character coded as autistic ends up spending

three and half years in a mental institution

, even if it was completely irrelevant to their neurodiversity. It just felt kind of ick. Though I, overall, enjoyed the character development, after about 500 pages, had to chuckle at the neat twists that had to snap into place to get to the HEA/HFN. While improbable on balance, those twists make for a satisfying (if not slightly madcap) outcome to an interesting corner of well-fictionalized history. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Medical content, Grief, Forced institutionalization, Gaslighting, Confinement, Abandonment, Cancer, Classism, Child death, War, Violence, Sexual violence, Rape, Religious bigotry, Mental illness, Medical trauma, Death, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Blood, Body horror, and Bullying

Moderate: Xenophobia, Injury/Injury detail, Sexism, Torture, Terminal illness, Racism, Racial slurs, Islamophobia, and Infidelity

Minor: Vomit, Pregnancy, Panic attacks/disorders, and Abortion

The racism and islamophobia are challenged to a degree. There is also a favorable depiction of an open marriage where criticism thereof is challenged.

basil_plant's review against another edition

adventurous emotional mysterious tense medium-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

maybe the best book i’ve read so far this year!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Sexual assault, Forced institutionalization, Cursing, Child death, Confinement, Grief, War, and Sexual violence

sh543's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious sad slow-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: War, Gun violence, Grief, Panic attacks/disorders, Toxic relationship, Child death, Xenophobia, Blood, Chronic illness, Sexual harassment, Mental illness, Physical abuse, and Suicidal thoughts

Moderate: Emotional abuse, Death, Animal cruelty, Mental illness, Terminal illness, Hate crime, and Racism

julia_treat99's review against another edition

adventurous emotional inspiring mysterious medium-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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Forced institutionalization, Child death, and Death

Moderate: Grief, Sexual assault, and Sexual harassment

Minor: Alcohol, Xenophobia, Sexual content, Blood, Cancer, Genocide, Racial slurs, and War

bookingwithjanelle's review against another edition

adventurous emotional informative mysterious reflective 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? Yes

4.25

 This was a chonk! It took a good amount to read it, but the worth definitely makes up the wait. This is a great book for fans of historical fiction wrapped in the truth about all the work people did behind the scenes that they can never talk about and how that affecting them when the war ended.

It was a great look at three different women's lives as they grow up in a time of chaos, death, and secrets. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness

Moderate: Child death

writteninmagic's review against another edition

adventurous emotional funny informative inspiring fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes

5.0

As soon as I started reading, I was pulled into the story. It was fascinating to read about the main characters' lives and their roles as code breakers. I could feel the stress and pressures as they each had to rush to decode and translate encrypted messages during the war while also experiencing the camaraderie of working with the other people at Bletchley Park. They also realized they were capable of doing such important and fulfilling work. Since their work is classified to everyone else outside of their teams, they had to be secretive about it with other people and with each other.

Each character felt like their own person. I kept wanting to read to see what happened next.

Overall, the story was well written and I enjoyed learning a bit about the work that code breakers did at the time.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death and Child death

jenn_reads's review against another edition

adventurous emotional medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Forced institutionalization, Physical abuse, Death, and War

Moderate: Infidelity, Alcohol, Child death, and Rape

Gang rape, bombings, lobotomy