Reviews tagging 'Grief'

The Personal Librarian by Marie Benedict, Victoria Christopher Murray

17 reviews

readbycarina's review against another edition

emotional tense fast-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Medical trauma, and Abortion

Moderate: Misogyny, Sexual content, Slavery, Antisemitism, Grief, Pregnancy, Lesbophobia, Abandonment, and Alcohol

Minor: Death of parent and War

susannah_knox's review against another edition

emotional informative reflective medium-paced

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

3.5

I appreciated getting to know the real person behind the novel and this was an interesting, fun read... but I was not in love with the writing style.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Alcoholism, Death, Homophobia, Infidelity, Misogyny, Racism, Sexism, Antisemitism, Grief, Medical trauma, Abortion, and Alcohol

bookcasey's review against another edition

adventurous emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective slow-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism

Moderate: Antisemitism, Grief, Abortion, Lesbophobia, Abandonment, and Colonisation

Minor: Bullying, Slavery, Xenophobia, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Outing, Alcohol, War, and Classism

remie's review against another edition

emotional informative inspiring tense slow-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Racism, Sexism, Medical trauma, Abortion, and Alcohol

Minor: Death, Emotional abuse, Hate crime, Homophobia, Infidelity, Racial slurs, Racism, Slavery, Antisemitism, Grief, Death of parent, Outing, Abandonment, Colonisation, and War

libraryghost's review against another edition

emotional informative inspiring reflective medium-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism

Moderate: Antisemitism, Grief, and Abortion

erica_palmisano's review against another edition

emotional informative reflective 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

3.5

I'm not sure why I didn't connect with this book emotionally. The story certainly has lots of drama and tension baked in and seems quite well researched. I also appreciated the authors' notes about the inspiration and process of writing. I think perhaps the style of the book itself was just a mismatch for me. Too much dialogue (much of it flowery, as befits the period but still). There was a lot of overt exposition that I wish had been more deftly handled. I'd have preferred the narrative to flow over months and years without drawing so much attention to exact dates. And so often, I wondered: why draw an explicit conclusion when one could leave some mystery and room for doubt in characters' motivations? The narrative made all the subtext into text and thus had a didactic vibe. When comparing it to another book about a white-passing woman in "The Vanishing Half," which I read just a few months ago, I wished it had more the nuance of the latter. However, I'm not a big aficionado of historical fiction so perhaps that's me bringing my literary fiction expectations to a genre that has its own conventions. 

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Content Warnings

Minor: Infidelity, Racism, Sexism, Slavery, Toxic relationship, Antisemitism, Grief, Abortion, Outing, and Colonisation

kalin_grace's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional tense medium-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Racism, Sexism, Slavery, Antisemitism, Grief, Abortion, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Lesbophobia, and War