Reviews tagging 'Injury/Injury detail'

Songbirds by Christy Lefteri

3 reviews

yvo_about_books's review against another edition

emotional reflective sad medium-paced

3.25

Finished reading: July 28th 2024

"Children search in our eyes to discover the world. When they see happiness or joy or love there, then they know that these things exist."

I really enjoyed The Beekeeper Of Aleppo back when I read it in 2021, and after I saw Nicki mention Songbirds I decided to add it to my 20 Books Of Summer TBR. I loved the sound of the Cyprus setting and the disappearance of the maid had me intrigued... The resulting story didn't quite hit the mark like my first experience with her work though. Songbirds is by no means a bad read and I can see why others love it, but there were a couple things that prevented me from fully enjoying it. I did love the many descriptions of the setting; it really made the island come alive and made me wish I could visit myself. The story also briefly travels to Sri Lanka in the form of Nisha's memories, which was a bonus... I also liked how the story shines a light on the issues foreigners have to deal with, and how the story of the missing maids was based on facts. BUT. The story also had a considerably slow pace and nothing much was happening to solve Nisha's disappearance for most of the book. I felt a bit disappointed that instead there was a LOT of focus on the songbird poaching including detailed descriptions of the animal cruelty involved. The scenes at the red lake with the hare were likewise a distraction and not exactly pleasant to read... Especially since it seemingly has nothing to do with the plot. I liked the dual POV, switching between Petra and Yiannis to help learn more about Nisha. Nisha's diary likewise gave some insight... But the fact that neither makes much effort to find Nisha makes you wonder if they really cared about her after all. The ending was both rushed and lackluster, and it felt more like an afterthought rather than a satisfying conclusion to Nisha's disappearance. If you want to try one of her books, I would definitely suggest picking up The Beekeeper Of Aleppo first. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Cancer, Death, Domestic abuse, Gun violence, Infidelity, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racism, Sexual assault, Slavery, Toxic relationship, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Vomit, Grief, Medical trauma, Murder, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Abandonment, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

sadiaa's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious

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

4.75

The ending is realistic and heartbreaking,

it doesn't sugarcoat that the world is a cruel place. I liked the way the mystery of Nisha's disappearance was misdirected, we initially are led to believe it was one of the men in her life and we find out that it was actually a soldier. We are reminded of the atrocities that soldiers commit when overseas, a fact that is often skipped over in historical fiction.

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child death, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Sexual assault, Violence, Blood, Grief, Murder, Pregnancy, Gaslighting, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Minor: War

linguaphile412's review

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad 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

5.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Miscarriage and Blood

Minor: Cancer, Domestic abuse, Sexual assault, and Injury/Injury detail