Reviews tagging 'Blood'

Chanson douce by Leïla Slimani

19 reviews

eve81's review against another edition

dark sad tense medium-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Racism, Violence, Blood, Islamophobia, Medical content, Murder, and Classism

meliemelo's review against another edition

dark tense 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

4.25

Après un premier chapitre qui tape fort, une étude de personnages nuancée qui prend son temps sans occulter le drame vers lequel on sait qu'on s'avance. J'ai trouvé la plume de Leïla Slimani intéressante et me suis volontiers laissée happer par le texte, même sans éprouver de grande sympathie pour les personnages. Cela m'a donné envie de lire davantage de romans francophones récents !

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body shaming, Child abuse, Child death, Mental illness, Suicide, Blood, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, and Toxic friendship

Moderate: Sexual content

weelasswithabook's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.0

CW child murder, racism, domestic abuse, child neglect, parental abandonment, attempted suicide

🌟 Domestic thriller
🌟 Translated work
🌈 Morrocan-French author

I don't even know what to say, but that was wild. 

Written in third person omniscient, The Nanny allows us to truly view the spiral that Louise ends up in, leading her to the crime she has commited, and the varying moments where it could have been prevented. 

There are such subtle point throughout the course of the book which are huge red flags that only us as observers can see, such as the hide and seek game, which made me so uncomfortable, even though it could be viewed as fairly irrelevant. Maybe it's because we knew how the story would unfold, maybe it's parental instinct, but I was uncomfy.

While the book is focused mainly on Louise's experiences, the touches on the kids parents, outside characters, people from Louise's past, we're able to form a fully rounded perception of Louise herself and it's chilling to watch it unfold when you know exactly the point that we end up at.

The prose was wonderful,  and I appreciated how it was written, although there are many other books with the same techniques I haven't liked, Leila Slimani seems to have hit the nail on the head and made it truly work for me. 

My only gripe is how ambiguous the ending was. I know some people love ambiguous endings (such as The Boy Who Loved Tom Gordon, where I loved the book but the ending made me scream into a pillow), but the frustration I feel is always to the extreme. This is a me problem, not an author problem, I just personally need a story fully rounded off and a resolution.

All in all this was extremely enjoyable and I was kept on the edge of my seat even though I knew exactly what was coming. I can definitely see why the author won an award for this. It felt like a unique telling of a common trope and I'm glad I gave it a chance. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Cursing, Death, Mental illness, Violence, Blood, Suicide attempt, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Racism, and Medical content

Minor: Bullying and Misogyny

schorlett's review

challenging dark mysterious reflective tense slow-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Mental illness, Suicide, Violence, and Murder

Moderate: Emotional abuse, Racism, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Xenophobia, Blood, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Abandonment, and Classism

Minor: Alcoholism, Vomit, and Pregnancy

veelaughtland's review against another edition

challenging dark sad tense 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? It's complicated

2.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Death, Mental illness, Self harm, Blood, Suicide attempt, and Murder

bullibulle's review against another edition

dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, and Death

Minor: Gore, Violence, Blood, and Suicide attempt

mandi4886's review against another edition

dark sad tense 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

2.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Blood, Grief, Suicide attempt, Murder, Pregnancy, Gaslighting, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Moderate: Misogyny, Racism, Sexism, Sexual content, Suicide, Xenophobia, Stalking, Pregnancy, and Toxic friendship

rakizaka's review against another edition

dark sad slow-paced

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

4.0

ending felt rushed

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Death, Violence, Blood, Suicide attempt, and Murder

Moderate: Fatphobia, Sexism, Transphobia, Xenophobia, Grief, Pregnancy, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Alcoholism, Eating disorder, Racial slurs, Sexual content, and Medical content

vaniavela's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Blood, Vomit, Murder, and Pregnancy

Moderate: Racism

missknown's review against another edition

dark reflective medium-paced

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

3.75

 Right before I pick up Lullaby I gave a quick glance over the reviews and a lot of people were complaining this is not a thriller, that the story is more of a character study. And they were right! This is NOT A THRILLER!! I'm going even a step further and say this is not even a mystery. You won't be on the edge of your seat while reading, you won't be trying to uncover what the characters are hiding because for the reader everything is laid out on the page.

Louise is a nanny of two little kids and the children are dead. Louise killed them. Then, the story goes back to when everything started and present the characters and their personalities. There isn't a tipping point when everything starts to go wrong or dark secrets are being hidden.

The story constructs itself on these characters. Their actions, their thoughts. As readers we see everything. And in the end, Louise is not seen as a victim in any way shape or form. She's still a killer, now a killer with a story.

As I was reading I was questioning myself in what genre this book should fall into. The story is slow to medium paced, there isn't any romance, no mystery, no thrilling, no drama. It's purely a story about characters. Although those characters represent the worst in humans. Not a single character is loveable. Some are just egotistical and others are abusers. But all of them represent a horrifying side of humans. And because of that and other small moments throughout the story, I would put this in the horror genre. In the mild side of horror, but in the genre nonetheless.

The gruesomeness of the crime, what some characters have gone through, some of the thoughts they all have, and the final line - which made my heart skip a bit! - all construct this horrible view of what people are capable of. So it's not the story itself that is scary in any way, instead are the characters actions that create this evil world that sadly exists. So it's almost a psychological horror without fully being one. This is a very complicated book to define!

Overall, I usually don't enjoy a character-based story, I prefer a plot-moved book that is always more fast-paced. Although the chapters are short and not numbered, which gives a continuity feeling I really liked, it doesn't lose much time describing settings or characters leaving their actions and thoughts to do that over time. And because of that, the story is always moving forward. It doesn't feel like nothing is happening.

I enjoyed it more than I was expecting. And if you like books about horrible people, don't mind getting a little freaked out, enjoy the psychological aspect that goes behind committing a crime, this can be the story for you. Although I can't stress enough... THIS IS NOT A THRILLER! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Physical abuse, and Murder

Moderate: Domestic abuse, Mental illness, Suicide, and Blood

Minor: Xenophobia

The character Louise has a mental health illness never specified that can be seen through her actions and thoughts. And all the characters in the book are bad people, either egotistical, shallow, entitled, abusers...