Reviews tagging 'Grief'

Year of Wonders: A Novel of the Plague by Geraldine Brooks

18 reviews

e11en's review against another edition

dark emotional sad medium-paced

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Terminal illness, Torture, Violence, Grief, Abortion, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, and Pandemic/Epidemic

potassiumk's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad fast-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Gore, Infertility, Mental illness, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Self harm, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Religious bigotry, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Pregnancy, Abandonment, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail, and Pandemic/Epidemic

minniepauline's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful informative mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

4.5

This is a fascinating exploration of how fear changes people and societies. It’s prescient, too. Written in 2001, it’s an apt book for our own times.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Gore, Infidelity, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Grief, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Injury/Injury detail, and Pandemic/Epidemic

klarafehler's review against another edition

challenging dark reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Blood, and Grief

Moderate: Rape, Sexual assault, and Religious bigotry

whimsical_adelaide's review against another edition

dark emotional sad medium-paced

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

4.75

Wow. Just... wow. This was a great book and I'm so glad I read it, but it was BRUTAL! I was not surprised to learn that the author is a journalist who has spent time reporting in war-torn countries. I had to make sure to have uplifting things happening outside my reading so it didn't put me in a depressed mood. There were a lot of gruesome descriptions of violence and death.

Year of Wonders is about so much more than battling the sickness of the plague in a small village that quarantined to keep it from spreading outside its walls. It's about how it affected the people psychologically, how it caused them to turn on each other, and also brought moments of wonder.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Child death, Death, Gore, Infertility, Torture, Violence, Excrement, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, and Pandemic/Epidemic

zosiablue's review against another edition

dark hopeful sad tense medium-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? No

4.0

"I knew then that this was how I was meant to go on: away from death and toward life, from birth to birth, from seed to blossom, living my life amongst wonders."

This took such a wild left turn at the end that I kind of forgot everything I was going to say about it. It felt like for most of the book (well-written) trauma porn about the plague and how men make everything harder for women, and then there was just...that last 25%! Huh! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Medical content, Grief, and Death of parent

Moderate: Infertility, Infidelity, Misogyny, Abortion, and Classism

gail_dancer's review against another edition

emotional hopeful informative sad medium-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? It's complicated

4.0

The beautiful prose of this timepieced novel caressed me as a welcome change from other recent modern novels I’d read. Anna was a complex and likeable lead character whose personal growth spanned large from start to finish. Some unexpected and rash circumstances near the end of the book disappointed me, but all in all  an enjoyable interesting read. The situation of how the village experienced and dealt with the Plague was eerily familiar post-Covid-19. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Child death, Death, Gore, Infertility, Miscarriage, Physical abuse, Self harm, Suicide, Violence, Blood, Grief, Murder, Pregnancy, Abandonment, and Pandemic/Epidemic

amandareads23's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child death, Death, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Alcoholism, Mental illness, Blood, Abandonment, and Alcohol

Minor: Child abuse, Infidelity, and Miscarriage

rosalind's review against another edition

challenging emotional informative reflective sad medium-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Terminal illness, Blood, and Grief

Moderate: Domestic abuse, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Religious bigotry, Pregnancy, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Rape, Slavery, Excrement, Vomit, and Religious bigotry

rld1727's review against another edition

2.75

This book was a weird ride. I didn’t love it, but I stuck around because I had read reviews of how the plot goes kind of haywire later on in the book - it does, indeed. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Child death, Death, Physical abuse, Sexism, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, and Death of parent