Reviews tagging 'Murder'

We Were the Lucky Ones by Georgia Hunter

13 reviews

allisonleslie's review

challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

True stories always hit me in the feels and this one did just that. Truly a miraculous tale of how this family really was part of the few ‘Lucky Ones’ in WW2 and how every part of their experience was different for each of the family members. Can’t wait to see how they adapted this book to the screen next. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Genocide, Murder, and War

kirstencholewa's review against another edition

challenging emotional informative inspiring sad 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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Genocide, Antisemitism, Murder, and War

Moderate: Death, Gun violence, Hate crime, Violence, Grief, Death of parent, and Deportation

megshrews's review against another edition

dark emotional inspiring medium-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Death, Genocide, Hate crime, Racial slurs, Racism, Torture, Forced institutionalization, Police brutality, Antisemitism, Grief, Religious bigotry, Murder, Pregnancy, and War

hpazlink's review against another edition

emotional hopeful reflective 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? No

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Violence, Antisemitism, Murder, and War

arbramirez's review

challenging dark emotional sad tense slow-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Confinement, Death, Genocide, Hate crime, Racial slurs, Racism, Torture, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Xenophobia, Blood, Police brutality, Antisemitism, Mass/school shootings, Religious bigotry, Death of parent, Murder, Cultural appropriation, Abandonment, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Deportation

alyssatuininga's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful informative reflective sad fast-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Hate crime, Physical abuse, Racism, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Police brutality, Antisemitism, Grief, Religious bigotry, Murder, War, and Injury/Injury detail

jaymehunt's review

challenging dark emotional informative reflective sad 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

5.0

Any book set in Europe during WWII is going to be impactful. But the fact that this is based on the author’s real family is profound beyond words, and the fact that this is her debut novel is absolutely incredible. The research she put into it to do it justice really shows. I was immersed in each storyline, and the historical blurbs between chapters added impactful backstory.

Though the new series on Hulu is fantastic, I definitely recommend reading this first to digest every piece of vital information. And DO NOT skip the author’s notes at the end!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death, Genocide, Hate crime, Physical abuse, Police brutality, Antisemitism, Grief, Religious bigotry, Murder, and War

oldandnewbooksmell's review against another edition

challenging emotional hopeful medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix

5.0

Trigger Warnings: Holocaust, war, death, starvation

In Radom, Poland, in March of 1939, the Kurc family’s talk around the Seder table is of new babies and budding romance - not really much of the shadows of the war just around the corner, or the hardships threatening Jews, but the empty set where middle son, Addy should be, is a heavy reminder. Nothing changes overnight, but new rules, regulations, and laws go into effect and then suddenly, Europe is inescapable.

One sibling is forced into exile, another gets shuffled between refugee boats halfway across the world, others struggle to escape certain death; rather that’s working grueling hours on empty stomachs in the ghetto or hiding as gentiles in plain sight. We Are the Lucky Ones is inspired by the incredible true story of one Jewish family separated at the start of the war and their determination to not only survive, but to reunite. 

Right, so I have enough titles on my plate right now to last me through to forever, but I started watching the adaptation of this when it dropped on Hulu a few weeks ago, thinking I’d cheat a little and watch the show first (yea, yea, I know, you don’t do that!). But then, it left me on a cliffhanger I did not care to endure for an entire week while I waited for the next episode - so, I went out and bought the book (yes, I even bit the bullet and bought the one with the stupid Hulu advertisement on it because I couldn’t find any older versions). I then read from Saturday late afternoon up until 3:00 am, slept for a bit, then woke up and read the remaining 75 pages or so I couldn’t stay awake for.

Starting off - obviously the tv adaptation took a few more liberties in a few of the characters’ storylines. I loved the book ones more because to me, they’re sweeter, but I’ve still got two more episodes left of the series, so maybe it’ll change.

I did appreciate the changing around of all Kurc family members for each chapter. And the little tidbits of history that was happening at the time, because sometimes we would jump a few months and it was nice to know what had been going on or happening.

This is a difficult book about survival in one of the worst times in human history, not everyone will be able to read it, but I just had to when you learn about so many members of one immediate family, their stories, and that it’s based on the author’s family history. This is absolutely added to my recommendation list for historical fiction. Always.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Genocide and Murder

fkshg8465's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring sad tense slow-paced

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

4.0

This took a while, and I walked to DNF it so many times early on. There were too many characters to track, and I kept getting lost in the story. Plus I generally don’t love WWII as a genre. Glad I stuck with it. Payoff was worth it.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Death, Genocide, Gun violence, Hate crime, Physical abuse, Torture, Violence, Blood, Police brutality, Antisemitism, Grief, Religious bigotry, Murder, Pregnancy, War, and Deportation

heathers94's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful informative inspiring sad tense fast-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Genocide, Hate crime, Racism, Xenophobia, Antisemitism, Religious bigotry, Murder, and War