Reviews tagging 'Child death'

The Lost Flowers of Alice Hart by Holly Ringland

15 reviews

mollymoynott's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful reflective sad 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

5.0

Impeccable

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Grief, Death of parent, and Fire/Fire injury

briemont5's review against another edition

challenging emotional hopeful sad slow-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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse and Fire/Fire injury

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Child abuse, Panic attacks/disorders, Grief, and Death of parent

Minor: Animal death, Child death, and Infidelity

jstilts's review against another edition

dark emotional sad slow-paced

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

2.0

Beautifully written, I nevertheless found this book an absolute slog of a read. Terrible things happen to Alice throughout the book, which is heartbreaking, but terrible things fill the lives of the dozens of other characters as well to the point of ridiculousness. Everyone is damaged by death or abuse - even the most minor of characters - for instance a vet, who appears in a handful of paragraphs, has a dead wife and child on his mind. It's eye rolling and exhausting. A character we meet early on and only return to very late in the book has a child die at 5 because everyone needs a tragedy. Everyone has a story and every story is miserable.

Characters make the worst possible decisions at all times just to drive the grimness onwards and make Alice's life as miserable as possible. Her lov ng grandmother absolutely ruins Alice's life and the motivations are all incomprehensible beyond the author wanting their character to suffer.

Where I really gave up is when - SPOILER - Aluce falls ridiculously deeply and savagely in love literally at first sight with someone who of course turns out to be an abuser. I realise that it's not uncommon for victims of abusive families to find themselves with abusive partners but she didn't gravitate towards him, she didn't know the guy at all, so that's not what is happening here - it's just Alice Must Suffer!

Honestly, I wouldn't have finished this book if it wasn't chosen for a book club I'm hosting.

Utterly exhausting, which is a shame as it's beautifully written. One quirk is that most chapters feel like they could be the ending - at times it's like reading a collection of short stories that tell one narrative. I'd be tempted to try the author again so long as the subject matter is entirely different.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Violence, Vomit, Grief, Medical trauma, Stalking, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, and Deportation

beckyjmcc's review against another edition

emotional sad 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? It's complicated

2.0

Important subject matter in this story. The author has clearly put much effort and energy into writing about issues that I care deeply about.

... but I couldn't stand the writing. Almost DNF'd. Painful to read.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, and Gaslighting

Moderate: Bullying, Cancer, Child death, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Car accident, Death of parent, Injury/Injury detail, and Deportation

drtx_bwt's review against another edition

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death and Domestic abuse

Moderate: Animal cruelty

alicejm's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious tense slow-paced

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

2.0

A good first novel, but very clearly a first. The writing style was disrupted and jolty. The main characters weren't given room to breath, and the side characters (who were by far the best characters) weren't given enough time. The lack of communication between family members was infuriating and unnecessary. This is not the book for you if you find miscommunication frustrating. The first half and the second half were written very differently. The mystery aspect was really compelling though and I enjoyed wondering about things. The exploration of generational trauma was also very well done. If you want to find out more about flowers, this book ain't it sadly. All the flower meanings are made up.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Mental illness, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Sexism, Toxic relationship, Grief, Stalking, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, and Colonisation

alanawithdog's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional inspiring reflective medium-paced

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

5.0

Reading this book was a beautiful experience. The compassion developed for each character was lovely. We’re all just out here trying to find our way, aiming to show kindness to those around us but still working through our harms of the past, and somehow finding comfort in the familiarity of those past traumas, too. Feels very true to the lives experiences of women. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Child abuse, Child death, Domestic abuse, and Fire/Fire injury

kiwichill's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad slow-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Toxic relationship, Violence, Grief, Stalking, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Alcoholism, Child abuse, Child death, Infidelity, Pregnancy, and Deportation

Minor: Medical content

spellygirl's review against another edition

emotional hopeful sad slow-paced

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

3.0

Really unsure how to rate this. I liked the flower language. I liked the parts with Moss and some of the other Flowers. I liked the stories about the tourism and indigenous people. I liked Sally 

It was also very slow paced, jumping around a lot
And committing the same mistakes as so many others. I know it happens in real life, but it still bugs me. 

Checking trigger warnings is recommended.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, and Alcohol

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Confinement, Panic attacks/disorders, Toxic relationship, Violence, Grief, and Gaslighting

Minor: Child death, Death, Infidelity, Sexual violence, and Stalking

erynn223's review against another edition

inspiring sad 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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, and Death

Moderate: Addiction and Sexual assault