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Reviews tagging 'Animal death'
Songbirds: From the author of the international bestseller The Beekeeper of Aleppo by Christy Lefteri
23 reviews
sadiaa's review
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
yananhai's review against another edition
I really did try to get past the animal cruelty, hoping in the end he will regret it all.. but at some point I couldn't handle it anymore
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal cruelty and Animal death
jg34's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal cruelty and Animal death
isobel_laura's review against another edition
dark
informative
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child death, Death, Hate crime, Miscarriage, Rape, Sexism, Sexual violence, Violence, Xenophobia, Trafficking, Murder, Sexual harassment, and War
staceyinthesticks's review
emotional
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Death
Minor: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Miscarriage, Slavery, Kidnapping, Grief, Murder, and Pregnancy
Subject of slavery is modern slaveryhappinessbooked's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
informative
mysterious
reflective
sad
fast-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
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal cruelty and Animal death
bethsbooketlist's review against another edition
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, and Miscarriage
Moderate: Child death, Slavery, and Murder
zzaakkiiyyaa's review against another edition
mysterious
reflective
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal cruelty and Animal death
Minor: Murder
holly_daze_'s review against another edition
challenging
dark
informative
mysterious
reflective
sad
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
4.5
Content Warnings
Moderate: Animal death and Death
Minor: Cancer, Domestic abuse, and Murder
onmalsshelf's review against another edition
challenging
mysterious
tense
medium-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
4.25
Apparently it seems that I'm leaning towards hard-hitting literary fiction in Q4 2021 and I'm okay with that.
This is the first time in a long time that I've grabbed a piece of paper to start writing thoughts down only 20% into it.
<i>Songbirds</i> is heartbreaking and evocative and I know I'll be thinking about this one for a long time. As someone who hasn't read either of Christy Lefteri's previous works, I'm glad I picked this one up first.
Somehow, Lefteri managed to craft an astounding story inspired by real events in Cyprus surrounding how foreign domestic workers are treated in Cyprus by the middle class families they are employed by and by the police.
Nisha is a domestic worker from Sri Lanka that has been working for Petra for 9 years when she suddenly goes missing on a Sunday night. We then follow her employer Petra and her lover Yannis on their journey to attempt to get justice for her in a country that has no love for foreign workers.
I found myself hooked from the start and was overall satisfied with the ending that seemed tied up to me. Make no mistake, like me you may be incredibly infuriated with Nisha's employer at the beginning of the book, but unlike one other person in this story (Mrs Kostas), Petra does end up having some character development and ends up seeing Nisha as an actual person instead of just a "Shadow of myself". Shocking that your domestic worker will have life outside of caring for your daughter Petra, so shocking.
Personally, I am wondering if there is symbolism between the songbirds and the foreign domestic workers. As in in Cyprus, they both seem to be 'delicacies' that only the middle class and up can afford, but they don't care enough to take care of them properly to keep them safe.
What is keeping me from rating it five stars is the pacing between the two POVs as well as the lack of plot movement surrounding Nisha herself. I just wanted the pacing to be a little quicker in Yannis'. I also had an issue with some dialogue being repeated when Petra was having a flashback multiple times on a bus ride.
I think that this would make a great book for a book club because just by looking at the DNFs, the one start ratings, and the two ratings, it may lead to a great discussion.
On the topic of DNFing, if you do decide to pick this one up but decide that it is not for you, please at least consider flipping to the author's note at the end.
I highly recommend this, but please be aware of the following trigger warnings (one of which I haven't seen anyone else mention in their reviews because everyone seems to be focused on the song birds):
This is the first time in a long time that I've grabbed a piece of paper to start writing thoughts down only 20% into it.
<i>Songbirds</i> is heartbreaking and evocative and I know I'll be thinking about this one for a long time. As someone who hasn't read either of Christy Lefteri's previous works, I'm glad I picked this one up first.
Somehow, Lefteri managed to craft an astounding story inspired by real events in Cyprus surrounding how foreign domestic workers are treated in Cyprus by the middle class families they are employed by and by the police.
Nisha is a domestic worker from Sri Lanka that has been working for Petra for 9 years when she suddenly goes missing on a Sunday night. We then follow her employer Petra and her lover Yannis on their journey to attempt to get justice for her in a country that has no love for foreign workers.
I found myself hooked from the start and was overall satisfied with the ending that seemed tied up to me. Make no mistake, like me you may be incredibly infuriated with Nisha's employer at the beginning of the book, but unlike one other person in this story (Mrs Kostas), Petra does end up having some character development and ends up seeing Nisha as an actual person instead of just a "Shadow of myself". Shocking that your domestic worker will have life outside of caring for your daughter Petra, so shocking.
Personally, I am wondering if there is symbolism between the songbirds and the foreign domestic workers. As in in Cyprus, they both seem to be 'delicacies' that only the middle class and up can afford, but they don't care enough to take care of them properly to keep them safe.
What is keeping me from rating it five stars is the pacing between the two POVs as well as the lack of plot movement surrounding Nisha herself. I just wanted the pacing to be a little quicker in Yannis'. I also had an issue with some dialogue being repeated when Petra was having a flashback multiple times on a bus ride.
I think that this would make a great book for a book club because just by looking at the DNFs, the one start ratings, and the two ratings, it may lead to a great discussion.
On the topic of DNFing, if you do decide to pick this one up but decide that it is not for you, please at least consider flipping to the author's note at the end.
I highly recommend this, but please be aware of the following trigger warnings (one of which I haven't seen anyone else mention in their reviews because everyone seems to be focused on the song birds):
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Cancer, Miscarriage, and Xenophobia