Reviews tagging 'Death of parent'

The Death of Mrs. Westaway by Ruth Ware

49 reviews

anissawren's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious reflective slow-paced

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

2.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Violence, Death of parent, and Murder

Moderate: Incest, Car accident, and Pregnancy

Minor: Infidelity

bessadams's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad tense 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? Yes

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Physical abuse, Toxic relationship, and Death of parent

Moderate: Alcoholism, Child abuse, Violence, Blood, Grief, Car accident, Pregnancy, and Abandonment

greatexpectations77's review against another edition

adventurous mysterious reflective medium-paced

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

3.0

This book got so confusing. Almost like Ms. Ware wrote herself into a corner, and then had to get really creative to make everything kind of work out. Also, I feel like the whole plot point about

Hal owing a bunch of money to the creepy guy

was just not really resolved? Truly, it's my own fault for continuing to read books that I'm not really into haha

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent and Abandonment

Moderate: Bullying, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Grief, Pregnancy, Alcohol, and Classism

Minor: Gun violence, Homophobia, Infidelity, Blood, Car accident, and Injury/Injury detail

larareads's review against another edition

dark mysterious reflective tense slow-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? Yes

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Death, Car accident, Death of parent, and Alcohol

Moderate: Murder and Pregnancy

Minor: Physical abuse

gracescanlon's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense slow-paced

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

4.5

This was an intriguing novel, with lovable characters and multiple successful red herrings. I did see some of the twists coming, but I wasn’t always entirely correct about the particulars. That kind of twist - where I can guess that there is one, and can guess maybe something or things about it, but other things I didn’t expect are revealed later - is my favorite. It’s the best of both worlds: I get some of the satisfaction of guessing correctly, but also enjoy the surprises the author had in store for me. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief and Death of parent

Moderate: Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Toxic relationship, Car accident, Murder, Pregnancy, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Alcoholism, Infidelity, and Alcohol

lostinworlds's review against another edition

dark mysterious sad tense slow-paced

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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent

Moderate: Death, Blood, Car accident, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Minor: Homophobia and Incest

directorpurry's review against another edition

dark mysterious sad 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? Yes

3.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence

Moderate: Death of parent and Murder

Minor: Medical content and Car accident

michellebell's review against another edition

dark mysterious slow-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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death, Violence, Death of parent, Murder, and Gaslighting

growintogardens's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.25

I figured most of it out, but I enjoyed it and liked Hal. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Toxic relationship, and Death of parent

Moderate: Confinement, Physical abuse, Violence, Grief, Car accident, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Infidelity, Sexual content, and Pregnancy

lovelymisanthrope's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad tense 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? Yes

3.5

 I have slowly been making my way through Ruth Ware's backlist, and I knew when I found this copy of "The Death of Mrs. Westaway" at a library book sale, that this would be next up on my Ruth Ware reading list.
"The Death of Mrs. Westaway" follows Hal: a young adult who has recently lost her mother and is in severe financial trouble. She has continued in her mother's footsteps and reads tarot for a living, but with the debt that her and her mother borrowed from a very shady source, she will never be able to repay them. She fears for her own life, until she receives a mysterious letter informing her that she has inherited a large sum of money from a woman named Mrs. Westaway. Hal has never heard of Mrs. Westaway and her mother always told her they had no extended family, but desperate, Hal attends the funeral in the hopes of getting some money to get back onto her feet. What she does not expect is to uncover family secrets that have been buried for decades.
This story was a trip. My heart broke for Hal and her situation. When her mother died, she was left with no one in the world, and all she wanted was a family. She is young and trying to survive but it feels like everything is against her. She does essentially con people for a living, and that is what she was planning to do to the Westaways, but she was driven to the decision out of desperation and devastating circumstance, which I think the reader can empathize with.
This story has a lot of twists, and just when you think you have the family figured out, something new is uncovered and new secrets are revealed. I ultimately did not see the ending of the story coming, but I was also left a bit unsatisfied by it. The people involved and those who helped to cover it up seemed to have somewhat unreasonable rationale for their actions. It all seemed way too dramatic to me for a secret that was not as earth shattering as they all believed.
Overall, this book was fine. It is not my favorite Ruth Ware, but it also did not put me off of her writing either. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Confinement, Death, Physical abuse, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Grief, Stalking, Death of parent, Murder, and Toxic friendship

Moderate: Pregnancy