carmina_r's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-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
4.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Domestic abuse, Murder, and Child death
Minor: Xenophobia
cerilouisereads's review against another edition
dark
tense
fast-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? Yes
3.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death, Child abuse, and Death
Moderate: Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, and Classism
mandi4886's review against another edition
dark
sad
tense
medium-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
2.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death, Child abuse, Mental illness, Murder, Blood, Classism, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, Self harm, Suicide attempt, Gore, and Suicidal thoughts
Moderate: Racism, Sexual content, Stalking, Misogyny, Pregnancy, Xenophobia, Sexism, Toxic friendship, and Suicide
headintheclouds_98's review against another edition
challenging
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? N/A
3.0
This read despite the rating I gave it was hard to put down. There was a considerable amount of xenophobia scattered throughout which at times took me a back as I was so deep in the writing which to me was atmospheric throughout and kept me hook, even though the outcome of what happened was presented to us on the first page from the get go.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Domestic abuse, Child death, Death, Xenophobia, Racism, Physical abuse, Murder, and Mental illness
nelleaalto's review against another edition
challenging
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child abuse and Child death
Moderate: Racism and Racial slurs
Minor: Rape, Sexual violence, and Domestic abuse
justcallmeeej's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Child death, Domestic abuse, Murder, and Self harm
vaniavela's review against another edition
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Murder, Blood, Vomit, Pregnancy, and Domestic abuse
Moderate: Racism
missknown's review against another edition
dark
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
Right before I pick up Lullaby I gave a quick glance over the reviews and a lot of people were complaining this is not a thriller, that the story is more of a character study. And they were right! This is NOT A THRILLER!! I'm going even a step further and say this is not even a mystery. You won't be on the edge of your seat while reading, you won't be trying to uncover what the characters are hiding because for the reader everything is laid out on the page.
Louise is a nanny of two little kids and the children are dead. Louise killed them. Then, the story goes back to when everything started and present the characters and their personalities. There isn't a tipping point when everything starts to go wrong or dark secrets are being hidden.
The story constructs itself on these characters. Their actions, their thoughts. As readers we see everything. And in the end, Louise is not seen as a victim in any way shape or form. She's still a killer, now a killer with a story.
As I was reading I was questioning myself in what genre this book should fall into. The story is slow to medium paced, there isn't any romance, no mystery, no thrilling, no drama. It's purely a story about characters. Although those characters represent the worst in humans. Not a single character is loveable. Some are just egotistical and others are abusers. But all of them represent a horrifying side of humans. And because of that and other small moments throughout the story, I would put this in the horror genre. In the mild side of horror, but in the genre nonetheless.
The gruesomeness of the crime, what some characters have gone through, some of the thoughts they all have, and the final line - which made my heart skip a bit! - all construct this horrible view of what people are capable of. So it's not the story itself that is scary in any way, instead are the characters actions that create this evil world that sadly exists. So it's almost a psychological horror without fully being one. This is a very complicated book to define!
Overall, I usually don't enjoy a character-based story, I prefer a plot-moved book that is always more fast-paced. Although the chapters are short and not numbered, which gives a continuity feeling I really liked, it doesn't lose much time describing settings or characters leaving their actions and thoughts to do that over time. And because of that, the story is always moving forward. It doesn't feel like nothing is happening.
I enjoyed it more than I was expecting. And if you like books about horrible people, don't mind getting a little freaked out, enjoy the psychological aspect that goes behind committing a crime, this can be the story for you. Although I can't stress enough... THIS IS NOT A THRILLER!
Louise is a nanny of two little kids and the children are dead. Louise killed them. Then, the story goes back to when everything started and present the characters and their personalities. There isn't a tipping point when everything starts to go wrong or dark secrets are being hidden.
The story constructs itself on these characters. Their actions, their thoughts. As readers we see everything. And in the end, Louise is not seen as a victim in any way shape or form. She's still a killer, now a killer with a story.
As I was reading I was questioning myself in what genre this book should fall into. The story is slow to medium paced, there isn't any romance, no mystery, no thrilling, no drama. It's purely a story about characters. Although those characters represent the worst in humans. Not a single character is loveable. Some are just egotistical and others are abusers. But all of them represent a horrifying side of humans. And because of that and other small moments throughout the story, I would put this in the horror genre. In the mild side of horror, but in the genre nonetheless.
The gruesomeness of the crime, what some characters have gone through, some of the thoughts they all have, and the final line - which made my heart skip a bit! - all construct this horrible view of what people are capable of. So it's not the story itself that is scary in any way, instead are the characters actions that create this evil world that sadly exists. So it's almost a psychological horror without fully being one. This is a very complicated book to define!
Overall, I usually don't enjoy a character-based story, I prefer a plot-moved book that is always more fast-paced. Although the chapters are short and not numbered, which gives a continuity feeling I really liked, it doesn't lose much time describing settings or characters leaving their actions and thoughts to do that over time. And because of that, the story is always moving forward. It doesn't feel like nothing is happening.
I enjoyed it more than I was expecting. And if you like books about horrible people, don't mind getting a little freaked out, enjoy the psychological aspect that goes behind committing a crime, this can be the story for you. Although I can't stress enough... THIS IS NOT A THRILLER!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death, Child abuse, Murder, and Physical abuse
Moderate: Blood, Domestic abuse, Mental illness, and Suicide
Minor: Xenophobia
The character Louise has a mental health illness never specified that can be seen through her actions and thoughts. And all the characters in the book are bad people, either egotistical, shallow, entitled, abusers...sadiaa's review against another edition
dark
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Loveable characters? No
3.0
I liked the style of the authors writing but this book was a pain to get through, I was going to dnf it multiple times but just wanted to stick around until the end. There were multiple povs from different side characters which made it a little tricky to follow. I liked the references to the power imbalance between employers and their mostly poc nannies and found this interesting.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, and Domestic abuse
laurenleigh's review against another edition
dark
sad
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Picked this up for a reading challenge as a thriller written by a woman, in translation. The original was in French, and there seems to be a few different titles for different publications, so I’ve also seen it as Lullaby. Thriller is probably the best genre definition, but the plot is relatively slow and the big denouement happens “off stage.” I kept waiting for some big reveal, some plot twist that explains this murderous climax, which you’re aware of from page one. The first line is “The baby is dead.” But there were no jump scares, no shocking turn of events that explained why a nanny would snap like this. It was a lot more real for this reason, and I’ve just learned that this was based on a true story. Yikes. There were certainly creepy parts (woah that scene with the chicken bones in the kitchen), but overall, it was more an exploration of class politics, sexism, and privilege. Having a rough backstory doesn’t excuse murdering children obviously, but it was telling to see the careful arrangement of injustice, assault, poverty which lead to the nanny’s violence. The tense feel throughout the book is coming from the nanny’s unraveling, which was well executed, but in the end, I don’t see this story sticking with me for a long time. It just never quite clicked.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death, Child abuse, Sexual assault, Domestic abuse, and Emotional abuse
Moderate: Murder, Toxic relationship, and Sexism