Reviews tagging 'Murder'

The Exiles by Christina Baker Kline

18 reviews

jaithur's review against another edition

adventurous hopeful sad medium-paced

• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Minor: Child death, Confinement, Death, Drug use, Misogyny, Racism, Rape, Sexism, Vomit, Murder, Alcohol, Colonisation, and Classism

ernis's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional informative reflective sad slow-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

This is an amazing, heartbreaking book. There was one character that I wished we learned more about but overall it was a beautiful, important story to read. 
We follow the story of several female convicts from the UK as well as as an indigenous child from Australia who eventually cross paths. Although the story is fictional, the history it is based on is eye opening and disturbing. This novel gives a new appreciation for female rights, in modern times, in first world countries.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Misogyny and Forced institutionalization

Moderate: Excrement, Abortion, and Abandonment

Minor: Child abuse, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Abortion, Murder, Pregnancy, Gaslighting, and Injury/Injury detail

hazzardfreak02's review against another edition

dark emotional 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? Yes

4.75

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Child abuse, Child death, Chronic illness, Sexual assault, Murder, and Abandonment

jessica_artichoke's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional 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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Misogyny, Racism, and Rape

Moderate: Alcoholism, Child abuse, Death, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Medical content, Grief, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Cultural appropriation, Alcohol, Colonisation, and Classism

Minor: Drug use and Forced institutionalization

jenxreads's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring 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

5.0

This historical novel was inspirational and brutal. The storytelling captivates you from beginning to end. The journey of these characters was difficult to read through.  I loved this book because it tells the untold stories of those often neglected in society.  I definitely recommend this audiobook if you enjoy inspirational and historical narratives.

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Content Warnings

Minor: Confinement, Miscarriage, Rape, Sexual assault, Slavery, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Xenophobia, Murder, Pregnancy, Colonisation, and Classism

maddiet425's review against another edition

emotional hopeful informative 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? It's complicated

3.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Religious bigotry, Colonisation, and Deportation

Moderate: Physical abuse, Sexual violence, Violence, and Murder

author2223's review against another edition

emotional informative 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? It's complicated

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Forced institutionalization, Police brutality, Murder, and Colonisation

Moderate: Child abuse, Confinement, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, and Sexual harassment

Minor: Alcoholism

ruffian23's review against another edition

challenging informative sad medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Child abuse, Child death, Death, Genocide, Racism, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Slavery, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Cultural appropriation, Abandonment, Sexual harassment, Colonisation, and Deportation

nimeneth's review against another edition

medium-paced

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

2.5

I'm the minority here but nothing really... Happens. There's a lot of misery, but it's all told, not shown. The writing style is very much "this happened then this happened then this happened" and while there is dialogue and some small bits of introspection, everything felt a bit flat. The "twists" were all fairly predictable. I also had a bit of a problem with each of the endings for the women. Hazel and Ruby's endings were too neat and tidy, Evangeline's was too drawn out, and Mathinna didn't really get one. I'm left feeling unsatisfied with all of them.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Child death, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racism, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Slavery, Forced institutionalization, Murder, Sexual harassment, Colonisation, Classism, and Deportation

cepbreed's review against another edition

adventurous emotional informative 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? It's complicated

4.5

Good on me for finishing our test run book club book! But waiting for everyone else to be done and for my friend to return from abroad is torture. I feel the need to discuss this book in detail for hours with a side of charcuterie ASAP.

From the bottom of my heart, I love the overall message of this novel to pass kindness forward. A simple act of kindness can change someone's life entirely and there is so much beauty in that. Evangeline wasn't treated kindly (without underlying bad intentions) for a second when she was working as a governess yet she maintained her character and was able to aid both Olive and Hazel. They in turn passed that kindness forward and impacted the lives of others. Kindness is vital to the human condition, but one of my favorite moments in the story was someone refusing a kind offer.

When Hazel reunited with Mathinna she extended a hand once more and offered to shelter her in Dr. Dunne's home, but Mathinna refused. Hazel showed her so much kindness in the past but no matter what if Mathinna had accepted she still would’ve been in her care and indebted to a white woman. I appreciate Christina Baker Kline truly allowing her to be free after so many years of being at the whims of white people.

Hazel became a quick favorite of mine once she was introduced. There are so many things about her character to love, but one facet of her backstory has been stuck in my brain. I love how the thing she stole, which resulted in her imprisonment and transportation, was literally a silver spoon. She was a child, shunned by her own mother, and the straw she was forced to grasp at was the exact concept of a comfortable and struggle-free life. She could've been happy, even in poverty, if her mother was loving, but instead, she got a woman who threw her into the streets both literally and metaphorically forcing her to vy for a silver spoon which could never be hers anyway.
 
Dr. Dunne really crept up on me as a character and I ended up loving him. Originally I was wary of him. Who could blame me? The poor protagonists were betrayed and wronged by so many people in their lives I was instinctually distrustful of the conveniently kind doctor, but I was pleasantly surprised to see myself be wrong. I LOVE that man!!!

To be so real, for a minute there I thought he was going to fall for Evangeline, BUT THEN SHE FUCKING DIED??? I NEED TO DISCUSS THAT TWIST WITH MY FELLOW BOOK CLUB MEMBERS BUT I HAVE TO WAIT FOR THE END OF THE MONTH.

Song:

• evermore - Taylor Swift

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racism, Medical content, Grief, Murder, Pregnancy, Abandonment, Colonisation, and Classism

Moderate: Rape, Sexual assault, Torture, Death of parent, and Sexual harassment

Minor: Animal death, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Blood, Excrement, and Alcohol