Reviews tagging 'Abandonment'

Notes on an Execution by Danya Kukafka

189 reviews

sydoodle's review against another edition

dark reflective tense slow-paced

4.0

this took me so long to finish, but it was good! i fucked w the ending more than i thought i would. got a little bored here and there i fear

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Murder, and Abandonment

logsbooklog's review

challenging dark reflective sad fast-paced

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

4.5

this was fantastic; it was nauseating, but has such a powerful core to it. it acts as a refutation towards the attention economy. an ode to the mundanity, and to the people that are robbed of that mundanity. the writing of the 3 core women is near-flawless, and their endings are equal parts satisfying and harrowing. my one gripe with the book actually ends up being ansel himself. while his portions of the book are excellent, his characterization ends up a bit flat for me; weirdly, the closest comparison i can draw to this book is bojack horseman, stories of women harmed by a powerful man and having their stories subsumed by them. ansel, though, does not get the depth that bojack does, certainly at least in part intentionally since so much of the book contends with the idea that who he could have been is nothing in the wake of what the women he killed could have been. however, in the absence of his characterization, he ends up being a stereotype in his own right: the unremarkable sociopath. this is a fair assessment of him, but it made questions in the book of how we integrate people who don’t experience love or care for others into society ring hollow when the only example they have is intentionally flat. this is ultimately a minor gripe though, this is a dense complicated book that will stick with me forever and has just so much to mull on.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child death, Domestic abuse, Misogyny, Toxic relationship, Violence, Medical trauma, Murder, Pregnancy, and Abandonment

vaykay's review

challenging dark emotional sad tense fast-paced

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

5.0

I read this because I watched @newlynova's YouTube reading vlog "until she read a five star book," and wow... she was right. I sobbed, and I slobbered into my pajama shirt.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child abuse, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racism, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Stalking, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Abandonment, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Child death, Police brutality, and Car accident

klandry98'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? Yes

4.5

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child abuse, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Toxic relationship, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Grief, Murder, Gaslighting, Abandonment, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Blood, Medical content, Stalking, and Pregnancy

Minor: Cancer, Suicidal thoughts, Death of parent, and Alcohol

smg67's review

challenging dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

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

3.75

This book is not an enjoyable read nor is it fun. It is however a remarkable work of fiction that reflects on the closing hours of a serial killer as he faces his execution. Despite the crimes I felt a sadness for the little boy this killer once was; deserted and alone. This book has left me somewhat melancholy but maybe that isn’t such a bad thing. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, and Abandonment

seamoonstone'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? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

More of a thriller/mystery than I expected, but without sacrificing character depth or emotion, or ignoring the complexities of our criminal justice system. A beautiful story of women trying to survive in our world.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Physical abuse, Violence, and Murder

Moderate: Domestic abuse and Abandonment

megan_j's review

dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-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? Yes

4.0

This was good. It really pointed out everything that was wrong with our current state of justice and how we view ‘true crime’ and the people who commit it, when our focus should be on the victims and what was taken from them. Kept me gripped 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Child death, Death, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Violence, Blood, Grief, Murder, and Abandonment

tm400's review against another edition

dark emotional medium-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? Yes

5.0

from the second I picked this book up, it was really hard for me to put it down. this story details the life of a serial killer from multiple different points of view of women in his life affected by his killings. the writing is illustrious and it all played out like a movie in my mind's eye, which i love experiencing when reading. i found it fascinating that the chapters from the killer's pov were written in the second person - it's not something that you see often and i think it was a very interesting choice. i think it was in an attempt to get the reader to *almost* sympathize with the killer but the HUGE GIANT point of the book is that you can't sympathize with serial killers, especially male serial killers that kill predominantly/exclusively women. 
plenty of male serial killers have existed in real life, and time and time again, their stories are the ones that are told & remembered instead of the ones of their victims.

i loved that the last chapter of the book served as a sort of dedication to not only the women in this story who were wronged, but the ones in real life who are no longer with us to tell their story or be full humans alongside us.

 
i loved this story & how it was written. i cried out of anger and frustration more than once, and would recommend to any other thriller enjoyers and anyone else who is sick of the idea of men relishing in fame after their wrongdoings at the hands of a woman's suffering. 5/5 stars for me & would revisit later 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Violence, and Murder

Moderate: Abandonment

Minor: Child death and Racism

jellyfists's review against another edition

challenging dark reflective sad tense 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

4.25

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, and Abandonment

zreadz's review

dark mysterious medium-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

5.0

Kukafka’s language and prose create a story that’s hard to look away from. What begins as a story about familial abuse and abandonment twists itself into a darker story. This book deals with the philosophical question: Are we inherently good or evil…or is it our choices that make us that way? In addition, it uses the idea of nature vs. nurture to make the reader question your own life and the many different versions of your life that could’ve been. This book leaves you with a feeling that’s hard to describe. These are just a few themes conveyed by this story and there are many more, but I’m glad I picked it up on a blind read.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Murder, and Abandonment