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Reviews tagging 'Child death'

Everyone Knows Your Mother Is a Witch by Rivka Galchen

27 reviews

mariapits's review against another edition

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dark emotional 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? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.25

Very dark and thought provoking. It really makes you feel for women who were accused of being witches in the 1600’s. 
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bugcarnival9000's review against another edition

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

4.5

The narrative storytelling lent itself perfectly to an audiobook. I really enjoyed listening to this book because it felt just like an oral history. The humor laced into the moral panic was really well-executed, and I appreciated how each character had such a rich description and life to them.
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danasaur's review against another edition

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emotional funny reflective relaxing slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.25

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kkozzz's review against another edition

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challenging emotional funny hopeful informative reflective sad tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • 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

4.5

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cglharmony's review against another edition

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

4.5

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melodyseestrees's review against another edition

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

4.25

The style of this book was a large miss for me. So much detail is missed in these letters between characters. This makes the writers of the letters excellent unreliable narrators but ultimately does not strengthen the plot very much.  
This is a bit of a social commentary on greed and mob mentality. I find myself disagreeing with
The Keplers on their win of the case. Yes Frau Kepler avoided execution but she still faced abuse, torture, isolation, and an outcast status.
Every character was some shade of infuriating or tedious, which is realistic but not very enjoyable. I did enjoy Frau Kepler the most of the characters as her dry wit balanced out the everything else a little. 
The ending of the book really lost steam and was unsatisfactory. We did not know enough about the character who wrote the pages we were reading so they came off as trivial and shady.
Simon went to visit Frau Kepler after a long time. She knew and said that he was there for curses, to face judgment for not speaking up for her at the trial. The reader did not know this as Simon was talking of his visit like he had lost track of time.
 
If the reader is someone who likes unreliable narrators and stories where much of the action happens off page this will be enjoyable for them.
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katsherms's review against another edition

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dark funny slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

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emmylis's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional funny informative reflective sad tense slow-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

3.75

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mattiedancer's review against another edition

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emotional funny sad 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

4.25

Writing: 4⭐️/5 
The writing is stylized enough to give it a human touch. It does feel, at times, like you’re reading the unedited, unformated thoughts of the characters. And yet, something about it was incredibly hard to get used to. I’ve been thinking lots about it and I’m still not sure exactly what it is, other than perhaps the tone mismatches the time period – or at least my expectations of the time period. Writing with a more modern feel to it, I had a hard time with feeling as though it felt cohesive with the events. Overall though, strongly written, even if a bit hard to get in the flow of.

Characters: 4.75⭐️/5
I really enjoyed Frau Kepler’s, or Katharina’s, sections of the story. She had a strong voice, a strong personality, and it was always incredibly clear when I was reading her sections versus Simon’s. In fact, all the characters felt alive: in the way they lied, in the way they thought, and in the way they remembered. 

Plot: 4.25⭐️/5 
It’s the story of a woman, accused of witchcraft, who is found victim of a campaign to blame all their problems on her. The story’s plot, while always centered on Katharina’s trial and the accusations thrown at her, goes beyond it in the oddest ways, focusing on her cow, her family, and her thoughts on the neighbours in an intriguing way. My biggest critique here is that it took me a while to get into. But it was a surprisingly fun – and then serious and then semi-sad – story that I’m glad to have read. 

Who Should Read This Book? 
  • Those looking for a fun historical fiction read
  • Those who want historical fiction but love modern spins on stories
  • Readers looking for stories about witchcraft and mob-mentality-driven witch hunts

Content Warnings? 
  • Death, death of parent, death of child, manipulation, toxic relationships, injury/injury detail, child loss, pregnancy, grief, torture

Post-Reading Rating:  4.25⭐️/5
A wonderful, apt ending to a fun yet serious story.

Final Rating: 4.25⭐️/5
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c_lizziebeth's review against another edition

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dark funny hopeful informative reflective fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes

5.0

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