Reviews with content warning for Car accident - Toda a Gente Nesta Sala um Dia Há de Morrer

Heartbreaking. Narrator is deeply, deeply anxious and perfectly captured.

Also part-get-your-life together, part-murder-mystery. And life’s a struggle for everyone. Plenty of sympathetic characters from various walks of life.

Quietly hopeful ending.

Content Warnings

sestout's review against another edition

Go to review page

dark emotional reflective sad tense fast-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

3.5

Content Warnings

pjv's review against another edition

Go to review page

dark emotional reflective medium-paced

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

3.5

Content Warnings

smilingzombiess's review against another edition

Go to review page

dark emotional funny mysterious reflective 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

5.0

As someone who struggles with the same things Gilda does, I found this book oddly comforting. Not only that, but it never failed to keep me in suspense!

Content Warnings

orlagal's review against another edition

Go to review page

dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense 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

3.5

Content Warnings

chrisljm's review against another edition

Go to review page

funny reflective sad fast-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

4.5

Not the most uplifting book but I did find it fascinating and a bit profound. I loved the dry humor and being able to see Gilda's thought process and, while depressing, the very unique way she views the world. I'm filled with a sad sort of empathy for Gilda and the way anxiety impacts her, but I'm also left stunned at the heartbreaking beauty that shines through Emily Austin's prose.

For example, there's one instance in the novel where Gilda recounts how through the difficulty she faces to feel happy, the only recent time she can remember being so is when she watched a movie with her girlfriend. She then proceeds to contemplate the role Catholicism plays in peoples lives, and theorizes that it's a solution to existential dread, how it's comforting to imagine we have loved ones waiting for us afterwards, that there is someone in this life who watches over us and loves us, and that perhaps it gives our lives meaning. But as someone who's queer, "it's ironic that a belief system theoretically created to help me feel safe and meaningful takes away one of the few things that makes me feel like my life is worth living at all."

Another instance occurs on Gilda's 28th birthday where she ruminates just how long she's existed: in days, in months, in the years of other parts of this planetary system. "I read once that women are born with all the eggs that they will ever produce in their life. That means the egg that formed me is as old as my mother. From that perspective, part of me is fifty-one."

Gilda is so introspective, in ways that I am not, and despite being left with this tender sadness, I appreciate that I now have this to reflect on.

Content Warnings

More...