Reviews with content warning for Child death - Shutter

Reviews tagging 'Child death'

jhbandcats's review

adventurous dark emotional informative mysterious sad tense 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

4.5

This is an exceptionally gory and gritty mystery narrated by a Navajo crime scene photographer who converses with the ghosts of the dead. She has seen ghosts her whole life but now they pester her incessantly to solve their murders.

Outside of the violence, it’s a beautiful portrayal of Navajo connections between family and friends, describing the community, history, and culture. We see the insular life on the reservation and the casual discrimination of the cities.

Rita is a sympathetic character, plagued by the ghosts, struggling to find a balance between staying with her beloved grandma on the reservation and the necessary work she does in Albuquerque.

Two very small quibbles: I wasn’t convinced that she’d have that much influence as a civilian working for the police, and I found Erma’s aggression extreme. But I’ve never seen ghosts so I don’t really know what I’m talking about.

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winifara's review against another edition

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dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.0

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jemau11's review against another edition

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dark sad 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? It's complicated

4.0

The depiction of Navajo culture and particularly how the Navajo see death was so interesting, and Rita was a complex and likable character. There are parts of the book that are hard to read, especially the scene in the judge’s house, but it’s necessary to understand what Rita’s job is really like. Definitely one of those where you should take the content warnings seriously, though. 4 stars because I didn’t like the way things wrapped up.

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leweylibrary's review

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challenging dark mysterious medium-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? It's complicated

1.5

It only gets points for the kind of fun setting and indigenous rep, sorry 🤷‍♀️ otherwise I kinda hated it lol.

I did not enjoy reading it, I had to force myself to finish it for a book club, and I had sooo many issues with it that completely took me out of the story. Like her awful friends wtf??? They were horrible and I really hope they weren't inspired by the author's real friends lol. What kind of friends automatically ask if you've murdered someone or destroyed your own apartment?? I wanted to like the supernatural element, and it was one of the few things keeping me interested, but there could've been so much more done with it. I felt like a lot of the conversations, situations, and relationships just made no sense. I truly don't know how this was long listed for the National Book Prize. Like how.

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cjrayl's review against another edition

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adventurous mysterious tense 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

4.0

A mystery, fantasy/ghost driven, story with a strong background of native americans.

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vexatiousbird's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

I wasn’t sure about this after the first chapter with its extremely detailed gore, but I’m glad I continued. We get the murder plot interwoven with chapters of Rita’s life growing up, her history with photography, ghosts, and death. I loved her heartfelt memories of her grandmother and her Navajo culture. The main plot isn’t particularly unique or gripping, but it all comes together into a great story.

My main complaint was the ending felt kind of rushed and abrupt.

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tafeeeeee's review against another edition

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dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No

4.0

It was oddly beautiful despite the subject material. I wish we learned more about what happened to Rita after all she went through. It felt like the story was building up to this moment and then it was over and I didn't feel fulfilled.

I did love the Indigenous representation.

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zias's review against another edition

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dark tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.75

I enjoyed reading this book. I felt the pacing was enough to keep me interested and I loved reading about the cultural inclusion with the main character being a Navajo woman.

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