Reviews tagging 'Death of parent'

Sanctuary by Abby Sher, Paola Mendoza

23 reviews

zombiezami's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

5.0

Powerful

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Genocide, Gun violence, Hate crime, Physical abuse, Racism, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Police brutality, Grief, Stalking, Death of parent, Murder, Outing, Colonisation, Injury/Injury detail, Classism, and Deportation

Moderate: Animal death, Confinement, Cursing, Racial slurs, Rape, Sexual assault, Slavery, Torture, Trafficking, Gaslighting, and Sexual harassment

Minor: Addiction and Drug use

adnaw06's review against another edition

dark emotional sad tense fast-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? No

2.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Gun violence, Physical abuse, Rape, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Police brutality, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Abandonment, Sexual harassment, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Deportation

literaryliz98's review against another edition

challenging emotional tense fast-paced

• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Minor: Death, Gun violence, Racism, Rape, Death of parent, and Deportation

adearajean's review against another edition

adventurous emotional sad 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? It's complicated

4.0

Felt like this book was good but hard to read. Good character development but emotional and a little repetitive. A little one note in places. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Xenophobia and Deportation

Minor: Confinement, Death, and Death of parent

lara2301's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective medium-paced

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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Racism, Grief, Death of parent, and Deportation

spicycronereads's review against another edition

adventurous 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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Xenophobia, Death of parent, and Deportation

Moderate: Child death

Minor: Sexual assault

paigereitz's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional 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

Damn. This book was intense and hard and important. A near-set dystopian future in which Americans are chipped and undocumented immigrants are hunted by the government. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Hate crime, Racism, Xenophobia, Police brutality, Trafficking, Death of parent, and Deportation

Moderate: Sexual assault and Blood

writingcaia's review against another edition

dark emotional sad tense fast-paced

4.25

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Child death, Confinement, Hate crime, Physical abuse, Slavery, Xenophobia, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Sexual harassment, Injury/Injury detail, and Deportation

Minor: Rape

bookcaptivated's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional 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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Gore, Gun violence, Physical abuse, Racism, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Sexual harassment, Injury/Injury detail, and Deportation

Moderate: Confinement, Racial slurs, and Vomit

Minor: Animal death, Rape, Sexual assault, Slavery, and Torture

melmoony's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional informative sad tense medium-paced

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

3.5

Non-spoiler synopsis: We follow Vali, a sixteen-year-old girl who is undocumented. The government is very anti-immigrant and in a dystopian future all residents are tracked by a microchip on their wrists. Vali and her mom get fake ones implanted, but her mom’s tracker malfunctioned one day in the past. With turmoil starting at the California/Mexico border, the government doubles down and decides to start going after all undocumented folk. Vali, her mom and her younger brother (a citizen himself) are forced to find sanctuary and safety when things begin to affect her local community and the country as a whole.

This story was heartbreaking and tragic. This reads like a young adult book but there are moments in the story that are quite intense and somewhat graphic. The struggles Vali and her family go through are not new, many people suffer from having undocumented status. What’s scary about this story is that though it’s a dystopian story, it could honestly become real life very easily.

Not only does Vali have to deal with the trauma of her dad being deported, but once the specialized police force start hunting and taking away undocumented people in her neighborhood, she flees only to have her mom’s tracker not work and they take her mom! She managed to escape, but got close to being taken thanks to the lady sitting next to her on the bus, seriously why open your mouth lady?! At the end of the book, she does get to make it to California with her brother (CA seceded from the US & became a sanctuary state for immigrants) but she’s not happy. The ending felt very bleak because she said she would never feel good until they help the others taken into interment camps back in the US. She also thinks she saw her mom in one at the CA/Arizona border?! But we don’t see her finding her mom after that or rescuing her. Quite sad.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child death, Xenophobia, Blood, Death of parent, and Deportation

Moderate: Confinement, Gun violence, Racism, Police brutality, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Drug use and Sexual assault