Reviews tagging 'Grief'

We Are All So Good at Smiling by Amber McBride

54 reviews

cassandra_catastrophe's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful mysterious reflective sad fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes

3.75

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Grief

aingealwroth's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful reflective sad tense fast-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

4.25

A dark fairytale with a worthy ending, told in poem format. This tackles difficult issues and needs to be approached with mental health and safety in mind, but highly recommended.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness, Suicidal thoughts, and Grief

Moderate: Racism, Self harm, Suicide, and Gaslighting

Minor: Bullying and Medical content

starr27's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Mental illness, Racism, and Grief

Moderate: Death, Panic attacks/disorders, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Blood, and Injury/Injury detail

littlelizzieborden's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional inspiring mysterious reflective sad tense fast-paced

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Death, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Racial slurs, Racism, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, and Grief

readtomea97's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional informative inspiring mysterious reflective 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

5.0

So good! So SO good! A great looks at adolescents and how they process grief and mental health. There’s so much I could say about this book, but I’ll just say it’s a short book that really packs a punch. So many lessons on grief, sorrow, learning to forgive yourself and how these feelings present themselves from different cultural aspects. Just great! 5 🌟

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Mental illness, and Grief

Moderate: Bullying

gellyreads's review against another edition

emotional reflective 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

5.0

Wow. I haven't read a novel that was written in verse in a while, and I found this one to be way easier to follow than others.

The fact that their siblings died via accident? That felt so real and powerful. *This is magical realism at its finest*

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicidal thoughts and Grief

purplepenning's review against another edition

emotional hopeful mysterious reflective sad medium-paced

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

4.0

Oof. I'm going to need a beat to process this one. My initial response is: 👏👏👏 I'm so glad this book exists and I can see how it might work especially well for teenagers. But it's doing just a few too many things at once for my tastes. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Mental illness, Racism, Suicidal thoughts, and Grief

Moderate: Child death, Death, Panic attacks/disorders, Racial slurs, Self harm, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Gaslighting, and Injury/Injury detail

tangleroot_eli's review against another edition

adventurous emotional hopeful sad fast-paced

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

A magical realism adventure that's also an allegory for depression. A few notes don't resonate with me, but overall, what a symphony.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness, Forced institutionalization, and Grief

Moderate: Child death, Confinement, Death, Panic attacks/disorders, Racial slurs, Racism, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Blood, Medical content, Suicide attempt, and Gaslighting

Minor: Bullying

Moderate: Mind control

valerira123's review against another edition

dark reflective sad fast-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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Bullying, Death, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Racism, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Grief, and Suicide attempt

smcaput2's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful inspiring reflective sad fast-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Minor: Bullying, Death, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Racism, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Grief, and Suicide attempt