Reviews tagging 'Grief'

Gwiazdozbiór psa by Peter Heller

10 reviews

btaylorb's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad medium-paced

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

4.25

I'm glad I listened to the audio edition, because I think I would have been frustrated by the choppy prose and disjointed narrative style. The narrator really succeeded at capturing the multi-layered emotional and tonal shifts that I think would have come across as removed and clinical from simply reading the text. Hearing his voice break at a certain inciting incident while reading had me choking up and reminiscing about my own experiences with that particular kind of grief.

There are some truly gorgeous descriptions of nature that serve well as contrast for the grittier, more violent scenes. However, the final section of the book features some sexual content that felt out of place, tonally speaking. I think the ecstatic feelings of the emotional and physical connection between the characters could have been better served with a more coy approach rather than something I would expect from a raunchy rom-com.

I think the synopses I saw of this book do not set up the correct expectations for what this book is;  i almost expected a cozy post-apocalyptic “Travels with Charley” situation, and while this book is definitely not cozy, it’s compelling and for the most part beautifully written.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Death, Grief, and Pandemic/Epidemic

Moderate: Gun violence

Minor: Sexual content

msbarnesela's review against another edition

challenging dark reflective sad tense slow-paced

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

4.25

The author has an MFA, and you can definitely tell in the style, if you know what I mean by that. (Not a bad thing—it’s just a distinct style.) 

The post-apocalyptic setting is well-developed. I wanted to know more about the ending of civilization; I’m always curious about specifics. 

The book starts really slow. Nothing much happens until about 30% through the book. The really compelling action starts around 50%. The last half of the book goes a lot quicker. 

<The dog dies. It’s not a bad death—quiet, in his sleep, old age, next to his human. But it’s still really sad. It’s the inciting incident that gets the MC to go out and explore the world, and the grief comes up a lot.>

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gun violence, Violence, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, and Pandemic/Epidemic

cyndakeel's review against another edition

adventurous funny hopeful reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Grief, Murder, and Pandemic/Epidemic

Moderate: Animal death and Blood

scipio_africanus's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional hopeful lighthearted reflective sad medium-paced

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

5.0

Peter Heller clearly knows and loves nature and poetry. This book is pretty much a nature novel about fishing, hunting, and survival with brutal post-apocalyptic violence interspersed throughout. This book was so good that it could easily go into my top 10 favorite novels. 

Was surprised by all the bad reviews for this book. I just dont get it. People saying it's slow or boring. I wasn't bored once. There was plenty of violence,  even a good bit of quality humor, and I enjoyed the more peaceful sections of the story as well. I listened to the audiobook, which may have been a different experience to reading it. 

Can't recommend it enough.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gore, Gun violence, Sexual content, Violence, Blood, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, and Pandemic/Epidemic

Moderate: Animal death, Child death, and Grief

arejaytay's review against another edition

emotional inspiring reflective sad tense slow-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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Chronic illness, Death, Gun violence, Terminal illness, Grief, and Pandemic/Epidemic

jessrad505's review against another edition

dark mysterious reflective 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Animal death, Death, Gun violence, Violence, and Grief

bcbirrer's review against another edition

challenging emotional tense slow-paced

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

3.5

Like all of Heller's work, this one is beautifully written and takes you deep inside of the character. Post-apocalyptic isn't really my favorite genre, but it's balanced by the lush descriptions of nature. 

The dog dies. While it makes sense in the story and is not a violent death, you might want to be prepared for the grieving.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Animal death and Grief

Minor: Physical abuse, Rape, and Sexual violence

atamano's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad slow-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Death, Gore, Gun violence, Terminal illness, Violence, Blood, Grief, Murder, and Pandemic/Epidemic

Moderate: Child death, Chronic illness, Cursing, Sexual content, Xenophobia, Medical content, Cannibalism, Medical trauma, Death of parent, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Pregnancy

shellybelly's review against another edition

emotional hopeful 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? No

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Death, Gun violence, Suicidal thoughts, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Murder, Abandonment, and Injury/Injury detail

kelseak96's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional sad tense slow-paced

• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.5

It wasn't my thing, but that doesn't make it a bad book. It happened to have lots of things I dislike in books -- airplanes, dogs, occasional references to sexual violence, not a ton of backstory, long descriptions of nature, the list goes on, but while I was pretty bummed out while reading the book, I can say that it was objectively pretty decent. Extra star for taking place in my favorite state.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death and Grief

Moderate: Chronic illness, Gore, Sexual content, Violence, and Blood

Minor: Sexual violence

the dog dies