Reviews tagging 'Murder'

The Weight of Blood by Tiffany D. Jackson

83 reviews

samuelbrown23's review

dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

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

2.75

I feel like this story felt moving to fast and too slow at the same time. One moment an event happen that feels like major reveal only to be overshadowed by something mediocre. Some unanswered questions. To be honest this book is not really for an adult audience.

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Content Warnings

Minor: Death of parent, Murder, Racism, Death, and Racial slurs

soapyhopey's review

challenging dark tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.5

This was a really good book. I love how the audiobook used different actors throughout the book. I like that it was modern and included podcast episodes, court readings, articles; the author created a whole world around the story. 
It was a really strong story. I feel like the author took a tough subject and created a story that interwove it really well. I like the multiple points of view; I feel like it really adds depth and understanding to each character. 
*spoilers ahead* I feel for Maddie and at the end I’m upset Jules gets to get out of the whole situation spreading lies and alive. Which is crazy to say you want a character dead but she was so awful. I didn’t expect Wendy to come through but I’m glad she did. I really want to hope Maddie and Kenny end up together quietly and peacefully. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Bullying, and Murder

Moderate: Blood

augustinedreams's review

challenging dark emotional sad tense fast-paced

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

5.0

I highly recommend reading this book. It is a fantastic take on the classic Carrie but with a modern day twist that comments on modern racism. Take your time with this book it has so much to give and all of it is brutally honest.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Body shaming, Police brutality, Domestic abuse, Gore, Murder, Racial slurs, Violence, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Emotional abuse, Animal death, Blood, Death of parent, Racism, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Injury/Injury detail, Toxic friendship, and Hate crime

Moderate: Sexism, Misogyny, Gun violence, Cursing, and Alcohol

kristenreads's review against another edition

dark emotional tense medium-paced

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

3.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Bullying, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, and Death

Moderate: Police brutality and Racial slurs

wrensreadingroom's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad tense fast-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Gore, Gun violence, Racial slurs, Mental illness, Murder, Gaslighting, Abandonment, Adult/minor relationship, Blood, Alcohol, Animal death, Body shaming, Bullying, Classism, Racism, Car accident, Child abuse, Colonisation, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Hate crime, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Toxic relationship, Toxic friendship, Police brutality, Pregnancy, Violence, Sexual content, and Vomit

greasertrashh's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.75

The Weight of Blood is a stunning retelling of Carrie told from the lens of racism in America. The author did a beautiful job weaving these elements together and making it into something unique and thought-provoking. 
The addition of racial tension and generational trauma in a tale that many readers are at least partially familiar with allows the reader to immerse themselves further into the commentary of the novel and creates a more powerful statement which was only enhanced by the “podcast” episodes discussing the incident between chapters. 

I rated this a 4.75 out of 5 because, unfortunately, I was hoping for a bit more from the ending. The plot ends in a great place, but somehow felt a bit rushed. May update to a 5 star rating as I revisit the novel. 

The audiobook version of this was incredible, featuring a multi-narrator cast, sound effects, etc. Highly recommend both print and audiobook formats.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cursing, Death of parent, Racial slurs, Body horror, Hate crime, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Police brutality, Blood, Gore, Grief, Child abuse, Death, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Bullying, Classism, and Racism

tashtash93's review

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Racism, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, Child death, Cultural appropriation, Toxic relationship, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Mental illness, Emotional abuse, Death, Bullying, Police brutality, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Fire/Fire injury, and Hate crime

tifftastic87's review

challenging dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

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

3.5

A retelling of Stephen King's Carrie modernized and with a new twist. 

I wanted this to be a five star, but I think it missed a few key points for me. 

I really loved the idea of a new twist on Carrie, bringing in an issue that is in our forefront right now and especially in 2020 when it seems like this book was written. I really appreciated the telling of a story about how mean high school girls can be to each other from the perspective of a female writer, but I think the story fell short here. There clearly was intersection between her being a woman and her being bi-racial that given the length of the book could have been used much better. 

The main reason I say this is in Carrie the tension in Carrie's home is created by her mother being afraid for her purity and uses her religion heavily to keep that. She believes that any form of sexuality, including puberty, is sinful and is extremely abusive from that angle. Likely because of how she was treated by Carrie's father. In The Weight of Blood, Maddy lives with her father who treats her as his personal housewife because he clearly is one of those men who "long for a simpler time." He only watches old movies, listens to old music and is against new technology. This is never explained really, except that he does it to protect Maddy. He believes if he can teach her to dress and act like *white* homemakers from the 50s, he can protect her from what people will think of her being mixed. My confusion is that Maddy's femininity doesn't play that big of a role in her character development, except that it gets Kenny's attention. We get the root of all of Maddy's father's abuse and it is

Spoiler

because she has the same powers his mom has

so we are blaming women at the base of it. 

Kenny is convinced by his girlfriend Wendy, who very much has a bit of white savior in her as well as "I don't see color" kind of attitude. She is also very hard to like, even though she gets the best redemption arc, because she is the type of girl who just does everything to have the dream future with the dream guy. Her life revolves around Kenny and Kenny's revolves around football. Kenny shows the most character growth in a way, because he starts trying to push back against his life being determined for him but that is only because he falls for Maddy. And he falls for her because she is "not like other girls." Which is not just me being snarky, it is literally written in a book published in 2022. I have no words, I thought we were past this or at least trying to be. There is also quite a bit that reminds me of those 2000s nerd to hottie movie transformations, because he starts noticing how pretty her eyes are when she starts to not wear glasses and then we get talks about her small frame and thin figure when she starts wearing skirts and "men's undershirts." Honestly, I am kind of sad that Jackson didn't bust out a blue chambray workshirt on us. I think the interactions between Kenny and Maddy and the insta-loviness was just a little too tropey for me. 

I also really did not like the explanation we got at the end from Maddy's father on her true roots. It really felt like we were supposed to excuse his abuse of Maddy because he had his own trauma. Abusers often abuse, I don't think we need to be reminded of this and be given a seen where we are supposed to feel pitty for him. 

Maddy did a lot of what she did for Kenny, which is from my memory a change from the original story. Carrie did it for herself. She may have had feelings for Tommy and she lashed out from being tricked, but its not the same as what happened here, I mean

Spoiler

Maddy only snapped out of her grief enough to survive because she was told Kenny was alive

. It just makes it lose some of it's strong woman vibe. 

I will say, Jackson can write. I appreciated her flow and descriptions the pace was nice and characters were developed, even if I didn't like the direction they were developed in. I really hated Jules, right down to her court testimony. I very loudly made a grumbled exasperated sigh noise of disgust when reading that part actually. I was actually upset with what happened to Kenny after the incident in the barn, and it wasn't all just in reaction to the type of event it was. I genuinely cared about him. I do wish we would have got more of his mother and sister, I liked them. His dad is a dick though. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Fire/Fire injury, Sexism, Toxic friendship, Violence, Blood, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Police brutality, Racism, Religious bigotry, Child abuse, Classism, Cursing, Death, Grief, Hate crime, Infidelity, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, Misogyny, Murder, and Gore

trayslays's review

challenging dark emotional tense fast-paced

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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Murder, Police brutality, Death, Racism, Bullying, and Violence

Moderate: Injury/Injury detail, Toxic friendship, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, and Racial slurs

snowhite197's review

dark emotional tense fast-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Death, Gore, Violence, Racism, Blood, Body shaming, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, and Police brutality