Reviews tagging 'Grief'

Other Birds by Sarah Addison Allen

31 reviews

ariana3's review against another edition

adventurous emotional mysterious reflective sad slow-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

3.0

This one was okay. I didn't really understand or know what the point of the book was for a lot of it.

A girl moves to this condo complex where her now dead mother used to live. She never fit in with her dad, stepmom, and step-siblings. Other residents are reclusive until the most annoying resident dies. The girl, Zoey, gets the residents to talk and be friends.

A story about the ghosts of our past impacting our present lives/futures and letting go of them. Meh

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief

Moderate: Death, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Death of parent, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Abandonment

Minor: Animal cruelty and Infidelity

themorethatyouread's review against another edition

emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious reflective 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? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Child abuse, Incest, Mental illness, Grief, and Abandonment

Minor: Addiction

eliya's review against another edition

emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious tense slow-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

3.0

I spent 9h 47m reading this book. 

The whole time I was reading I was trying to figure out what this book was going to be. There was so much backstory and set up, it seemed, that I wasn’t sure when the book, or “real” story, would begin. It caught me off guard when I realized the point of the book, and it was kind of relaxing. This isn’t a particularly exciting book or anything, this is a very healing book. 

I just lost my father about two months ago and it’s been hard to let go. I’m glad I read this book when I did. 

Now, the actual book was weird. The point was lovely— there was a very odd antihomelessness theme throughout the book. The island that they live on has heavy patrols for people sleeping anywhere but inside a house & none of the characters bay an eye about it. The author tries to do this like “I remember poverty… it was rough” thing with a couple of the characters and it doesn’t land, it just reads as empty, really. I think she could have dived deeper and given detail instead of vague “what was probably abuse” description. 

I feel bad for Lizbeth honestly. I think she and Lucy should have had a larger part of the story. You have Lizbeth and her diaries and we’re waiting for this big ball to drop (no pun intended) at the end when someone finally reads her diaries, but it, again, falls flat on delivery. 

I’m glad the loose ends were tied up, but the package was a lot smaller than it made itself out to be.

Cute book, glad I read it, good for grief. Nice to fat people and not weird about weight lol.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief

Moderate: Addiction, Death, Toxic relationship, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Religious bigotry, Stalking, and Death of parent

Minor: Child abuse, Deadnaming, Emotional abuse, Racism, Police brutality, Kidnapping, Pregnancy, and Classism

sharkgirl45's review against another edition

emotional hopeful reflective sad 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? It's complicated

3.75

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Addiction, Drug abuse, Mental illness, Violence, Grief, and Death of parent

kelleykamanda's review against another edition

emotional mysterious slow-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

3.0

I usually love her books but this one was simply okay. Still nice to listen to but I didn’t have as much of a desire to root for the characters as I did with other books. I liked listening to Zoe’s plot line. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Emotional abuse, Grief, and Death of parent

Moderate: Child death

icapturethecastle's review against another edition

emotional hopeful inspiring reflective 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? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Child abuse, Drug abuse, Infidelity, Mental illness, Grief, Death of parent, and Abandonment

cassielaj's review against another edition

emotional hopeful mysterious reflective 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? It's complicated

3.5

A lot happened in this book without a lot happening, if that makes sense. I normally love a literary character exploration, except I felt that there were so many characters with dramatic things happening to them that each one didn’t get the attention they deserved. That being said, I would’ve read a whole novel dedicated to any one of the characters — they were definitely intriguing. I loved the ghost element and the way the story dealt with grief. I think there were a lot of strengths here, it just didn’t all come together for me.

by the time the twist happened at the end, there were only 50 or so pages left and it felt like a rush to the end

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief

Moderate: Abandonment

Minor: Violence and Religious bigotry

gondorgirl's review against another edition

emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious 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? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Mental illness and Death of parent

Minor: Addiction, Child abuse, Drug abuse, Grief, and Abandonment

mbmayo's review against another edition

emotional hopeful reflective

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Addiction, Child abuse, Death, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Grief, Death of parent, and Abandonment

Minor: Gaslighting

katiieecat's review against another edition

emotional hopeful inspiring reflective 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Drug abuse, Incest, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Grief, Car accident, and Death of parent