Reviews tagging 'Suicide attempt'

Girl A by Abigail Dean

8 reviews

cyndi1966's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Torture, Violence, Grief, Religious bigotry, Medical trauma, Suicide attempt, Murder, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

Moderate: Alcoholism and Pregnancy

annabulkowski's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Bullying, Cancer, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Infertility, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Excrement, Vomit, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Religious bigotry, Medical trauma, Stalking, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Pregnancy, Gaslighting, Abandonment, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail

laurenipsum's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional inspiring mysterious reflective sad tense 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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Mental illness, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Self harm, Sexism, Slavery, Torture, Violence, Blood, Excrement, Vomit, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Religious bigotry, Suicide attempt, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Gaslighting, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

taymarie6's review against another edition

dark emotional sad medium-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? Yes

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Violence, and Grief

Moderate: Death, Excrement, Medical content, Suicide attempt, Pregnancy, and Injury/Injury detail

dayday_reads's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad tense slow-paced

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

2.5

Where to begin? I hated this book and I had super high hopes for it. I guess it's marketed as a thriller but I didn't know that, I just thought the premise sounded great. It starts off confusing, has a few bright spots, but mostly just dragged for me. So let's talk about what I didn't like: 
Problem#1: the characters 
I never understood what people meant about enjoying character-driven stories until now. I couldn't connect with ANY of the characters.  I didn't care about them or their plight and I was uninterested and unmoved by them. This has never happened to me where there wasn't at least one character I liked.  I hated all of them, including Girl A (Lexi) herself. She has issues with a capital I and although she had tons of therapy, so much i still unresolved. I won't even get in yo my issues with the rest of the siblings.

Problem #2: character development (or lack thereof) 
You got no sense of who the siblings really were as people because we saw everything through Lexi's lens. So they don't have the nuance that fully developed characters do. You get glimpsed in to them but not the why's and wherefore of it all. They do provide some context and help the story along but that's about it.

Problem #3: the chapter lengths! OMG. It was like they were never-ending. At first, I thought that I had missed something but nope. They really are one great long chapter. This probably would've been okay if the perspective of the actual character the chapter was about had been presented, but no.

Problem #4: the "twists"
They actually aren't bad per se. I felt dumb for not immediately seeing the first one as it was kinda in your face all along and I had QUESTIONS that the twist answered. Should've seen it coming and when it did I flipped back through the book and went; OH. Now these things make sense. Except there's no real resolution for them. Also the last twist (at least that I noticed) just solidified my feelings regarding a certain character. 

***Note: I understand that 1 & 2 are very similar and related but I feel like in this case, they are two separate issues***

Now for the good: I didn't enjoy my time with this book so I don't have much good to say. It is a character study in trauma, grief, PTSD and family. So there's that.

Overall, I don't think that I'd personally recommend this to anyone although lots of people have enjoyed it. Trgger and content warnings abound so be sure to check those out before reading.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Self harm, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, and Pregnancy

alylentz's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

3.5

I couldn't put this one down while reading but don't quite know what to make of it after. Definitely dark and difficult material, but I saw the twist coming and would have liked a deeper reckoning with what the trauma and recovery might mean for these characters instead of a thriller-like twist, especially in a book that's clearly so interested in the psychology of these siblings. I also think that this was a little hard to keep straight in terms of timeline, recollections vs. the present in audiobook form, and I would probably read it in print if I had the choice. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Suicide, Blood, Excrement, Grief, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, and Pregnancy

taleofabibliophile's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense slow-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Confinement, Emotional abuse, and Physical abuse

Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Bullying, Child death, Cursing, Drug use, Mental illness, Sexual content, Suicide, Medical content, Suicide attempt, and Death of parent

Minor: Cancer, Terminal illness, Excrement, and Vomit

going_full_witch's review against another edition

dark tense medium-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

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Incest, Infertility, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Grief, Religious bigotry, Suicide attempt, and Murder