Reviews with content warning for Death of parent - Girl A

Reviews tagging 'Death of parent'

Girl A by Abigail Dean

46 reviews

bethanyarmorel's review against another edition

Go to review page

challenging dark emotional sad tense medium-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

4.25

Content Warnings

nytephoenyx's review against another edition

Go to review page

dark emotional reflective medium-paced

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

4.5

I found this book to be engaging and incredibly well-written but reader beware - it is rife with horrifying scenarios and triggers. Fans of true crime will probably like this because even though it isn’t “true” crime, it is written In a way I feel mirrors that horror.

Everything about this book is complicated - the story direction, the character growth, the choices. There are several points that feel unresolved at the end, like what ultimately ended up with the property, but I was so invested and horrified at the rest of the story that I found myself not minding. There are some books that give you hope for humanity, and some books that take it all away. This is the latter.

Girl A is not a book I would read again, but I recognize its quality and would share its existence with the right reader. It’s an incredibly difficult read, but it was also hard to put down. Mind the trigger warnings, though. Seriously.

Content Warnings

jadehusdanhicks's review

Go to review page

challenging dark emotional reflective tense medium-paced

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

4.0

This was a hell of a ride of a read. From religious trauma and abuse at the hands of their father we follow Girl A and her interactions with her fellow siblings in adulthood following the death of their mother.

Girl A was the one to escape, but so many of them handled it differently and it kind of talks us through their traumas and therapies but also their growth in themselves and their careers.

Heartbreakingly well written it almost felt real which was truly devastating, I felt anger, pain and so much emotion for them. What really got me was the shock twist at the end. Having grown to love Girl A and her strength and especially one of her relationships with one of her sisters through the book I didn’t see this twist coming and it almost broke me.

Although this was fiction, I feel it’s a vital read for all just like non fictions like Heather Morris’s war autobiography’s and Cathy glass autobiography’s of her ex foster kids as it truly encapsulates the privalege many of us live and how real these traumatic experiences can be for others who are perhaps being hid behind the curtain.

Content Warnings

thetearex's review against another edition

Go to review page

dark emotional mysterious reflective sad medium-paced

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

3.5

Content Warnings

lovelymisanthrope's review against another edition

Go to review page

dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? N/A
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

I received a copy of this book as a gift.
"Girl A" follows Lex Gracie, a woman who has spent the majority of her life trying to forget about her family. Lex was one of the siblings that grew up in the infamous House of Horrors, and she was the one who escaped and finally brought the torment to an end. Her father did not make it out of their home, and her mother has been in prison ever since. Her siblings were all adopted by different families and do not see much of each other anymore. But, when Lex learns that her mother has died and left her the rest of her possessions, including the house, Lex feels compelled to finally face what happened all those years ago.
I was so pleasantly surprised with this novel. This is not a thriller in the traditional way, but it definitely is mysterious. We know what ultimately happens to most of the characters, but we do not know how and we do not necessarily know how they are doing in their adult lives as they try to cope with the fallout from their childhood. There is one big "reveal" that I did anticipate, but I was not left feeling let down that I figured it out early on.
Lex is an interesting point of view to read from. Her life was irreversibly altered by the decisions her parents made, and it is difficult to read about the horrors she has faced, but she seems so strong. Some of her siblings have really struggled ever since their escape, and although Lex is clearly affected, she manages to seem the most levelheaded.
Each sibling gets a dedicated chapter, and we get to learn what their life was like in childhood and then what it was like trying to overcome their trauma. Each sibling handled things very differently, but it was still so interesting to see. There was one sibling in particular that made me very angry. They knew much more than they let on back then, and even contributed to the abuse in their own way. They seem so put together now, and I think it was because they did not face the same fear as their siblings. They do not deserve the beautiful life they have created, and I was angry learning of the transgressions against their siblings they committed.
The pacing of this book felt slow, but there was always so much happening, and we were learning so much about the characters that it ended up feeling very appropriately paced.
Overall, I was content with the resolution. I think the siblings are all moving on the best they can, and I think Lex made the best decision she could about the house.
I definitely recommend this book to anyone looking for a quiet mystery laced with family drama.

Content Warnings

soobooksalot's review against another edition

Go to review page

challenging dark emotional reflective tense medium-paced

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

3.0

"Don't you ever get tired," she said, "of hating them?"
"Not really," I said. "No."
Girl A is an example of where the premise of a book was more, for me, than the execution.
I've had this one waiting on my TBR shelf for awhile. The story was interesting and well-written, but the pacing was off for me.
There are a lot of central characters in the troubled Gracie family that took a bit to differentiate, and much back and forth in time.
It all comws together in the end, though!
Girl A is ultimately worth checking out.

Content Warnings

anastasia_okodure's review against another edition

Go to review page

dark medium-paced

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

2.0

The concept was interesting, unfortunately, the substance and the form were not. The highlights of the book were certainly the flashbacks to the past, but they were scattered all over the place, making the narrative was often quite difficult to follow. There were a lot of loose ends to the story and the ending was ambiguous and disappointing.

Content Warnings