Reviews

How We Ricochet by Faith Gardner

booknerdkc's review against another edition

challenging emotional reflective tense medium-paced

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

2.5

cass_ward's review

5.0

This book takes one of the worst epidemics that America has faced, and talks about it. It is truthful and captivating and honest. There are millions of ways grief is felt, and this book did an incredible job of addressing that.

mslater116's review against another edition

emotional hopeful reflective sad medium-paced

4.0

gardensongs's review

challenging dark emotional fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix

4.25

gandalf's review

Was this self published??

tremalika's review

emotional sad medium-paced

3.5

kellie_00's review

challenging dark emotional reflective sad medium-paced

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

4.5

I very hard hitting book that dealt with the trauma and near-death experiences. The characters had interesting motivations and discussions. I felt as the ending was a little bit rushed and could've been developed more.

thisavidreader's review

4.0

a must read ( check trigger warnings)

This book was incredible

4.5/ 5 ⭐️

This book is about what it’s like recovering from a traumatic experience ( a shooting)

I genuinely enjoyed this book and I flew through it because it was that good! If you are interested in reading it..YOU DEFINITELY SHOULD!!

Please check trigger warnings because there are a lot of topics in this book!

openmypages's review

4.0

How We Ricochet is a timely YA piece about a family dealing with the aftermath of being present at a mass shooting at a mall. This mother and two daughters are going about their lives and suddenly they are forced to face their own mortality. This leaves them each spinning in wildly different directions. Mom becomes an anti-gun activist, Joy becomes a complete shut-in masking her fears with substances and Betty, our main character, finds herself drawn to the brother of the shooter. Each are trying to understand what happened, why them and how to cope with grief and survivor's guilt. I thought this was really well thought out, we saw lots of different perspectives of coping with fear and grief as well as some teen angst and adult denial. I really loved the three different perspectives because they each were equal measures rational and irrational. 

This is a quick read but certainly not an easy one. I want to say today's teens live in a different world but frankly Columbine happened when I was in high school and that was literally decades ago, so unfortunately, the world feels like it's just repeating itself over and over leaving more victims of grief. This one will definitely tug on your heart and give you plenty to think about.

Thanks to Harper Teen for the gifted copy. All opinions above are my own.

debzemanlms's review

3.0

This was a different read. A shooting occurs at a mall and throughout the story the reader in immersed in Betty’s PTSD, as a side- victim. Not even sure that’s the correct wording. Her mother and sister were right in the middle of the shooting, she was outside of the store when it happened. We see how she deals with her PTSD, as we see the path her mother and sister take. This was a hard read to get through. I didn’t really connect with the protagonist. To truly get to center of her PTSD, took a very long time. The relationship with the shooter’s brother was also drawn out. I would give this one 3.5 stars, just for the fact that we see the survivor’s side of a shooting and what it was like to come out the other side.