Reviews tagging 'Grief'

Saving Noah by Lucinda Berry

70 reviews

turntsnacko27's review against another edition

challenging emotional reflective sad tense fast-paced

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

4.75

I started reading this book knowing it would be sad. Although the ending is fairly predictable, reading it was extremely emotional. There are still a few good big plot twists that completely changed my outlook on parts throughout the whole book by the time they were revealed. 
The last few paragraphs of the final chapter had me needing to take breaks to take a breath and get a hold of myself to continue, they were so deeply emotional and a major conflict of feelings. 
Overall, incredible book. Only reason I give it slightly less than 5 stars is because I felt the first 1/3 ish to be a tad slower with lots of flashbacks and family history during a time I wanted to know more about the current timeline story. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Vomit, Grief, Medical trauma, and Suicide attempt

Minor: Child abuse, Incest, and Rape

sevenletters's review against another edition

challenging dark slow-paced

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

2.5

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: Bullying, Death, Pedophilia, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Medical content, Grief, Suicide attempt, and Injury/Injury detail

astoriareader's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad fast-paced

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

5.0

SYNOPSIS

• Adrienne’s fifteen-year-son, Noah, finds out that her fifteen-year-old son molested two young girls while he was their swim coach. He's sentenced to eighteen months in a juvenile sexual rehabilitation center.
• Adrienne refuses to give up on him, but her husband isn’t on the same page.

MY THOUGHTS

• Be sure to investigate trigger warnings before reading this one.
• I absolutely LOVE Lucinda Berry. She’s an extremely talented writer.
• This was a very thought-provoking, deep, and emotional read. I never thought I would feel bad for Noah, but Berry’s writing made me truly sympathize for him. 
• Adrienne was a frustrating character, as she is in denial about a lot. I, however, felt for her because you can tell that she is a mother that loves her son & in an impossible situation.
• Unique read. Well plotted. Hard, but excellent read.

TL;DR: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️thought-provoking, unique, challenging read. love Lucinda Berry! be sure to investigate trigger warnings.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Pedophilia, Rape, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, and Suicide attempt

Moderate: Death, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Vomit, and Grief

_soulfullyrich's review against another edition

dark emotional 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? Yes

2.75

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Drug use, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Grief, and Suicide attempt

ashleighreadsbooks333's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

2.5

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Child death, Cursing, Death, Rape, Sexual assault, Suicide, Grief, and Suicide attempt

Moderate: Excrement, Vomit, and Injury/Injury detail

chrissylue'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

4.0

There wasn’t a lot of back story before you are in the thick of it. You go through the book kind of having this question hanging over everything; how is she going to save him? Parts of the story were predictable (dad scenario) especially at the end; but I was connected to the story because I sobbed at the end. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Suicide attempt, and Abandonment

Moderate: Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, and Vomit

Minor: Incest

princess_marie's review against another edition

dark emotional sad slow-paced

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

3.25

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicide, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Suicide attempt, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Bullying, Death, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, and Grief

Minor: Animal cruelty, Cancer, Fire/Fire injury, and Alcohol

zarakoconnor's review against another edition

dark 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? Yes

1.0

I tried so hard to read this book without DNFing. The way she has written an unlikeable narrator was very successful, I absolutely hated this woman and what she thought and continuously believed. She makes her son the victim in this situation and this was disgusting to read. HOWEVER!!! The purpose of this book felt like it was intending to address stigma of pedophilia and the way sexual predators are treated by the community, and I absolutely agree that we as a society need to shift our thinking about this toward a harm reduction and mental health model, rather than carceral, as people deserve treatment. But this is not what she did!!!!

The ending implies that after all of the commentary about how he isn’t a monster, and all the excuses made for him by his mother and the caring professionals, he actually IS a monster and is irredeemable and will never get better so he should die

which absolutely adds to the stigma this author intended to challenge!! The notion that pedophiles are irredeemable is both dehumanising and makes this behaviour seem inevitable, with people being victimised because “that’s just what pedophiles do” rather than attempting to treat them and work on prevention.  Also, the chapters from his perspective lend me to believe that we are MEANT to sympathise with him and how poorly he was treated, which is not handled gracefully when the underaged victims in this book are downplayed and treated as dramatic for their trauma, but I’m supposed to be sympathetic of his trauma? This makes me so angry, and I do not understand the positive reviews. This book failed. Lucinda Berry, do more research on pedophilic disorder and treatments because it is clear you skimmed it. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Drug use, Pedophilia, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Vomit, Medical content, Religious bigotry, Medical trauma, and Suicide attempt

Moderate: Forced institutionalization and Grief

Minor: Fire/Fire injury

paperkindle's review against another edition

challenging dark fast-paced

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

3.0

This is a difficult book to review because of the subject. I felt his mother downplayed a lot of what he did. Saying things like "Noah’s case was the least serious. He was like the kid in treatment for smoking pot a few times surrounded by kids who shot heroin." And "Their (the girls) lives weren’t going to be ruined forever. They just weren’t. But, the world wouldn’t be satisfied until they’d annihilated him. He was more of a victim than those girls" SA has trauma on everyone, whether you're a kid or an adult. The ending explained a lot about Noah, I didn't see it coming. 

TW: rape, sexual assault, suicide attempt, suicidal thoughts, suicide, cancer, grief, violence, pedophilia

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Cancer, Child death, Drug use, Incest, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Grief, and Suicide attempt

Moderate: Rape and Vomit

rebsuz14's review against another edition

dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Death, Pedophilia, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Violence, Grief, Suicide attempt, and Injury/Injury detail