Reviews tagging 'Gun violence'

The Summer That Melted Everything by Tiffany McDaniel

8 reviews

creepycrawlybookworm's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Homophobia, Physical abuse, Racism, Suicide, Violence, Blood, Grief, Murder, and Fire/Fire injury

Moderate: Alcoholism, Animal death, Gun violence, Hate crime, Miscarriage, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Kidnapping, Cannibalism, Pregnancy, and Injury/Injury detail

larinda_booksandanxiety's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad slow-paced

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

5.0

Wow. Beautifully written. I read a review of this book before I read it and it said, "devastatingly beautiful." This is an accurate description. The premise is basically, the devil was invited to town and came. Though the "devil" revealed himself, I'm unsure of who or what really was the devil. This book reads like poetry...tragic poetry. Very emotional.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Child death, Death, Hate crime, Homophobia, Racial slurs, Racism, Violence, Grief, and Murder

Moderate: Child abuse, Child death, Death, Gun violence, Racism, Murder, and Fire/Fire injury

Minor: Cannibalism

littlelizzieborden's review

challenging dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Hate crime, Homophobia, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Self harm, Suicide, and Grief

Minor: Animal death, Gun violence, Infidelity, Miscarriage, Kidnapping, Cannibalism, and Death of parent

brittonmc1221's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad tense slow-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Gore, Gun violence, Hate crime, Homophobia, Mental illness, Racial slurs, Racism, Suicide, Blood, Kidnapping, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail

abbruzzese's review against another edition

adventurous emotional inspiring mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

beautiful. heart-wrenching. elegantly written.

this book is like the temptation of the burning flame—impossible to turn away from; painful to the touch.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Bullying, Child death, Gun violence, Homophobia, Racism, Blood, Kidnapping, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, and Outing

Moderate: Death, Miscarriage, Violence, and Suicide attempt

Minor: Child abuse

christcore's review

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective 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

Incredible. Extremely intense. Check content warnings.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Hate crime, Racism, Suicide, Violence, Religious bigotry, and Murder

Moderate: Child abuse, Gun violence, Homophobia, and Sexual content

rcampbell's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad medium-paced

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

4.0

This is the second of Tiffany McDaniel's books that I have read, 'Betty' being one of my favourite books last year.

This has the same dark, other-worldly, southern gothic feel to it. The story follows one boy, his family and the rural town he grows up in over one summer. Lots of moral lessons regarding religion, the "devil" amongst us and what evil is, were heavy going and not the most subtle but thoroughly enjoyed the story telling and use of language. 

The setting is perfect and clearly one that McDaniels knows well. The heat and stiffling sense of the town was tangible, building as the tension in the story grew.

One reservation I have is in McDaniel's characterisation of the town's apparently only person with a disability as angry and bitter and being the 'evil villain' figure in the plot. This particular trope felt outdated and the book was written in 2016. Think this is a bit lazy and has the potential to perpetuate long-standing harmful trope of connecting disfigurement/disability with villainy. Or maybe this was the point....?!

I will look out for her future publications as I enjoy her use of setting, language and story telling and raced through this book in a couple of days. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Gun violence, Homophobia, Miscarriage, Sexual violence, Suicide, Violence, Religious bigotry, and Murder

lorylor's review against another edition

dark reflective sad slow-paced

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Child death, Death, Gore, Gun violence, Hate crime, Homophobia, Racial slurs, Racism, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Grief, Religious bigotry, and Murder

Minor: Miscarriage, Kidnapping, Cannibalism, and Death of parent