Reviews tagging 'Death of parent'

What's Mine and Yours by Naima Coster

17 reviews

beklovesbooks's review against another edition

challenging emotional

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

2.25

Really interesting non-linear format of moving forward and backward in time sometimes by decades other times by a month and each time changing whose perspective the story is being told from while overlapping in someway with the other storytellers and stories. It would have been helpful to start a timeline and list of characters at the beginning.

Overall a pretty depressing book as people are constantly using one another, tolerating neglect, and there’s just so much graphic emphasis on sex!

Interesting perspective of poverty, race, and generational trauma. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug abuse, Physical abuse, Alcoholism, Drug use, and Sexual content

Moderate: Death of parent, Gun violence, Body shaming, Fatphobia, Infertility, Bullying, Classism, Xenophobia, Abortion, Infidelity, Injury/Injury detail, Miscarriage, Racial slurs, and Racism

Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Cancer, Trafficking, Vomit, Cursing, Domestic abuse, Murder, Pregnancy, Slavery, Terminal illness, and Toxic relationship

briannad4's review against another edition

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? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gun violence, Sexual content, Death of parent, Abortion, Racism, and Hate crime

Moderate: Addiction, Miscarriage, Abandonment, and Drug abuse

spinesinaline's review against another edition

challenging emotional reflective medium-paced

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

4.25

This was a stressful book as the first chapter opens with a death and I was immediately wishing for different futures for the characters. The main focus here is on intergenerational trauma and all the complexities of family and race, so it’s a tough one to get through but so worth it. 

The story regularly flips between the past and the present so we as the readers can try to piece together the two times and how things came to be, while also allowing for some mystery in the bigger reveals. I would love to reread this one knowing what I know now because there are so many subtle hints the author leaves throughout the plot and the character descriptions that seem so obvious after the fact. 

As much as I appreciated the interrogation of race in this book, I felt uncomfortable that the mixed Latinx/white character seemed to serve as the stand-in for whiteness. Noelle is the only one contending with her whiteness, recognizing the racial violence others have faced, and feeling the blame of the world, but she rarely gets a moment to examine the racial violence that’s been inflicted on herself, which doesn’t seem a deliberate exclusion that was meant to add to the story. I understand, as much as I can, the complexity of being a mixed-race person and dealing with the traumatic and colonial history of whiteness but it didn’t feel like the character’s Latinx identity was considered much at all. I’ll defer to Latinx and mixed-race reviewers on this and seek out how they felt about the authenticity of the character. 

It’s a sad story of loss in more ways than one and all the ways that may show up in our lives, as well as the devastating consequences when the grief and trauma from these losses are not addressed or recognized, or are beaten down. I appreciated the ending and the moments of connection and lightness that the author has managed to intersperse in quite a necessarily dark tale. I also loved reading the acknowledgements and seeing how the author’s own experience as a mother so clearly influenced multiple relationships in the book. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Miscarriage, Death of parent, Drug abuse, Gun violence, Racism, Sexual content, and Violence

Moderate: Medical content and Abortion

kimveach's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective medium-paced

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

3.5

This was a good story with interesting characters.  However, I didn't like the back and forth between timelines.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism and Death of parent

Moderate: Abandonment, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Hate crime, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Cancer, Classism, Death, Drug abuse, Eating disorder, Miscarriage, Murder, Pregnancy, Racial slurs, Addiction, Car accident, Grief, Infidelity, Medical trauma, Alcohol, Blood, Drug use, Abortion, Mental illness, Forced institutionalization, Infertility, and Sexual content

myinfinitetbr's review against another edition

emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

In Piedmont, North Carolina, a community is outraged when students from a predominantly Black school are brought to a mostly white school.

Told over the course of 30 years in the perspectives of a Black mother and her son, and a white mother and her half-Latina daughter; each mother determined to see her child have a better life. Their kids become involved in a school play together, and create ties that bond them for decades to come.

I really liked that the narrative included the perspectives of both families with the mothers and their teens. Though the characters were well written, I found my investment in them lacking, which may have been due to the frequent shift between timelines. I still enjoyed the commentary on family dysfunction, race, identity, motherhood, and the decisions that cause a ripple effect through generations.

⚠️ Addiction, Racism, Violence, Death of a Parent, Infidelity, Abortion

Thank you Grand Central Pub for the gifted copy! All opinions are my own

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Addiction, Infidelity, Racism, Violence, Abortion, and Death of parent

ktdakotareads's review against another edition

reflective medium-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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death, Drug abuse, Grief, Cancer, Infertility, Infidelity, Miscarriage, Racism, Addiction, Cursing, Death of parent, and Medical content

Minor: Abortion, Violence, and Gun violence

threeundertwopnw's review against another edition

emotional sad slow-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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Sexual content, Miscarriage, Murder, Suicidal thoughts, Death of parent, Grief, Hate crime, Infertility, Medical trauma, Racism, and Drug abuse

catladyreads's review against another edition

emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism

Moderate: Alcohol, Alcoholism, Death, Death of parent, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gun violence, Miscarriage, Sexual content, and Violence

ladygetslit's review against another edition

challenging emotional reflective medium-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

4.25

This book isn’t really about the integration of a school in the early 2000s. It’s more about the messy nature of human beings, who are so often selfish, prejudiced, anxious, and ignorant. 

I wanted to rate this higher, because the writing was good, and I appreciate what Naima Coster accomplished with this book. Unfortunately, I just didn’t feel connected to the characters. Everyone in this book is some kind of asshole, and even though I can understand why, it just kept me from really feeling for them. I think if the story had focused only on Noelle and Gee, I would’ve been able to settle in more. As it is, the story follows so many different people and I didn’t have the time to feel connected to their story enough to be invested in the outcomes. 

I would still recommend this book, because I think it does a good job of exploring the experience of being biracial, of being on the outside of something looking in. It just didn’t pack the emotional punch I wanted it to.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Racism, and Infidelity

Moderate: Drug abuse, Addiction, Cancer, Death of parent, and Miscarriage

Minor: Abortion, Sexual content, Racial slurs, Panic attacks/disorders, and Murder

mackenziem12's review against another edition

challenging emotional sad 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? Yes

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Death of parent, Death, Miscarriage, Infidelity, Infertility, Racism, Drug abuse, Drug use, Abortion, Addiction, Alcohol, Homophobia, Lesbophobia, Pregnancy, Terminal illness, and Cancer