Reviews

How to Make Friends with the Dark by Kathleen Glasgow

yusraakbari's review against another edition

emotional sad slow-paced

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

3.0

readswithrosie's review against another edition

5.0

As a mental health therapist, finding books that provide accurate representations of mental health is so valuable. How to Make Friends With the Dark has some of the best exploration of grief I have seen, and watching the main character Tiger navigate life after losing her only parent is absolutely heart wrenching. I found the writing style to be particularly powerful, as Glassgow writes certain chapters in a way that seem to portray emotional dissociation that can accompany intense feelings.

Additionally, this book explores the foster care system and the physical and emotional toll it has on children. We as the reader see the good and the ugly- oftentimes the system fails the children, and their trauma multiplies until they age out at 18. We’re also fortunate enough to see the good people who are genuinely trying to provide whatever they can to these children.

As you can imagine, there are so many content warnings for this book, so please look into them prior to reading

wen797's review against another edition

sad slow-paced

3.25

yassinelbadrawy's review against another edition

4.0

This book literally left me speechless. At the first 100 pages, I was seriously considering DNFing this book, because it was so repetitive and monotonous and it was so unbelievably slooowww. I'm glad I kept reading since it became so interesting and gripping halfway through that I couldn't put it down. It's a story of a teen attempting to cope with the death of her mother and how she deals with her grief. It teaches you not only about grieving the loss of a loved one at such a young age, but also about how minors are handled in America's foster care system. Throughout the book, the author continued emphasizing the gravity of the conditions in which so many children find themselves just to be able to live in loving homes. Despite the fact that the book dealt with a lot of hard subjects, it was nevertheless comforting and heartwarming. Although this book was less triggering than her last book, Girl In Pieces, it may still be triggering due to references of self-harm, abuse, suicide, and death.

jaloni_'s review against another edition

emotional sad medium-paced

4.0

emmakate_3's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional 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? It's complicated

4.0

evetousig's review against another edition

4.0

This book made me realize a lot of things. I recommend it!

arabellasbookshelves's review against another edition

4.0

Having the close relationship with my mum like I do made Tiger’s story and her grief even more hard hitting for me as I cannot imagine going through the pain of losing someone so close to you. Kathleen Glasgow just knows how to write a heartbreaking, gut wrenching and emotionally destroying story and I will continue to read them despite the tears.

shatton72's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad slow-paced

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

4.0

sopphh's review against another edition

dark emotional inspiring sad medium-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death of parent