Reviews tagging 'Grief'

Kent State by Deborah Wiles

6 reviews

zombiezami's review against another edition

dark emotional funny sad fast-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cursing, Death, Gore, Gun violence, Violence, Blood, Police brutality, Grief, and Gaslighting

Moderate: Racism and War

greenlivingaudioworm's review against another edition

challenging emotional informative reflective sad fast-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death, Gun violence, Violence, Police brutality, Grief, and Mass/school shootings

aargot1's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective fast-paced

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gun violence, Violence, Police brutality, Grief, Mass/school shootings, and Murder

Moderate: Gore and Blood

Minor: Racism

starrygoldeneyes's review against another edition

dark informative inspiring reflective sad fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• 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: Death, Gun violence, Violence, Blood, Police brutality, Grief, Mass/school shootings, and Murder

renee_reads_books's review against another edition

emotional informative reflective sad fast-paced

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

5.0

Kent State by Deborah Wiles is technically YA and serves a few purposes: to tell young adults today about what happened on May 4, 1970 and help them create context for it; to humanize the victims; and as a sort of call to action in these times we’re currently in.

What made it post powerful for me is that it’s got multiple unnamed narrators who serve as a kind of Greek chorus, providing different perspectives. White and black students are represented, as well as townies, and a National Guardsman. Though they’re never named, each voice is differentiated on the page with different fonts, styles, and placement, so it’s not difficult to keep track. Together they tell the the story not only of May 4, 1970, in Kent, Ohio, but the story of the days leading up to it and how this became the event that brought the Vietnam War home to American soil. 

Well-researched and well told. This book was very emotional and one that I believe I'll be re-reading again. It's not very long and because it's told in different narrators and in verse, the part that took a while to get through was really all the emotions it brought up for me. Such a wonderful book about a topic that many today may not even know occurred. Great for teens, adults, and anyone interested in history, activism, war protest, etc. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Child death, Death, Gun violence, Violence, Grief, Mass/school shootings, and Medical trauma

nonbinarylibrarianwitch's review against another edition

challenging emotional reflective medium-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gore, Gun violence, Violence, Blood, Police brutality, and Grief