Reviews tagging 'Death of parent'

Tell Me an Ending by Jo Harkin

21 reviews

e11en's review

dark emotional mysterious reflective fast-paced

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Suicide, and Death of parent

mediatrikcxs's review against another edition

emotional funny mysterious reflective tense

• 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

4.0

this book slapped. i absolutely love a speculative fiction book that's built out this thoroughly, with consistent rules that are explained in ways that compound the drama of the plot so that all exposition feels natural. A delight to read. I felt like the author could have gotten a little darker with it; a lot of the memory reveals ended up being much less scary than the characters had imagined. I guess that's partially the point, but I kind of thought there would be some way more traumatic memories revealed. I also didn't like "the point is the questions" as a theme– of course life contains tons of mysteries we can't find the answers to, and in some cases we can find the answer, but might choose not to. But the wording of "the point is the questions" implies that that uncertainty is always a good thing, when actually some characters in the book do find that getting the answer is the right choice for them. Also it just sounds a bit trite and childish. All in all a delightful read, and I would also have enjoyed a slightly more grown-up version.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Blood, Medical content, Medical trauma, Car accident, Suicide attempt, and Death of parent

Moderate: Infidelity

Minor: Incest, Xenophobia, and Islamophobia

exhumedprince's review

challenging emotional hopeful reflective sad 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? Yes

3.0

Eternal Sunshine is one of my favorite movies, so of course this book seemed like it would be right up my alley. There were a lot of things I liked about it, but some of Noor's actions and attitudes, especially towards the end, aggravated me so much, I can't look past it.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Grief, Car accident, and Death of parent

Moderate: Addiction, Drug abuse, Infidelity, Mental illness, Self harm, Medical content, Toxic friendship, and Abandonment

Minor: Forced institutionalization, Blood, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Pregnancy, and Alcohol

eachz's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious reflective tense medium-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

Really enjoyed this! I've been disappointed with other speculative fiction that gets way too hung up on the details of the science/tech setting and neglects the characters and the universal themes to be explored against that backdrop. Tell Me an Ending, to me, did what I always hope for, and made the novel mostly about the characters and how the phenomenon of memory deletion/restoration can play out in many different ways. 

While there was a lot of tragedy in this story I think it left me feeling hopeful and fond of humans in all our messiness.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicidal thoughts, Blood, and Medical trauma

Moderate: Death, Infidelity, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Suicide, Stalking, Car accident, Death of parent, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Alcoholism, Drug abuse, Drug use, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

jacquatch's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad slow-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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide, Toxic relationship, Car accident, Suicide attempt, Toxic friendship, and Abandonment

Moderate: Drug abuse, Drug use, and Car accident

Minor: Child death, Incest, Death of parent, Gaslighting, and Alcohol

I feel like this book could have been cut by 1/4 and have been much better. And I felt like there was not much that surprised me. I got bored, but I also wanted to finish just to see how the author wrapped it up.

sha's review against another edition

emotional tense slow-paced

• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No

1.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Alcoholism, Death, Mental illness, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Blood, Grief, Medical trauma, Car accident, Death of parent, Gaslighting, and Abandonment

corpsewhale's review against another edition

emotional mysterious reflective sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Child death, Death, Suicide, and Death of parent

bookshak's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective medium-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? It's complicated

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Grief, Car accident, and Death of parent

kristasorocks's review against another edition

mysterious 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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Drug use, Mental illness, Death of parent, and Gaslighting

Minor: Sexual content, Sexual violence, Forced institutionalization, and Suicide attempt

emily_amick's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective tense 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicidal thoughts, Grief, Car accident, and Death of parent

Moderate: Addiction