Reviews tagging 'Terminal illness'

A Good Girl's Guide to Murder by Holly Jackson

33 reviews

introverted_reads's review against another edition

adventurous mysterious tense fast-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? No

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Suicide, Grief, and Murder

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Animal death, Child abuse, Confinement, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Vomit, and Car accident

Minor: Eating disorder, Fatphobia, Mental illness, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Self harm, Terminal illness, and Death of parent

jupiter_56's review against another edition

adventurous mysterious tense fast-paced

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

5.0

ç’est tres amusant !  zis waz so tearjerking. Absolutely fantastique… C’était un masterpiece. Ravi and Pip were made for my home country! ( ze ville of love) 
Aldough… it was nasty, crusty, dusty, rusty and etc ;) 

- french critique 
Madame Delecoire Monet
 (oui)

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Racial slurs, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Terminal illness, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Police brutality, Trafficking, Stalking, Suicide attempt, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Toxic friendship, Sexual harassment, and War

Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Chronic illness, Cursing, Drug use, Blood, Abortion, Abandonment, Alcohol, Colonisation, and Deportation

Minor: Genocide

ameliaflint's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional medium-paced

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

4.5

This book was really almost perfect. Great story, great characters. The only things were that a., sometimes dialogue was a little cringey and b., ending was not my favorite. I did not have a crazy aha moment like I would have wanted. And also I didn’t love the way the story was told in different mediums. Just not my thing, personally.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship and Murder

Moderate: Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, and Suicide

Minor: Terminal illness

annawlsnn's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body shaming, Bullying, Child death, Emotional abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Suicide, Violence, Vomit, Grief, Stalking, Murder, and Toxic friendship

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Confinement, Drug use, Eating disorder, Mental illness, Racism, Self harm, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Blood, Kidnapping, Car accident, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, and Alcohol

Minor: Cancer, Cursing, Fatphobia, Panic attacks/disorders, Terminal illness, Blood, and Dementia

ellahooper's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring lighthearted mysterious reflective relaxing sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Grief, and Murder

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Body horror, Bullying, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, and Death of parent

Minor: Animal death, Cancer, Confinement, Cursing, Fatphobia, Rape, Sexual assault, Terminal illness, Excrement, Vomit, Dementia, Kidnapping, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail

phantasmaboo's review against another edition

mysterious fast-paced

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

2.0

I gave this book two stars. This book covers the story of a young woman named Pip who is investigating the death (murder) of a fellow student, Andie Bell, as part of her capstone project for high school. The books presents this story through 3rd person narration as well as through first person journal entries that mark Pip’s progress throughout this capstone. 

Overall, the text is well-written and we’ll-situated within the young adult genre. It was fast-paced and easy to read. 

Still, there were several areas of the text that didn’t sit right with me, which can be summarized as:

Topic/Plot

The general plot of the book is not one that resonated with me, and I’m not sure that it’s one that Jackson handled with care. The idea that a high school senior could or should investigate a recent murder as part of a capstone project is puzzling at best. We already live in a society in which murder victims (and their families) are passed off as entertainment, and this book feeds into that. In fact, there is more emotional weight given to the death of an animal than to the death of Andie Bell. 

The weight of the murder and the humanity of the victim are never examined in depth, nor does the main character have her behavior challenged in any meaningful way. In fact, she is awarded. 

This ends in a crescendo when Pip covers up a hit and run accident because “her friends have suffered enough” and tries to help the murderer escape because “it wasn’t fair”. None of this is checked or examined. It’s a bit ironic that Pip ends by saying “we have to do better” considered she covered up/tries to cover up two serious crimes.

The Protagonist

I did not care for the protagonist very much. Typically, this isn’t a requirement for me, but it was clear that Jackson’s intent was to have readers like Pip. I found her to be very shallow and defined by privilege; a privilege that goes unchecked.

That the author wants us to view Pip positively despite her covering up or attempting to cover up two separate and very serious crimes cemented my opinion on this. Given the writing and the lack of push back on Pip’s character, I find it hard to believe that this was intentional.

Diversity 

The book has some characters of color, but is overall written with a (privileged) white gaze. Minor discussions of race are superficial and barely integrated, despite the fact that the prime suspect in the murder is a man of color. I felt like this was a missed opportunity to provide a young adult text that examined such intricacies. There are also moments of micro-aggressions against minoritized populations that are passed off as humorous.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide, Suicide attempt, and Murder

Moderate: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Animal death, Drug abuse, Drug use, and Terminal illness

Minor: Rape, Car accident, and Cultural appropriation

amndaj's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious fast-paced

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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence and Murder

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Drug abuse, and Rape

Minor: Animal death, Bullying, Self harm, Suicide, and Terminal illness

valley's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

4.5

This book kept me on edge and i read it in just four days, staying up late so i could finish it. I liked how no character was portrayed as "pure evil", their emotions, feelings and reasons for what they did were explained well.

Tho Max can frick off, because what he did has no reason other than him having no regard for others.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Kidnapping, Grief, Stalking, Murder, and Toxic friendship

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Body shaming, Bullying, Cancer, Chronic illness, Mental illness, Suicide, Terminal illness, Blood, Dementia, Death of parent, and Sexual harassment

Minor: Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Vomit, and Sexual harassment

cerilouisereads's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional funny hopeful mysterious sad tense fast-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: Animal death, Bullying, Death, Drug use, Suicide, Grief, Car accident, and Murder

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Hate crime, Mental illness, Rape, Sexual assault, Kidnapping, and Toxic friendship

Minor: Infidelity, Terminal illness, Blood, Vomit, and Death of parent

miandi's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Animal death, Body shaming, Bullying, Confinement, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Panic attacks/disorders, Racism, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, and Toxic friendship

Minor: Suicidal thoughts and Terminal illness