Reviews with content warning for Domestic abuse - How to Make Friends with the Dark

This book was definitely a book about the grieving process. I suggest anyone considering reading this book to check the trigger warnings beforehand. While I was not the target audience Glasgow wrote for, I did find this book very important; I think everyone should expose themselves to this type of writing at least once in their lives. In my experience reading “How to Make Friends With the Dark” I learned so much about the foster system, among other parts of the lives of orphaned teenagers. This book truly leaves you seeing people differently and wondering who around you could have a difficult life at home.

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rebecca_77's review against another edition

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dark emotional reflective sad medium-paced

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

5.0

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starryworm's review against another edition

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dark emotional sad 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? Yes

4.75

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prachidayal's review against another edition

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emotional sad fast-paced

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

2.0

Easy read (4 - 6 hours)
I have mixed feelings about this book. The writing style was childish to me. The main character talked like a little kid, for the first few pages, I thought she was 10. The story spiraled very quickly, and the whole drunk driving arc made no sense. Also, the random anti-racism rant from Shayna was so white. Honestly, the book seemed to be carried by dramatic, traumatic events rather than the writing.
I liked some of the imagery and the girl-bug metaphor

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ssteph3294's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense slow-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? It's complicated

4.0

This book tore me apart. I lost my dad 5 months ago and the telling of grief rings so true. Heartbreaking and hopeful at the same time.

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orange4orange's review against another edition

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emotional sad medium-paced

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

3.25

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kamariannamareads's review against another edition

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dark emotional sad slow-paced

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

4.5

I’ve had a strange experience with this book. Well… maybe not strange, but certainly new. As I was reading it, I didn’t think I was going to budge on my rating. I thought it was a solid three star book. But after I finished it, and as I reflected on what I read and how it made me feel, I realized it deserved more than a 3 star review.

In How to Make Friends with the Dark, we follow 16-year-old Grace “Tiger” Tolliver in the days and months following her mother’s sudden and unexpected death. Losing a parent, especially so young, is one of the hardest things anyone could ever go through. I’ve gone through it twice already so this is a topic I’m very familiar with. Part of what made me want to read this book was to see if it was going to break me in the same way They Both Die at the End did. (What can I say? I’m a glutton for pain.) And the other part was curiosity about how Glasgow was going to approach this topic. Was she going to get it right? Or was it going to be some weird trauma porn that romanticized grief?

She got it right.

olivialandryxo's review against another edition

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dark emotional sad medium-paced

Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.0

This review is spoiler-free. Content warnings for the book are listed at the end.

This was a dark, emotional story about loss, grief, and living after you lose someone you love. At times, it was hard to read. Glasgow put so much feeling into every chapter, and it was evident. Reading this was reading about one of my biggest fears, and at times, it really hit close to home.

The issue is that I didn’t get invested in the story until two-thirds through. The characters were well-written, but it took a significant amount of time for me to get attached in any way. Even so, I was more curious about how the plot would pan out rather than what would happen to any given person.

One thing in this book’s favor is that it’s one of the most unique contemporaries I’ve read in some time. Very few contemporaries can tackle the themes this one does and make it work.

I wish I could pinpoint other things I liked and disliked, but honestly, I can’t. How to Make Friends with the Dark isn’t a bad book, and if you can handle the content, maybe you’ll enjoy it. It hurt my heart, but I’m also ready to be done with it, if that even makes sense.

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