Reviews tagging 'Child death'

Zugvögel by Charlotte McConaghy

92 reviews

ladynocturnal's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional reflective 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

5.0

A beautiful story of human connection and finding your place in the world. I loved the characters and writing.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Child death, Death, Self harm, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Blood, Grief, Car accident, and Suicide attempt

Minor: Miscarriage

zas9's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Child death, Death, Mental illness, Suicide, and Murder

clumsyknees's review against another edition

adventurous challenging sad 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? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Grief, and Car accident

Moderate: Child death, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, and Death of parent

clairebartholomew549's review against another edition

medium-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? Yes

4.0

I have sort of confusing feelings about this book. I waffled between giving it three or four stars, but the last third of the book really hit hard for me, so I landed on four stars. This is a pretty brutal story, involving a character who has suffered immeasurably and dissociates quite frequently, leaving you with a disorienting feeling and not knowing quite what is going on. That's presumably meant to mirror Franny's confusing relationship with reality, which ends up feeling pretty profound by the end. This is a really sad story about climate change (you can't think too hard about the worldbuilding because it really doesn't make much sense) and about a person who wants to die but wants to die free. I didn't love this one as much as Once There Were Wolves, but I do find McConaghy's insights about life really moving.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Animal death, Child death, Confinement, Death, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Blood, Grief, Car accident, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Abandonment, Alcohol, and Pandemic/Epidemic

oopsie_daisies's review against another edition

5.0

What a gorgeous little book. Slightly dystopian, a study of grief and how it can affect a person, and a journey about finding purpose. Beautifully written, heartbreaking, and intelligent. A story about hope surviving.

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Content Warnings

Minor: Child death, Death, and Grief

jnunmont's review against another edition

5.0

I cried. This book was beautiful. It never dipped below a 4.75 for me but the way it ended made it a 5. This should be required reading in high schools it was an absolutely beautiful story and the main character is so complex. I absolutely adored this book way more than I thought I would. No description of it can truly do it justice. Just go and read it please!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death and Suicidal thoughts

vanesst's review against another edition

adventurous dark sad medium-paced

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment

Moderate: Animal death, Child death, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Grief, Car accident, Death of parent, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Sexual assault and Vomit

thatsssorachael's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense 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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Mental illness, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Grief, Car accident, and Suicide attempt

Moderate: Child death, Medical content, Abandonment, and Alcohol

brookebatesratesbooks's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional informative reflective sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• 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, Child death, Cursing, Death, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Grief, Suicide attempt, and Death of parent

hezajc's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative mysterious reflective sad slow-paced

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

3.5

This is a tough book to rate in that after I finished it and reflected on it as a whole reading experience, I really liked it, but while I was reading it, I struggled more than I expected. I could leave it for large gaps of time and not think about it or miss it, and would be like "oh yeah, I should finish that" which is never a great feeling, but when I would dive back into it, I did like it. 

It was heavy, emotional, thought provoking, and covered hard topics of trauma and existential questions resulting from the impacts of climate change. I struggled with the structure a bit because it would switch time frames (which is fine), but it kept certain aspects of the story a secret/mystery, which felt unnecessary. 

Overall, I'm glad I read it, but I was also glad to finish it. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Suicidal thoughts and Suicide

Minor: Child death