Reviews tagging 'Grief'

A Dark and Starless Forest by Sarah Hollowell

4 reviews

rory18's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.0

A lot to like about this book but also a lot to not like, so I'm rating it 3 stars. It's compelling and the relationships between the characters are as well, but the excessive use of Native folklore from an author I can't find anything about being Native is not good. It's also really predictable. I wrote that diversity was complicated because the two trans characters are somewhat stereotypical, with the non-binary one having shapeshifting/glamouring powers and the trans woman having anger that can take up a room, generally being the angriest character, and being the

Spoiler

computer whiz

of the group. She also

Spoiler

leaves them without saying goodbye.

And in the audiobook, the narrator reads her parts with a voice about as deep as the adult men even though she's been on blockers for years. So like, is it really all that diverse if the representation is questionable and there's cultural appropriation? It's also kind of weird how she has so many characters of color with next to no background of their pasts other than "oh, this Mexican-American character knew some Spanish". 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness, Confinement, Death, Physical abuse, Trafficking, Grief, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Blood, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Cultural appropriation, Gaslighting, Murder, Panic attacks/disorders, Torture, and Violence

Moderate: Medical trauma, Sexism, Fire/Fire injury, Misogyny, Medical content, Adult/minor relationship, Death of parent, Fatphobia, and Stalking

Minor: Vomit, Cursing, Incest, Pedophilia, and Xenophobia

The "there's nothing Frank wouldn't do" and fact that there's no video footage of Frank's room with Elle in it and the general non-sexual first stages of grooming is enough to imply an adult/minor relationship with 16 year old Elle being Frank's favorite, so I'm tagging adult-minor relationship. The main character was in a puppy love relationship with one of her sisters before they grew to consider each other sisters and talks about remembering the feel of her mouth which is sort of pseudo-incestuous. Frank doesn't let the girls learn Spanish for some reason. Excessive mentions and usage of w/nd/gos for a non-Native author.

baxstarjonmarie's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad 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

5.0

I think this is my new favorite book. It is gloriously fat, absolutely terrifying, wildly enchanting, and viscerally uncomfortable through the main character's first-person experiences of violence, loss, grief, and freedom.

The author does an especially excellent job bringing in new perspectives on body horror and general spookiness intertwined with the main character's fatness that do not denigrate or monsterize her size, but rather see her fully embody herself and her power.

I was riveted by the story, I loved how much Derry (the main) and her siblings love language and play with it. And sometimes it was so scary that I was peeking between my fingers like at the movies. Just a perfect debut novel, I cannot wait to preorder the author's next book!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gun violence, Child death, Murder, Death of parent, Death, Blood, Violence, Panic attacks/disorders, Confinement, Abandonment, Injury/Injury detail, Grief, Gore, Domestic abuse, Child abuse, and Kidnapping

Moderate: Torture and Car accident

Minor: Cursing

Spoiler

the primary content of this novel takes place within an absuive home where children are tortured through mental, emotional, and arguably physical methods eg. sensory overload.

kabornman's review against another edition

adventurous dark sad 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

4.5

I love when a villain actually gets what they deserve. 

Amazing amount of various types of representation. Delving into gray moral areas. Plus plenty of magic

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Child death, Confinement, Murder, and Death

Moderate: Grief, Death of parent, and Blood

evpie's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Confinement, Gaslighting, Murder, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Death, Grief, and Violence

Moderate: Blood and Body horror