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ashylibrarian's review against another edition
emotional
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.75
*Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for an eARC of this book in exchange for a review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.*
This one started with such potential for me. I appreciated that Tess's grief was shown through her anger because that is often how it can manifest for people. I had issues with a few things, however. I did not like how Cotter seemed to force dates on Tess to assist her with things. I just didn't feel like it was ever handled in a way that showed that forcing someone to go on a date with you after them telling you "no" multiple times just because they are asking for your help is not okay. I also didn't love the way Tess's dad's depression was handled. I appreciate that it was shown in the book and that it showed just how much depression can pull apart relationships, however, I don't think it was ever resolved in a way that helped Tess (or readers) understand what it is or why people struggle with it.
Overall, I thought the premise of this book was cute and silly, but those few things I mentioned above were so prevalent that I couldn't ignore them and I felt they really took away from the story for me.
This one started with such potential for me. I appreciated that Tess's grief was shown through her anger because that is often how it can manifest for people. I had issues with a few things, however. I did not like how Cotter seemed to force dates on Tess to assist her with things. I just didn't feel like it was ever handled in a way that showed that forcing someone to go on a date with you after them telling you "no" multiple times just because they are asking for your help is not okay. I also didn't love the way Tess's dad's depression was handled. I appreciate that it was shown in the book and that it showed just how much depression can pull apart relationships, however, I don't think it was ever resolved in a way that helped Tess (or readers) understand what it is or why people struggle with it.
Overall, I thought the premise of this book was cute and silly, but those few things I mentioned above were so prevalent that I couldn't ignore them and I felt they really took away from the story for me.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death, Grief, and Death of parent
oracle7's review
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
informative
mysterious
reflective
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
5.0
I couldn't put it down. It's very smart because it really contains everything I think books like this should contain. It's sad, scary, angry, funny, and very hopeful in the end. All of the very weird and interesting characters have a completed arc. I think this book is good for kids needing a story about grief and emotion. I also think it questions faith and religion and the afterlife in s really smart way. It's well written, like a mixture of poetic and simple. I will buy this for people and also make sure it gets into my library.
Content Warnings
Minor: Animal death, Body shaming, Cancer, Suicide attempt, and Death of parent
emrosenagel's review
dark
emotional
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.25
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death, Cancer, and Death
Moderate: Grief and Death of parent
Minor: Gore, Mental illness, and Suicide attempt
shainalite's review against another edition
emotional
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
2.75
a challenging read for me even though it's labelled as middle grade. The main character experienced grief and anger which were showed through her words (a lot of cursing words and shouting and other angry comments) and actions (by breaking things and hurting other people). The magical realism element is okay, but I found it insufficient to provide me the convincing backstory and motive especially for the ghost. I think some characters need more exploration, like Eddie, I'm curious about what really happened to him and why people saw him as unstable boy, and Alice the Cat herself, even though she is the title of this book, I didn't get her part enough so it feels like she's so faraway from me as a reader.
I love how it ended, the closure for Tess and her dad, the therapy, the support she needed, and also the new friends she made there (and of course the boob issue she mentioned earlier in this book).
As for the diversity aspect, I think for the side characters, they are there to be a diverse decoration, like the dad from a family was mentioned to have an Asian look, the vet whose Japanese name, another Asian staff at the hospital, another Asian family, non-binary friend of Tess, and the black girl in therapy session. (That's what I got from the way Tess described these characters).
I hope we'd get footnotes for Spanish conversations in this book too.
Thing I disagree : how it implied that the rich is always the bad guy, so a character who lived in an elite area has to explain and felt bad about it.
I love how it ended, the closure for Tess and her dad, the therapy, the support she needed, and also the new friends she made there (and of course the boob issue she mentioned earlier in this book).
As for the diversity aspect, I think for the side characters, they are there to be a diverse decoration, like the dad from a family was mentioned to have an Asian look, the vet whose Japanese name, another Asian staff at the hospital, another Asian family, non-binary friend of Tess, and the black girl in therapy session. (That's what I got from the way Tess described these characters).
I hope we'd get footnotes for Spanish conversations in this book too.
Thing I disagree : how it implied that the rich is always the bad guy, so a character who lived in an elite area has to explain and felt bad about it.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death, Body shaming, Cancer, Cursing, Terminal illness, Violence, Blood, Excrement, Vomit, Medical content, Grief, Death of parent, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Medical content
Minor: Drug abuse, Car accident, Suicide attempt, and Fire/Fire injury