Reviews tagging 'Death'

Luckiest Girl Alive by Jessica Knoll

77 reviews

siobhanward's review

dark tense medium-paced

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

3.0

This book felt... unnecessarily intense? If that makes sense? The plot was ok - the characters, especially Ani were unlikable, but I get that was intentional. The afterword from Knoll about her own experiences definitely added a lot of context, but even then it didn't necessarily justify how graphic a lot of the book was. Knoll definitely has a gift for writing characters that were hard to like, and while it worked in this book, it still made the book a challenging read. I also was kind of frustrated that with the build up to what happened with the Five at Bradley, I wish there had been a bit more resolution around that. It just felt like everything wrapped up suddenly and that was it.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Death, Gun violence, Homophobia, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicide, Mass/school shootings, Suicide attempt, and Murder

david_brent's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

2.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Death, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Homophobia, Mental illness, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Violence, Mass/school shootings, Suicide attempt, Toxic friendship, and Alcohol

Minor: Excrement

lifeisaeisha's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-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

3.0

This book if hard to rate because it does some things very well, while failing in other areas.

The good: 

• it's very hard to talk about
  rape and sexual assault, especially as a survivor. So I definitely give the  author her props for approaching both that and school shootings,
  and depicting them both realistically. 
• The story was incredibly engaging. Although the characters were largely unlikable and at times insufferable, the plot had me locked in and I couldn't wait to get to the bottom of Ani's story and understand why she turned out the way that she did. 
• I think it was important to show characters like Ani's mother and
  the planned parenthood nurse
  . Women who perpetuate patriarchy by dismissing, downplaying, and outright ignoring obvious abuse.

The bad: 

• Right out the gate we are introduced to Ani's disordered eating, but at no point is it acknowledged as such, or as a thing for her to work on. Both times her best friend bright it up, she dismissed her and moved on. 
• The plot with
  the teacher
  was suuuuper unnecessary, and it was never acknowledged how creepy and inappropriate it was.
• (A personal gripe, not so much a fault of the author.) I would have liked to see more of how
  the documentary turned out and the fallout for Dean
  . I understand that Ani's closure came from the face to face acknowledgement of his crimes against her, but it would have been nice to see him finally lose.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Eating disorder, Fatphobia, Gore, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Blood, and Mass/school shootings

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Body shaming, Bullying, Cursing, Drug use, Gun violence, Misogyny, Vomit, Abortion, Suicide attempt, Gaslighting, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Homophobia, Miscarriage, and Panic attacks/disorders

erikoo's review against another edition

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body shaming, Bullying, Death, Eating disorder, Homophobia, Infidelity, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Mass/school shootings, Suicide attempt, Outing, and Toxic friendship

lexiegodown's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective tense medium-paced

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

2.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Homophobia, Rape, Sexual assault, Suicide, Mass/school shootings, Suicide attempt, and Fire/Fire injury

lindseyratterree's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body shaming, Bullying, Child death, Eating disorder, Gun violence, Rape, Sexual assault, and Mass/school shootings

Moderate: Body shaming, Death, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Vomit, and Sexual harassment

Minor: Abortion

peggy_racham's review against another edition

5.0

I like an unlikable narrator. Especialy if I can understand how they got like that. Taking back control narrative is my niche thrope.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body shaming, Bullying, Death, Drug abuse, Eating disorder, Gore, Gun violence, Homophobia, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Blood, Vomit, Grief, Mass/school shootings, Suicide attempt, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail

bella_t_16's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional inspiring mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child death, Death, Gun violence, Hate crime, Homophobia, Mental illness, Sexual violence, Violence, Blood, Grief, Mass/school shootings, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Rape, Sexual assault, Excrement, and Suicide attempt

bookdragonk's review against another edition

challenging dark funny mysterious sad tense 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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Eating disorder, Gun violence, Physical abuse, Grief, Mass/school shootings, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Bullying, Death, Drug use, Fatphobia, Homophobia, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, and Toxic friendship

Minor: Cursing and Classism

fkshg8465's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional 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

4.0

I have to admit this book surprised me more than once. I thought it was going in a certain direction that I was sure was going to be banal. Then it pivoted and pivoted again and pivoted again. The only thing banal was the ending, but I didn’t mind that because it felt like it needed to be. After all the trauma and turmoil in her life, Ani deserved banal.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Child death, Death, Eating disorder, Fatphobia, Gun violence, Homophobia, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Rape, Self harm, Violence, Blood, Grief, Mass/school shootings, Abortion, Murder, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism