Reviews with content warning for Grief - Luckiest Girl Alive

Reviews tagging 'Grief'

Luckiest Girl Alive by Jessica Knoll

26 reviews

laurmarvs's review against another edition

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dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
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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k8lynn's review against another edition

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dark emotional funny mysterious reflective sad tense 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

this book was a little difficult for me to get into at first, but once it started picking up, i could not put it down. it's hard to put into words how this book affected me, but i'n so glad i read it.

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cady_sass's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional reflective sad 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

3.75

I have mixed feelings on this one - 3 stars seems too low, 4 stars seems to high, 3.5 still doesn’t seem right 😂
The writing here, I feel, is really solid. The narrative of bad things sometimes also happen to bad people is an interesting take - the protagonist here is an insufferable sociopath, she has very little redeemable qualities and everything she does/says makes you not want to root for her. But, at the end of the day, her trauma is STAGGERING. At what point does it become understandable that you’re a terrible person when so many horrible, unfathomable things have happened to you? For me, this is more of a character study than a thriller. Goes without saying that there are many, many trigger warnings here. Many reviews have said this is like Walmart Gone Girl and I think that’s probably selling it a bit short and doing a disservice to the book, since Gone Girl is a dark and twisted thriller through and through, which this is not.

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katiea714's review against another edition

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dark mysterious tense medium-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

Content Warnings

lovelymisanthrope's review against another edition

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dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

I knew I wanted to pick this up before I watched the movie, and boy was I blown away.
“Luckiest Girl Alive” follows Ani; a kickass woman who is taking New York City by storm. She has the perfect job, she has the perfect fiancé, and she has built the perfect facade that makes everyone love her, but she is far from perfect. In high school she was raped and shortly after a victim in the deadliest school shooting in private school history. When she is approached to take part in a documentary about the shooting, she is forced to finally face all of the trauma she has repressed for fifteen years.
This book is ALOT and I highly encourage anyone to look into trigger warnings before they pick this up. This book explores trauma in a beautiful and respectful way. Ani has been through more than any one person should have to go through, and all before she could even drive. I think “Luckiest Girl Alive” does an exemplary job at highlighting how much these experiences at such a young age can really shape how a person grows up. Although Ani seems fine, she is at constant war with herself, and there is only so much inner turmoil a person can before they break entirely.
Ani is a writer at a prestigious magazine based in New York City, and I think this really comes through in the writing in the book. The book is told by her, in her own voice, and the narrative is eloquent, haunting, and beautiful.

I was not 100% satisfied with the ending of this book, but I think the ending is very indicative of the world we live in and unfortunately it is pretty authentic. Although Ani starts to get her own justice and peace, I wanted to see more wins for her, but maybe that is the point? She has grown to realize she needs peace from herself more than anything and she deserves to pursue what she wants in life.

I will 100% be picking up more from Jessica Knoll in the future!

Content Warnings