Reviews tagging 'Mass/school shootings'

La Chica Que Lo Tenia Todo by Jessica Knoll

270 reviews

siobhanward's review against another edition

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.

---

Content Warnings

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

heytherebriana's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad medium-paced

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

3.75

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Sexual violence, and Mass/school shootings

lizzie_777's review against another edition

dark emotional 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

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Gun violence, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Mass/school shootings, and Classism

kezzaa02's review against another edition

dark sad tense slow-paced

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

3.0

Now, this one did take me a good while to get into and as I was getting through it, the characters were not likeable at all. Except maybe one or two. But the further I got, the better this story got. (Trigger warnings for rape and school shootings) some chapters, I had to pause and give myself a minute to kind of collect myself and be like "did that really just happen?!" But it's sooo worth it in the end.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape and Mass/school shootings

Minor: Homophobia and Suicide

kristenmeiser's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional medium-paced

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

3.5

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape and Mass/school shootings

apaolillo24's review against another edition

dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Gun violence, Rape, Sexual assault, Grief, and Mass/school shootings

Moderate: Eating disorder

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

---

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.

---

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

laurenhannah217's review against another edition

dark tense slow-paced

2.5

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Eating disorder, Sexual assault, and Mass/school shootings

erikoo's review against another edition

3.5

---

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