Reviews tagging 'Animal death'

Go as a River by Shelley Read

20 reviews

ryleee's review against another edition

reflective 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? It's complicated

3.0

This book is

'Teen Mom' set in 'Where the Crawdads Sing'

. The setting is established well and includes nice imagery of the scenery in rural Colorado, which makes it easy to imagine. The main protagonists are likeable enough, but I wish we had a bit more insight into some of the ancillary characters (Seth, their dad), to want to empathise with them through the series of unfortunate events that befall them towards the end. For example,

I wanted the dad to give us SOMETHING to say that he knew about the baby, and still loved Victoria, and acknowledge his failings as a father since the mum died. But alas, even on his deathbed the man was stoic.

It feels like four stories mashed together, supposedly linked through the impending flooding of Victoria's home town. Because of this, the pacing often lurches forward in places to get through the plot points at the expense of relationship-building between the characters. The ending is wholesome enough, but pretty far-fetched and abrupt.

If you're into internal-monologue-narration, and knowing the protagonist's feelings and experiences intimately, then you will probably enjoy this book!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Racial slurs, Racism, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, and Pregnancy

Moderate: Animal death, Child death, Drug abuse, Gun violence, Hate crime, Car accident, Abandonment, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Sexual content and Colonisation

cmklaft's review against another edition

emotional reflective sad 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? No

4.25

I truly enjoyed this story.  I was very invested in Tories life path, felt her pain and emotions.  The "flooding" of Iola seemed a very insignificant part of the story in my opinion. But still a good read. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Hate crime, and Pregnancy

Moderate: Animal death, Racial slurs, Racism, Grief, Abandonment, Alcohol, and War

elin_asplund's review against another edition

emotional hopeful reflective relaxing sad medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Death, Hate crime, Racial slurs, Racism, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, and Pregnancy

Moderate: Miscarriage and Violence

_meganrose's review against another edition

adventurous emotional slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes

2.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Bullying, Death, Racial slurs, Racism, Violence, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Abandonment, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

fcvouriot's review against another edition

emotional hopeful sad slow-paced

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racial slurs, Racism, Death of parent, and Pregnancy

Moderate: Addiction, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Death, Drug use, Infertility, Misogyny, Sexism, Violence, Medical content, Grief, Murder, and War

sarahbsews's review against another edition

emotional medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief

Moderate: Hate crime, Racial slurs, Racism, Torture, Violence, and Murder

Minor: Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Infertility, Miscarriage, Blood, Car accident, and Injury/Injury detail

alyssatuininga's review against another edition

emotional reflective sad fast-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Pregnancy, and Abandonment

Minor: Addiction, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Death, Hate crime, Infertility, Miscarriage, Violence, Blood, Car accident, Death of parent, Pregnancy, and War

dch7's review against another edition

challenging emotional hopeful reflective medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Bullying, Death, Sexual content, Blood, Grief, Murder, and Pregnancy

seventhswan's review against another edition

emotional reflective sad medium-paced

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

2.75

I can appreciate that Go as a River is a beautifully descriptive, thematically complex book that a lot of people will really enjoy, but despite seeing this logically, I didn't particularly like it. The first half of the story was tediously slow - I enjoyed the second half a lot more, but they felt like different books to me. I also found that a lot of nuance, depth, and sympathy was given to characters like Victoria's father and brother, while more interesting characters like Wil and Ruby-Alice were deprived of agency and left quite one-dimensional. Their portrayals didn't match with what Victoria claimed to feel about them. And, honestly, I just didn't care about or connect with Victoria that much even though she was objectively going through many difficult things. Pretty much every other character seemed to have a more interesting perspective on what was going on.

The descriptions of the book's setting and the changing time periods were the highlights of this story for me, and I did feel emotional in places purely because of the amounts of suffering various characters went through. However, everything wrapped up so neatly and relied on so many improbable coincidences that it was just not a book that really worked for me.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism and Pregnancy

Moderate: Ableism, Domestic abuse, and War

Minor: Animal death, Drug abuse, Gun violence, Miscarriage, Misogyny, and Sexual violence

katharina90's review against another edition

emotional reflective sad slow-paced

• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated

3.0

A slow, sad, reflective book with interesting themes, some of which I wish had been explored more (or differently). Some elements of the story felt rushed or underdeveloped. At times it also just dragged.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Hate crime, Racism, and Murder

Moderate: Child abuse, Fatphobia, Violence, and Death of parent

Minor: Ableism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Miscarriage, Colonisation, and War