Reviews tagging 'Death of parent'

Camp Zero by Michelle Min Sterling

19 reviews

colorwired's review against another edition

dark sad tense fast-paced

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

3.0

I was interested in this book throughout but it felt like there was no ending. I assume that was the intention but so much was left unsaid that I feel like I only read a fraction of a book.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Alcoholism, Bullying, Death, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Infidelity, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Violence, Blood, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

clovetra's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious 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? No

3.0

first and foremost — YO I JUST MET MY 2024 READING GOAL! 60TH BOOK OF 2024 WHO CHEERED!

anyways i need to be real. this book was really confusing for my tiny little pea brain. i will admit i think i might have liked this story a bit more if i had read it at a different time. like im so serious i have no critical thinking right now. changing to a new antidepressant coupled with a cold? yeah i have about zero reading comprehension at the moment so take everything i say critiquing this book with a grain of salt. hell i might come back to this book in 6 months and give it an extra star cuz i did really enjoy this book at times! but idk i don’t think i can give this 4-stars when i was confused for a good chunk of the book 💀

most of my confusion i think comes from what the character’s motivations are and why they’re doing xyz. rose, judith, the barber, the foreman, garreth & merley or whatever the fuck his name was, none of their motivations made logical sense to me. yet again i am not one to talk about logic when i am literally noncoherent in daily conversations & my memory is of a goldfish. like gun to my head i cant figure out what the M guy’s actual goal was, or damien/damian (i’m gonna go with the ‘a’ spelling & if im wrong sue me). i am still confused by that.

i am also confused about the time period this takes place in, as well as the actual setting. yeah i know its in canada and its snowy and shit. but like do the girls live in a mall? where is gareth living? what even was the camp supposed to be?

the ending was lowkey kinda fire, i did not see those reveals coming (but tbh you could’ve given me a mystery novel where the killer literally confessed on the first page & i still would’ve been blindsided at the moment). i really loved the white alice chapters and as things slowly started to make more sense i was having the time of my life. but when those reveals only come with 20% of the book left….. i mean like i said i cant 4-star it.

the characters themselves were….. fine. rose was likeable most of the time. i really couldn’t work out her motivations or her true thoughts by the end. willow was also fine. judith was meh. the other blooms were literally non-characters. garreth was insufferable. the rest of the male characters were fine. i still don’t really get the barber’s motivations by the end regarding him & rose but 🤷 im not mad at it. same applies to M-guy what the fuck was he trying to do at the end. numbskull

the plot was… Ok! the actual story felt like it was going nowhere, but like i said i absolutely loved the white alice chapters. give me an entire book expanding on those chapters & im sold. those chapters kinda remind me of ‘i who have never known men’ and i adored that book so!

the preachy messages about the patriarchy and men sucking got tiring at times. yes i know men suck. they are opportunists and shallow and see women as objects and blah blah blah. sorry you’ve said your message to me, now do something with it. i mean the book kind of did at the end with white alice & rose but… idk more should’ve been done with that.
i really liked the grimy vibe of this book. idk what more to say about that it had a real edgy vibe that i liked.

i have a feeling this review is all over the place (when are my reviews not) but anyways. i had a good time. i found this book average. probably shouldn’t have read this whilst my brain is mush. i defo want to come back to this in the future and see if i enjoy it more when i can actually think coherently. anyways off i go to increase my reading goal now that ive met it with *checks calendar* FOUR MONTHS LEFT OF 2024.

god speed

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Misogyny, Sexism, Sexual content, Murder, Alcohol, and Colonisation

Moderate: Confinement, Rape, Death of parent, Pregnancy, and Abandonment

lpdx's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious 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? No

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Misogyny, Violence, Blood, Murder, Abandonment, Alcohol, Colonisation, and Classism

Moderate: Gore, Infidelity, Sexual violence, Grief, Pregnancy, and Fire/Fire injury

Minor: Child death, Confinement, Racism, and Death of parent

jenn_reads's review against another edition

mysterious medium-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood and Murder

Moderate: Abandonment

Minor: Child death, Car accident, and Death of parent

Prostitution

moriahleigh's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-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? It's complicated

3.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Misogyny, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Violence, Death of parent, Murder, and Pregnancy

zombiezami's review against another edition

medium-paced

4.0

Some of the plot lost me, but I liked the characters. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cursing, Death, Gun violence, Infidelity, Misogyny, Sexual content, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Gaslighting, Abandonment, Alcohol, Colonisation, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Moderate: Pregnancy

Minor: Incest and Fire/Fire injury

oriana095's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious medium-paced

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

3.0

There were a lot of things that left me confused or disappointed in the end. I have no clue what the point of Grant’s POV was. It seemed to not really add anything at all to the story? I wonder if there will be a second book to tie up the loose ends of this one. I didn’t really care for any of the characters. Rose was alright but not a character I really loved. The beginning of the book was very slow. There were a couple things I saw coming. Overall it wasn’t horrible but it wasn’t great. Wouldn’t read it again. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Murder, Sexual harassment, and Classism

Minor: Child death, Car accident, Death of parent, and Alcohol

amsswim's review against another edition

adventurous emotional mysterious sad medium-paced

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

3.25

This book was not bad, I just don't think it was anything outstanding. Anything above a 3 is still worth a read if you're interested, in my opinion. If the author's intent was for me to be mostly bored and hate every man in this book it was achieved. Then the story I did like following, the WHite Alice plot, was generally ignored until 2/3 of the way through. I think overall Rose's story was the best written though. I could've just read a book about her experiences, which she was definitely the main character. Ending was alright but a pain to get to. The themes of climate change and folies of men are good, and I love a dystopian always (this was more of a pre-dystopian in my opinion).

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cursing, Death, Misogyny, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Grief, Murder, Sexual harassment, and Colonisation

Moderate: Death of parent and Pregnancy

prairieraven's review against another edition

dark emotional inspiring mysterious reflective tense slow-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

3.25

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Animal death, Death, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Toxic friendship, Sexual harassment, Colonisation, and Classism

avisreadsandreads's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Sexual assault, Violence, Blood, Murder, and Alcohol

Moderate: Animal death, Death of parent, and Pregnancy