Reviews tagging 'Child death'

This Is How It Always Is by Laurie Frankel

10 reviews

kickitupanotch7's review against another edition

emotional funny hopeful inspiring reflective 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

4.75

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Transphobia, and Homophobia

Moderate: Gun violence and Outing

Minor: Child death, Deadnaming, and Cancer

stremps's review against another edition

funny hopeful inspiring 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

4.0

I read on a whim and it was longer than I expected (~11 hours) but ended up being worth it. The writing is clever and has rhythm but was too “pop lit” for me at times. I enjoyed the story of the family and the turns it took.

The narrative moves between the characters and, at times, I felt uncomfortable with not centering the trans character’s voice, but ultimately it was interesting to hear the other perspectives and I feel the trans character had their story told. I have read that the within has a trans daughter which makes me feel better about the novel and the narrative position being primarily parental.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Hate crime, Murder, Transphobia, Homophobia, and Outing

Moderate: Medical content, Bullying, and Child death

skudiklier's review against another edition

challenging emotional hopeful inspiring reflective medium-paced

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

4.5

I mostly liked this and thought it was well-done. There were some things I didn't like (like

Spoiler

changing Poppy's pronouns and name back at the drop of a hat without her even explicitly saying that

) but I like that at least it ended on a more nuanced note. A bunch of the reviews for this book were disappointing though, and I wish it were made more clear by the book that supporting your kid in being trans from a young age isn't the wrong move. Anyway. Overall I liked it, it was nice, it was well-written. Just not perfect. 

Oh also, if you're trans, a very specific part of this is really hard to read. Look at the spoiler in my content warnings for more detail. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Transphobia, Murder, Bullying, Homophobia, Hate crime, Outing, and Medical content

Moderate: Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Violence, Sexism, and Misogyny

Minor: Pregnancy, Drug use, Sexual content, Terminal illness, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Suicide, Child death, and Death of parent

Spoiler

A trans woman is murdered on page for being trans and it's just awful

franklola's review

emotional hopeful inspiring reflective sad slow-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

4.25

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Body shaming, Outing, and Dysphoria

Moderate: Cancer, Homophobia, Murder, Terminal illness, Transphobia, Chronic illness, Child death, Grief, Gun violence, and Hate crime

minibean24's review against another edition

emotional funny hopeful inspiring reflective sad 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

I adored this novel. I loved every character and felt a deep attachment to the family. I truly felt the parents' love and concern for their child and appreciated that the book tackled the intricacies of navigating parenting a nonbinary child, even whilst being fully supportive of the child. It forced me to consider different perspectives- all while still showing unconditional love and support for the child's wishes. It felt like a parenting book rolled into a deeply touching novel. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Transphobia, Medical content, Medical trauma, Violence, and Blood

Moderate: Child death, Body shaming, Bullying, and Cancer

sometimes_samantha_reads's review against another edition

challenging emotional funny hopeful inspiring reflective tense 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? It's complicated

4.0

I'm not trans or nonbinary, but I'm pan. I really identified with the constriction of the binary when reading this and considering the protagonist. I appreciated the realness the book provided with so many what ifs and anxiety as well as the happy moments. Also, the book was funny! It balanced the sobering and plain sad/angry moments with some very funny ones! 

One thing I struggled with was the name of the protagonist. It bothered me that once the dead name was shirked by the protagonist, other characters would consistently dead name them. To be fair, it was shown in a very real way, mainly used by parents of the protagonist who were learning, but still. Same with the use of particular pronouns. There was a lot of floundering with them which seemed annoying to me because the protagonist claims their name and pronouns at a very particular point in the story and the name and pronouns are not used consistently even after they expressly asked for them. 

Eventually it all worked our as the protagonist identified with both male and female pronouns, but I was annoyed that when they asked for she/her pronouns, it was often met with "he, well now, she". 

Otherwise I truly did enjoy the book!

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Deadnaming, Dysphoria, Homophobia, Injury/Injury detail, Sexual content, Transphobia, Hate crime, Medical content, Outing, and Vomit

Moderate: Blood, Bullying, Cancer, Child death, Excrement, Grief, Mental illness, Pregnancy, and Suicidal thoughts

Minor: Gun violence

thevietvegan's review

challenging emotional funny hopeful inspiring reflective sad medium-paced

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

5.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Transphobia, Violence, Pregnancy, Outing, Grief, Death, and Child death

toorsdenote's review against another edition

emotional hopeful reflective 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

4.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Deadnaming, Dysphoria, Hate crime, Murder, and Transphobia

Moderate: Cancer, Child death, Gun violence, and Medical content

Minor: Abortion, Blood, Domestic abuse, Excrement, Injury/Injury detail, Medical trauma, Pregnancy, Religious bigotry, Suicidal thoughts, Vomit, and War

swaggyfrog's review

emotional funny hopeful lighthearted slow-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

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Deadnaming, Outing, and Transphobia

Minor: Blood, Bullying, Cancer, Child death, Cursing, Death, Dysphoria, Hate crime, Homophobia, and Medical content

gagne's review

emotional hopeful inspiring lighthearted medium-paced

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

4.75

a heartfelt book which addresses and makes palatable complex topics of parenting a transgender child, raising boys, moving for family, and work-love-parenting relationships over nearly two decades

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: Transphobia

Minor: Gun violence, Bullying, Child death, and Cursing