Reviews tagging 'Suicide'

Der gefrorene Himmel by Richard Wagamese

34 reviews

gulalei's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Racial slurs, and Racism

Moderate: Child death, Death, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Suicide, and Death of parent

Minor: Addiction, Alcoholism, Rape, Sexual assault, and Alcohol

whatcassiedid's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Confinement, Pedophilia, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Suicide, Religious bigotry, and Colonisation

belle2008's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad medium-paced

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Emotional abuse, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Cultural appropriation, Abandonment, Alcohol, and Colonisation

serendipitysbooks's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective 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? It's complicated

4.75

 Indian Horse is a hard hitting, unflinching look at racism faced by indigenous people living in Canada and the impact it has had on their lives. It follows Saul Indian Hose from a childhood spent in the loving embrace of a family, through the unspeakable horror of his time in a residential school, the highs and then the lows of playing hockey, a a period of alcoholism and self-sabotage, to him eventually facing his demons and tentatively finding a new path in life.

No matter how many times I read about it, the realities of the residential school system and the abuses perpetuated there never fail to sicken me. This book was no exception. The escape that hockey offered Saul and his exhilaration on the ice really shone through and captivated my attention, even though I have less than no interest in the game itself. The way racism impinged on that, robbed him of his love for the game, and stole his joy was heartbreaking and infuriating.

This book is a work of fiction. Yet it is filled with undeniable truths. It is beautifully and impactfully written, a painful yet important read, and one I highly recommend.

“When your innocence is stripped from you, when your people are denigrated, when the family that you came from is denounced and your tribal ways and rituals are pronounced backward, primitive, savage, you come to see yourself as less than human. That is hell on earth, that sense of unworthiness. That’s what they inflicted on us.”
 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Child abuse, Child death, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexual assault, Suicide, Forced institutionalization, Kidnapping, and Murder

jennifer8632d's review against another edition

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Emotional abuse, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Abandonment, and Alcohol

Moderate: Suicide

priyarai's review against another edition

dark emotional informative 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? It's complicated

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Hate crime, Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Grief, Religious bigotry, and Sexual harassment

Minor: Cursing, Pedophilia, Suicide, Death of parent, and Alcohol

offbrandclubsoda's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional 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? No

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Child abuse, Death, Racial slurs, Racism, and Colonisation

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Child death, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Rape, and Sexual violence

Minor: Genocide and Suicide

penguin6789's review against another edition

emotional informative 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: Alcoholism, Child abuse, Death, Racism, and Suicide

Moderate: Pedophilia and Rape

breezie_reads's review against another edition

emotional 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

 This book was really difficult for me to read. I went into this not expecting to relate to anything, based solely off of the synopsis. However, I quickly found out that I was wrong.

I might not have been able to relate to living off the land and having your people stolen in the middle of the night and shipped off to God-knows-where, and I might not be able to relate to being targeted specifically because of your skin color and origins, but I understand what it's like to feel like, to be treated like, an outcast, like you don't belong. I understand what it feels like to have one thing that brings you relief from it all and to have it wrenched away from you. I understand what it feels like to watch others go through what the kids in the school went through, and I understand what it feels like to remember those same things happening to you.

I relate especially to finding comfort and escapism in books. Books to me are what hockey was to Saul and reading about his struggles with coming to terms with his past and remembering it hit home for me because I've felt the same way. It's a constant, uphill battle and this novel did an amazing job of capturing the emotions of that struggle, not only with addiction and recovering from your addiction, but with the struggle of isolation, whether self-imposed or otherwise, and with the struggle of remembering who you are and fighting to get that person back.

This was a work of art, and I'm definitely going to need some recovery time after reading this.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Child abuse, Child death, Pedophilia, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, Forced institutionalization, Alcohol, and Colonisation

Minor: Suicide

pandorawotton's review against another edition

emotional reflective sad 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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Suicide, and Colonisation