Reviews tagging 'Cultural appropriation'

A Good Girl's Guide to Murder by Holly Jackson

4 reviews

addisonrutherford09's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious reflective sad fast-paced

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

5.0

This book was amazing. I've never read any sort of murder mystery or crime novel before and this book was incredible. I must admit, I read this book in a matter of a day and a half and stayed up much to late reading it. 
First of all, I really loved how this book was written with Pip's journal/notes making up a large part of the writing. The way the book was narrarated was incredibly real and nothing about the characters, setting or plot felt fake or forced at all. 
Second of all, the plot twists and writing through out the novel gave me shivers multiple times. It was scary at times and I loved it!
This book was not slow at all amd as I mentioned before, it had me from the first page till the end, which did not disappoint.
I definitely would recommend this book to anyone, regardless of their experience with murder, crime or mystery novels! It's amazing!

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Bullying, Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Suicide, Vomit, Stalking, and Murder

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Confinement, Emotional abuse, Gore, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Blood, Dementia, Kidnapping, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Animal death, Bullying, Cancer, Chronic illness, Emotional abuse, Hate crime, Mental illness, Grief, Death of parent, and Cultural appropriation

whoever_'s review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny mysterious relaxing sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

the relationship progression of Ravi and pip is the best thing ever

and also the tension building in the last few chapter make the whole book even better.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Animal death, Body shaming, Bullying, Chronic illness, Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Grief, Car accident, Death of parent, Cultural appropriation, and Alcohol

abi_ineedtoreadmore's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• 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

4.5

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Animal death, Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gore, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Racism, Rape, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Dementia, Kidnapping, Grief, Stalking, Car accident, Abortion, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Cultural appropriation, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail

phantasmaboo's review against another edition

mysterious fast-paced

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

2.0

I gave this book two stars. This book covers the story of a young woman named Pip who is investigating the death (murder) of a fellow student, Andie Bell, as part of her capstone project for high school. The books presents this story through 3rd person narration as well as through first person journal entries that mark Pip’s progress throughout this capstone. 

Overall, the text is well-written and we’ll-situated within the young adult genre. It was fast-paced and easy to read. 

Still, there were several areas of the text that didn’t sit right with me, which can be summarized as:

Topic/Plot

The general plot of the book is not one that resonated with me, and I’m not sure that it’s one that Jackson handled with care. The idea that a high school senior could or should investigate a recent murder as part of a capstone project is puzzling at best. We already live in a society in which murder victims (and their families) are passed off as entertainment, and this book feeds into that. In fact, there is more emotional weight given to the death of an animal than to the death of Andie Bell. 

The weight of the murder and the humanity of the victim are never examined in depth, nor does the main character have her behavior challenged in any meaningful way. In fact, she is awarded. 

This ends in a crescendo when Pip covers up a hit and run accident because “her friends have suffered enough” and tries to help the murderer escape because “it wasn’t fair”. None of this is checked or examined. It’s a bit ironic that Pip ends by saying “we have to do better” considered she covered up/tries to cover up two serious crimes.

The Protagonist

I did not care for the protagonist very much. Typically, this isn’t a requirement for me, but it was clear that Jackson’s intent was to have readers like Pip. I found her to be very shallow and defined by privilege; a privilege that goes unchecked.

That the author wants us to view Pip positively despite her covering up or attempting to cover up two separate and very serious crimes cemented my opinion on this. Given the writing and the lack of push back on Pip’s character, I find it hard to believe that this was intentional.

Diversity 

The book has some characters of color, but is overall written with a (privileged) white gaze. Minor discussions of race are superficial and barely integrated, despite the fact that the prime suspect in the murder is a man of color. I felt like this was a missed opportunity to provide a young adult text that examined such intricacies. There are also moments of micro-aggressions against minoritized populations that are passed off as humorous.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide, Suicide attempt, and Murder

Moderate: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Animal death, Drug abuse, Drug use, and Terminal illness

Minor: Rape, Car accident, and Cultural appropriation