A review by dtalako
The Grief Keeper by Alexandra Villasante

adventurous challenging dark emotional informative mysterious sad tense medium-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? Yes

1.75

I really didn't expect to give this book such a low rating based on the first part of it, as the premise is really interesting, but... my goodness there is so much wrong with this book. So many unresolved and rushed details, so many problematic characters and characterizations, so much disappointment. The only worthwhile characters are Sol y Gabi, Manny y Olga. The rest are absolutely terrible, beyond the level of terrible-ness they're supposed to have. I definitely liked elements of this book, but if you're reading this review and disagreeing with it... please think critically about what happened in the book. Lots of unresolved plotlines and lots of problematic handling of race/ethnicity/immigration issues should really make you question giving this anything above a 3.