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greenan26's review
dark
emotional
hopeful
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Classism, Police brutality, and Mental illness
lak98's review
challenging
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
I'd recently moved to San Francisco, so was interested in a book to learn more about the city and the unhoused populations here. It's a good book for those reasons but was disappointing overall. There was hardly any plot (the murder is really a side story that randomly has salience but most of the book is just the characters' day-to-day lives). I'm usually ok with character-driven books, but the characters here were not well developed. Of the four main characters, two seemed practically interchangeable. All characters besides Maddy seem one-dimensional, and it's even hard to feel invested in Maddy's characters because she's so closed off, even in her own narration. While the book had some thought-provoking moments and well-written lines, it was overall a bit of a slog to get through.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Abandonment, Addiction, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Mental illness, Murder, and Alcoholism
Moderate: Domestic abuse, Grief, and Animal death
Minor: Pedophilia
caitisbooked's review
challenging
dark
emotional
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
This story follows the life of Maddy, who is apart of the homeless community within San Francisco. She knows how to live – where to eat, where to sleep, where to shower, and most importantly, how to avoid the police. However, one day she witnesses the murder of a young man when chasing after her dog, and her world is changed for the worst. She has to face the killer, the police and the young man’s parents who want to know what happened to their son and how he came to be in the park. However, this ends up with Maddy being reunited with her lost family by the young man’s parents. This puts the question into Maddy’s thoughts about who her true family is.
This book was powerful from the beginning, but then began to lose some power for me as the story went on. In saying that, I did thoroughly enjoy this book a lot more than expected. I find mystery books to either be hit or miss for me. I truly couldn’t put the book down for over the first half of the book. I wanted to find out more about Maddy and her backstory, along with Ash and Fleet, and the other characters that were within the homeless community. It is definitely not an easy read, due to certain actions that the characters fulfil, that make you constantly be questioning them, but I also loved that aspect
The way that Seligman thrusts you into a world that not many people, myself included, would know not a lot about. This was definitely an eye opening reading experience, especially around that not all that live on the streets want to be saved from their current living situations, and trying to get them to live in a house, doesn’t always work for them best. I truly didn’t know what I was expecting, but this was everything and more. You can definitely tell that Seligman has done her research into the homeless community, as I felt like Maddy was incredibly well rounded and explained character. However, I did feel like Maddy’s character was the only one to be fully explored and explained under the superficial level. I wanted a further dive into Ash’s character and his backstory, along with Fleet as well.
I highly recommend this book to absolutely anyone and everyone due to the pure fact of pushing yourself out of your normal boundaries and reading and learning more about the homeless community, especially the fact that not everyone that lives on the streets wants to be saved.
Thank you very much to Algonquin Young Readers for providing me with a copy of this novel and allowing me to participate in the blog tour in exchange for an honest review.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Drug use, Addiction, and Alcoholism
Moderate: Murder, Death, and Mental illness
Minor: Domestic abuse and Homophobia
booksandcoffeerequired's review
dark
reflective
sad
tense
slow-paced
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.5
Content Warnings
Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal death, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Mental illness, Suicidal thoughts, and Violence
kerrireads's review
challenging
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
fast-paced
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Toxic relationship, Mental illness, Drug abuse, and Drug use
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