Reviews tagging 'Suicide'

All our hidden gifts - La Gouvernante by Caroline O'Donoghue

40 reviews

tetedump's review against another edition

adventurous dark tense fast-paced

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

2.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide, Blood, Hate crime, Racism, Transphobia, and Homophobia

The main character has a White Savior complex, and it's not resolved sufficiently by the end of the book. One of the characters receives a magical gift that feels as if it's there to help her accept that the racist stereotypes she faces are factual.

cakeylu's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny mysterious tense 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Religious bigotry, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Hate crime, Injury/Injury detail, Racism, Violence, Bullying, Death, Homophobia, Lesbophobia, Alcohol, Blood, Domestic abuse, and Vomit

theunfinishedbookshelf's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Homophobia, Lesbophobia, Self harm, Hate crime, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Bullying and Religious bigotry

Minor: Suicide

zanm's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious 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

3.75

I think a lot of people didn’t like the way Roe’s character was handled but I honestly thought it was realistic. He literally says “I don’t know” when asked about different pronouns and is clearly still figuring things out which is okay! I did feel a little weird that Maeve still id’ed as straight (yes I did dock points for this) however, her willingness to accept Roe because she loved him for his personality was very nice! 

I mean, I know nonbinary people in my life who use "binary" pronouns. Pronouns ≠ gender, blah blah, I am going to give the author benefit of the doubt with this one.

I also really enjoyed the talks about boundaries. I was so ecstatic that

Lily didn’t automatically forgive her and that Maeve accepted that. Obviously she was still upset (I would be too) but if Lily had been besties with her again that would have been so uncharacteristic.

Things I didn’t like: 

How homophobia/transphobia was just At The Center of so much of this book. At points it just felt…overdone and theatrical. 

I also feel like Maeve was pretty flat. She definitely changed (sort of) but she seems very much like she has a long way to go. However, there is a sequel (which I WILL be picking up ASAP) so there’s hope.

Overall thoughts: 
I feel like if I read this when I was 16 I would have enjoyed it a lot more. I can’t help but compare it to The Raven Cycle which I tore up in high-school but now I have to suspend a lot of my opinions to enjoy it. 

I still liked it but I wasn’t completely blown away. Good but not great. 3.75 :)

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Homophobia, Violence, and Blood

Moderate: Suicide and Racism

laynemandros's review against another edition

adventurous mysterious tense 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? It's complicated

3.25

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Homophobia, Injury/Injury detail, Religious bigotry, Self harm, Violence, Racism, Biphobia, Bullying, Death, Hate crime, Suicide, and Suicide attempt

queersubtext's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny mysterious reflective sad tense 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: Religious bigotry, Racism, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Gaslighting, Homophobia, Transphobia, Suicide attempt, Hate crime, and Classism

Minor: Outing

abigailc0x's review against another edition

emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.0

i literally read 250 pages today so be impressed!!!
it was really really good hence why i read most of it in a few days but ended not how i expected it
side note the made up song lyrics made me slightly cringe but maybe that’s a me thing

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Hate crime, Homophobia, Suicide, and Violence

Moderate: Bullying, Outing, Suicide, Blood, Deadnaming, Suicide attempt, Self harm, and Transphobia

Minor: Xenophobia

queergoth_reads's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious 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? Yes

4.75

I really enjoyed this. I enjoyed it far more than I expected to. I really resonated with a lot of the characters and I was completely drawn into their world. Honestly I really enjoyed it so much and I don't know what else to say about it. There are a couple of lines that maybe didn't age so well recently but that's just with hindsight.  Overall it was a really great read and I need the sequel now!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Bullying, Hate crime, Homophobia, Self harm, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Racism, Suicide attempt, and Suicide

Minor: Infidelity

thewoodlandbookshelf's review against another edition

adventurous emotional mysterious tense 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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Bullying, Hate crime, Injury/Injury detail, Religious bigotry, Suicide attempt, Violence, Homophobia, Medical content, Suicide, and Transphobia

Moderate: Domestic abuse and Deadnaming

sorcha_rosa's review against another edition

adventurous emotional funny mysterious 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? Yes

5.0

I loved this book. Beautifully, but simply written, the story captures so well what it's like to be a teenager and to have problems with friends and classmates. I loved the different friendships in this, so well done. The story was occult and funny and overall, just a really good time.
Some of the characters have to deal with homophobia/transphobia, but in my opinion (own voices review), it was handled super well, and didn't feel triggering to read at all, just validating.
I also loved the discussions of being non-binary in this book. They felt heartfelt and clumsy in an authentic adolescent way, that feels really real, in the way that you actually figure things out as a teenager.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Religious bigotry

Moderate: Death, Outing, Self harm, Homophobia, Lesbophobia, Transphobia, and Hate crime

Minor: Suicide