Reviews tagging 'Death of parent'

Sabrina & Corina: Stories by Kali Fajardo-Anstine

20 reviews

mnerd63's review against another edition

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

4.0


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bonnie3088's review

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emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

"Ever feel like the land is swallowing you whole, Sierra? That all of this beauty is wrapped around you so tight it's like being in a rattlesnakes mouth?"

"Her hair shone like motor oil, greens and golds and blues all in that black" 

"He came at her with the forces of a rabid dog gnashing into her flesh" 



The writing in this book was beautiful, it is what kept me locked in as well as the common theme on family and gender especially in Latin households. I thought this book had strong messages and executed each story amazingly. There wasn't a single story that made me feel bored. I think each story could stand on its own and with all of them together it just creates a beautiful work that more ppl should read. 

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amandalorianxo's review

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emotional reflective sad fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A

5.0

This is one of the few collections where I am more than ok with these being just short stories. Each one dives into the lives of Colorado residences and reminds us of the challenges people of Latin & Indigenous descent went through to survive in America. An emotional wrecking ball but worth it the read.

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readingwithkaitlyn's review against another edition

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reflective medium-paced
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.25


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sarahemhavens's review against another edition

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dark emotional reflective sad fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? N/A

4.0

 Sabrina & Corina is a collection of short stories on a range of topics including death, sickness, grief, loss, oppression and also culture, history, love, family, strength in the face of adversity, perseverance, and coming of age.

More specifically, the topics that I found most moved by were the talk of ‘westward expansion’, the destruction of native peoples and cultures, whitewashing and gentrification, western medicine vs herbal medicine, and the mistreatment and objectification of women.

Of the eleven stories, my favorites were:
Remedies
Tomi
Any Further West
All Her Names
Ghost Sickness (this one shook me most)

Biggest takeaway quotes/thoughts for me:
- “afraid of letting any amount of death work its way into me”
- “that was the first time that I missed someone while sitting right next to them”
- “Sabrina was to forever face ceilings and casket tops padded in pink satin”
- white people (“Generations of tragedy free living”) steam rolling over native culture, destroying their lands and throwing up concrete gentrification jungles that only erode years later in our failing society. (The us’ history and mistreatment of peoples never fails to devastate me, nor should it - we should constantly be reminding ourselves and educating ourselves, not try to brush anything under the rug like we tend to in the us)
- “people, we learned, weren’t permanent and neither were their sicknesses”
- “maidens strapped to railroad tracks and cowboy heroes shot dead” (“heroes”)
- “money comes with chains”
- “you make me feel full, I’m heavy with you” 

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zeeck07's review

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adventurous challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-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? It's complicated

4.0


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hngisreading's review

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emotional reflective sad slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0


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mengzhenreads's review against another edition

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

3.5

My favorite stories from this collection were Sugar Babies, Julian Plaza, Sabrina & Corina, and Tomi. 

Overall, a good collection of stories that were generally thought-provoking and interesting. I didn't enjoy all the stories equally but it was still a good read.

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sofipitch's review

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emotional reflective medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? N/A
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A

5.0

Most short story collections at least have a few stories that aren't that good, but here every single story was beautiful, no flops. They also seemed to flow together very well, the themes all similar yet the stories distinct. This was incredible and I will be checking out more books by Fajardo-Anstine

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gabbygarcia's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful reflective sad medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

I want Ghost Sickness to be an entire novel 

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