Reviews tagging 'Drug use'

We Deserve Monuments by Jas Hammonds

14 reviews

saucy_bookdragon's review against another edition

dark emotional inspiring reflective slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

 "There was no easy way to wrangle a life into a simple story."

A slow burn, twisty YA contemporary that's about unpacking intergenerational trauma. I loved how layered and realistic this story was and how it dealt with the intersection of family history and national history, making history personal. Written with some beautiful prose!

TWs: racism, homophobia, cancer, death of family members, grief, drug usage, police brutality (mentioned in retrospect, not on page) 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Cancer, Homophobia, Drug use, Alcohol, Death of parent, and Racism

Moderate: Police brutality and Medical content

mezzythedragon's review against another edition

challenging emotional hopeful sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Drug use, Racism, Toxic relationship, Lesbophobia, Homophobia, Grief, Death, Alcohol, Cursing, and Emotional abuse

Minor: Terminal illness

CW // intergenerational trauma, abuse, racism, death, internalized queerphobia, alcohol and drug use This is some hard-hitting, heavy stuff. A clear example of “hurt people hurt people.” Even though both Zora and Mama Letty have gone through/are still going through their personal traumas, they too have done some terrible things to each other, and in Zora’s case, to Avery as well. I will say the ending

regarding Mama Letty and her box

threw me by surprise. 👀

amandalorianxo's review against another edition

challenging emotional reflective sad 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? Yes

4.5

But at the end of it, the only thing I could say was, “ I love you.”Then the ice broke, the tears came, and I was drowning.” 4.5 stars

You can tell how much love and emotion it took for this debut to come together and I can’t thank Jas enough for creating this wonderful young adult novel. It centers around 17 year old Avery Anderson, a biracial teen from DC who moves to Bardell,Georgia after finding out that Mama Letty (Avery’s mother) has terminal breast cancer. The relationships we uncover in this book have a lot of deep rooted, repressed trauma and sometimes acknowledged verbal /emotional tendencies that lean towards abusive. Avery along with the audience unpacks a lot within the several months she is living in Bardell. This definitely leaves you thinking and wishing that more people of color did in fact have monuments dedicated to them because lord knows the Confederates of the past have no business being glorified. My only critique were the random flashbacks that weren’t necessarily needed or could have been implemented a different way. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief

Moderate: Terminal illness, Death, and Death of parent

Minor: Racism, Murder, Drug use, Outing, Infidelity, Homophobia, Medical content, and Lesbophobia

lettuce_read's review against another edition

• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Police brutality, Hate crime, Terminal illness, Homophobia, Grief, Cancer, and Toxic friendship

Moderate: Death, Sexual harassment, Alcohol, Murder, Outing, Cursing, Drug use, and Emotional abuse

Minor: Classism