Reviews tagging 'Vomit'

We Deserve Monuments by Jas Hammonds

9 reviews

robinks's review against another edition

challenging emotional hopeful 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? No

4.5

I really enjoyed the cast of characters, and the relationships/conversations between them felt real. As a queer person who is estranged from bio family, the way some of the family issues were worked through rubbed me the wrong way.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Homophobia, Religious bigotry, Cultural appropriation, Outing, Hate crime, Emotional abuse, Death, Racism, Death of parent, Alcoholism, Lesbophobia, Terminal illness, and Grief

Moderate: Biphobia, Child abuse, Abandonment, Cancer, Gun violence, Murder, Police brutality, Cursing, Vomit, Infidelity, and Violence

Minor: Bullying, Pregnancy, Sexual content, and Pandemic/Epidemic

vaguely_pink's review against another edition

emotional mysterious sad 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: Homophobia, Hate crime, Racism, Lesbophobia, Cancer, Death of parent, Grief, Terminal illness, and Medical content

Moderate: Death, Biphobia, Infidelity, and Religious bigotry

Minor: Drug use, Bullying, Cursing, Gun violence, Fatphobia, Panic attacks/disorders, Vomit, Alcohol, Child abuse, Body shaming, Classism, Pandemic/Epidemic, Abandonment, Sexism, Murder, Sexual content, and Slavery

zombiezami's review against another edition

emotional funny inspiring mysterious medium-paced

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Lesbophobia, Medical content, Classism, Death, Racism, Religious bigotry, Cancer, Death of parent, Grief, Homophobia, Terminal illness, and Outing

Moderate: Alcohol, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Infidelity, Kidnapping, Police brutality, Alcoholism, Cursing, Sexual harassment, Emotional abuse, Hate crime, Murder, Addiction, and Drug use

Minor: Pandemic/Epidemic, Car accident, Abandonment, Gun violence, Slavery, Vomit, Pregnancy, and Sexual content

avisreadsandreads's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious reflective sad fast-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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism

Moderate: Murder and Alcoholism

Minor: Vomit

spookily's review against another edition

emotional hopeful sad tense slow-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? It's complicated

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Terminal illness, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, Homophobia, Lesbophobia, Outing, Cancer, Death, Police brutality, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Hate crime, and Racism

Moderate: Child abuse, Drug use, Alcohol, Murder, and Vomit

Minor: Bullying, Gun violence, Abandonment, Alcoholism, Biphobia, Car accident, Classism, Cursing, Pandemic/Epidemic, Slavery, Medical content, Sexual harassment, and Fatphobia

anneliedip's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring 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: Homophobia, Vomit, Emotional abuse, Alcoholism, Cancer, Murder, Police brutality, and Racism

lifewithjoce's review against another edition

emotional inspiring reflective sad medium-paced

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

5.0

When I tell you this book wrecked me, that is a complete understatement

read the full review on Write Through the Night: https://writethroughthenight.com/2023/01/23/we-deserve-monuments-and-the-beauty-of-intergenerational-relationships/

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Racism, Vomit, Death, and Homophobia

solenophage's review against another edition

emotional hopeful sad medium-paced

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

3.5

I loved a good 80 - 90% of this - solid 4, maybe 5 stars - until the ending.  The exploration of complex and nuanced family relationships is something I always enjoy reading about and that was done quite well in this novel.  I appreciated how Hammonds portrayed the cycle of trauma and abuse.  They showed the sympathetic side to all three generations of the main character, Avery's family without excusing how Avery's grandmother abused her daughter or how her mother denied Avery a connection to her family and their history.  Each character's hurt and anger is allowed to breathe and to coexist with love and longing and grief.  Their relationships all feel complex and real in a way that often difficult to capture.  I also like how Avery's exploration of her family history and her desire to understand her mother and her grandmother more is tied into her increasing feelings that she doesn't really know who she is or what she really wants out of life beyond what is expected of her.  I could really feel and empathize with the fear, frustration, and sense of being lost that built slowly as Avery began to realize that the way she'd been living her life was mostly to satisfy others or was something she did without thinking because it was expected of her.  She spent so much time following that path and now that she knows it's not what she wants, she's struggling to figure out what is.  

There were a few aspects that I thought could have been done better.  I was uncomfortable with how casual and dismissive Avery was towards Simone's fear of being outed to her homophobic mother in what seems to be a conservative town.  I could accept this as just part of her character - not really understanding the real danger this could have for Simone - but it felt like the narrative supported this attitude or at least didn't contradict it.  I didn't feel like Simone's feelings and Avery's dismissiveness weren't fully addressed and by the end Avery's 'everything will be fine, don't worry' attitude was proven correct.  Simone's mother did come around and Avery's and Simone's relationship picked right back up easily. 
I was kind of irritated by how useless and uninvolved Avery's dad was for a lot of the book.  I get that the focus wasn't on him, but if your family's have screaming matches and breaking down crying, shouldn't you be doing something?  He got better towards the end, but it was still annoying.  

Those were pretty minor problems for me though, what really took this down to only 3 stars was the ending.  **Spoilers ahead** Avery finds out her grandmother most likely murdered one of her best friend's, Jade's, parents in the last 20 pages and that's that, end of the book.  She has no feelings or thoughts on that, we don't see it affect their friendship, she doesn't even think about breaching that subject with Jade.  It's made extra off putting by the fact that Avery finding out that Jade's grandfather and great-grandfather murdered her grandfather was rightfully treated as a big deal that really messed with her.  She had a big fight with Jade and had to work through a lot of anger and complex feelings before she could get to thinking about whether they could still be friends after finding out something like that.  Then she discovers this and has no empathy towards Jade, doesn't want to help her find closure or decide for herself how she feels about hanging around the family of the woman who killed her mother.  Avery can have that, but she'll deny it to Jade.  It wasn't even a satisfying conclusion to the 'mystery' of Jade's mother's death, because that never felt like a major part of the story, just a part of Jade's backstory.  It felt like a weird and unnecessary note to end an otherwise good book on.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Cancer, and Grief

Moderate: Cancer, Death, Homophobia, Lesbophobia, Outing, Vomit, Emotional abuse, Hate crime, and Murder

Minor: Fatphobia

marywahlmeierbracciano's review against another edition

challenging emotional reflective 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

When her family learns that her grandmother is dying, Avery is uprooted from her life in D.C. and transplanted to her mom’s tiny hometown in Georgia.  She leaves behind her college-obsessed friends (and ex) just before starting her senior year in a town where she knows no one, including her own grandmother.  Years of lost time span between three generations of Black women, and Avery is determined to unearth the divisive secrets that color her family and finally get to know her impenetrable grandmother, all while getting to know herself.  A debut novel about who and what is worth remembering with a special focus on Black queer love in the South, We Deserve Monuments is unforgettable.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Homophobia, Grief, Lesbophobia, and Outing

Moderate: Death, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Toxic friendship, Classism, Cancer, Hate crime, Medical content, Murder, Racism, Religious bigotry, and Terminal illness

Minor: Vomit, Alcoholism, Child abuse, Gun violence, Infidelity, Police brutality, and Sexual content