Reviews tagging 'Grief'

Factory Girls by Michelle Gallen

12 reviews

antimony's review against another edition

5.0

really enjoyed..picked this up at the library around 11 maybe? and finished it before 6 pm. i think being in ireland has turned me into a literary fiction reader

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, War, Sexual harassment, Religious bigotry, and Grief

Moderate: Suicide

Minor: Abortion

kirstym25's review against another edition

emotional funny medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Religious bigotry, Violence, and Sexual harassment

Moderate: Death, Suicide, and Grief

Minor: Abortion

booknerd_therapist's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Religious bigotry, Violence, Colonisation, Gun violence, and Hate crime

Moderate: Suicide, Alcohol, Death, and Grief

Minor: Sexual content, Sexual assault, Police brutality, Rape, Abortion, and Excrement

theunfinishedbookshelf's review

emotional reflective slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Death, and Religious bigotry

Moderate: Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, and Suicide attempt

Minor: Abortion

sharonus's review

funny hopeful lighthearted fast-paced

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

2.75

Fun light read (even through the subject is pretty grim). I could have done without the (admittedly short) graphic sexual descriptions. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Religious bigotry, Colonisation, Murder, Alcohol, Child death, Injury/Injury detail, Sexual content, Suicide, Death, Grief, and Violence

Minor: Sexual harassment, Abortion, and Blood

hlureh's review

adventurous hopeful inspiring reflective tense medium-paced

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

5.0

What a book! I found it by accident in a bookshop in Ireland and was interested in finding out more about why it was advertised as being like „Derry Girls“. I now totally get that point. First of all the setting: Northern Ireland in the middle of the nineties. A friend group on the brink of becoming adults, figuring out who they are and what life can look like for them in the future. A great and versatile read of which I didn’t know what to expect. But now, that I have finished it I am very happy with what I got. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Self harm, Misogyny, Medical content, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Death, Sexual harassment, Sexism, Gun violence, Alcoholism, Violence, Suicide, Suicide attempt, and Grief

Minor: Car accident and Abortion

stargirlmolly's review against another edition

dark funny tense medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol and Grief

Moderate: War, Suicide, Religious bigotry, Violence, Colonisation, Death, Sexism, and Sexual harassment

cassielaj's review

emotional funny hopeful tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

This book is full of humor, heart, and a bit of hell raising. Maeve is a kickass main character and I loved following her coming-of-age story over a summer working at the shirt factory. I also learned a ton about The Troubles in Northern Ireland. This book is perfect for fans of Derry Girls or any good story about small towns and big dreams. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexism, Religious bigotry, Violence, Cursing, Sexual harassment, and Suicide

Moderate: Misogyny, Grief, Death, and Murder

ncoletti's review

funny hopeful tense medium-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual harassment and Violence

Moderate: Suicide and Grief

mishale1's review

challenging emotional hopeful sad medium-paced

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

3.5

I found this author and this book because I recently finished Derry Girls on Netflix and had googled “books like Derry Girls”. This very much takes place in the times of Derry Girls which was during the 1990’s and “The Troubles” in Ireland. It even included a group of teenager girls who had grown up with The Troubles in the background of their everyday life. But the comparison between Derry Girls and Factory Girls probably end there. This book focuses much much more on the violence and sadness and much less on anything heartwarming or funny. That definitely makes sense. That’s fair. And this book was well written and had strong, unique, memorable and mostly likable characters. But I did get a big bogged down by the sadness of it all.

Maeve and her best friends Eoife and Caroline have just graduated highschool. They actually won’t get their final grades for several months. So they have time to wait and spend together in their hometown. It’s the last summer before they go off to different colleges. The girls decide to get jobs at a factory making shirts together. It’s a hard job and it doesn’t pay much. It’s also their first experience with Catholic and Protestants side by side. It’s an interesting opportunity for everyone to try to get to know each other as people.
It’s especially important to Maeve as she’s planning to go to England. She’s trying to get along with people different than her.

They have a sleazy boss that made me uncomfortable for the girls every time he was around.

Maeve also has an extra incentive to leave: her sister died a few years ago and the sadness of her death is such a huge part of her life with her family. Maeve needs some distance from it.

I found Maeve to be a feisty character with a heck of a mouth on her lol I really loved her best friend Eofie and her co-worked Fidelma. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Religious bigotry and Violence

Moderate: Grief, Death, Suicide, and Sexual harassment