Reviews tagging 'Bullying'

How to Build a Boat by Elaine Feeney

12 reviews

jen_nej's review against another edition

emotional reflective sad slow-paced

• Loveable characters? Yes

3.75

This book was such a mixed bag for me! I started out expecting to love it, it’s beautifully written and I truly felt there was no way I’d be let down but the pacing felt a bit off through the middle. I found myself reading just to get through the chapter. It was nice to see some neurodivergent representation and to have characters who loved and supported the protagonist without question. I was just hoping for more and I didn’t realize I was disappointed until the very end. Also, I’m not loving this literary fiction trend of no quotes around dialog. Give me quotes please, I begggggggg 😭

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying and Alcoholism

Moderate: Homophobia, Death of parent, and Sexism

deedireads's review against another edition

emotional reflective sad slow-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? No

3.5

All my reviews live at https://deedireads.com/

My latest Booker Prize longlister, and while I see its merits, I’m not super surprised that we didn’t see this one on the shortlist. I was a little hot and cold on it; sometimes I felt super engaged and sometimes I felt the opposite. All in all, I think I am slightly to the positive side of neutral on it.

As you might expect, this is about what happens to characters as they learn to build a boat rather than how to actually build a boat, lol. But I also think it’s about characters searching for proverbial life rafts. That said, I’m not exactly sure how the two main plot lines tied together; they left me feeling like there was something unresolved even though that isn’t quite the case.

All in all, I think this book is stunning but a bit superficially. It has really stunning prose, especially the ending — if you love books that sing like poetry, this might be enough for you. I just didn’t necessarily feel as connected to it at a deeper level. Still, glad I read it!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying

Moderate: Miscarriage, Infertility, and Death of parent

rei_reads's review against another edition

challenging emotional hopeful reflective 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? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying

Moderate: Ableism, Blood, Death of parent, Alcoholism, Panic attacks/disorders, Misogyny, and Infertility

Minor: Injury/Injury detail and Miscarriage

backtoblighty's review

adventurous emotional hopeful 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

Listened to this story via audio  - Ciaran O’Brien was a fantastic narrator and captured Jamie perfectly.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying and Misogyny

Moderate: Death of parent

tinamayreads's review against another edition

adventurous funny hopeful medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying

jouljet's review

challenging emotional reflective fast-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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Death of parent, and Bullying

minniepauline's review against another edition

challenging inspiring reflective sad 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

4.5

Gorgeous. I devoured it.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Bullying, Death of parent, and Infertility

Moderate: Religious bigotry, Toxic relationship, Medical trauma, and Misogyny

ree333's review

emotional inspiring reflective relaxing slow-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Bullying

Minor: Infertility and Miscarriage

alicebodnar's review

challenging emotional reflective 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

4.5

Emotionally gripping story of members of a found-community around a challenging boy. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death of parent, Emotional abuse, and Bullying

kirstym25's review against another edition

emotional reflective 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? Yes

3.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Ableism, Infertility, and Bullying