Reviews tagging 'Death'

When We Make It by Elisabet Velasquez

14 reviews

moodyromancereader's review against another edition

dark emotional inspiring reflective fast-paced

4.0

I have been following Elizabeth for years, so I was excited to dive into this book. This is a poetry book in a novel form. The poems follow our Sarai, a sixteen-year-old born Puerto Rican living in Bushwick, Brooklyn, whose family is from Puerto Rico. The poems in this story are raw and honest. From the first poem, it feels like Sarai is a friend talking to you about her life. The words jump off the page and pull you into Sarai’s world. There are heavy topics and themes in this book, so please check CW

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault, Death, Drug use, Miscarriage, and Child abuse

hobbithopeful's review against another edition

challenging emotional hopeful 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? No

5.0

 Powerful and moving, When We Make It follows Sarai and her experience growing up. The book follows her struggles with identity, family, and what's it like to grow up moving from place to place because of housing insecurity.
I very much enjoyed reading this, though it is very heavy. I would caution anyone wanting to check it out to look at content warnings first. Everything from domestic abuse, to sexual assault, to racism, this books dives into some very real and very hard topics. I would probably have waited to read it had I known how prevalent the sexual assault was, and the reaction of others to it.
If you like The Poet X, you'll love this.
I highly recommend! This is my first book by Elisabet Velasquez, and I can't wait to read more. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Misogyny and Pregnancy

Moderate: Drug abuse, Domestic abuse, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Drug use, and Alcohol

Minor: Death, Racism, and Gun violence

kayladaila's review against another edition

dark 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? It's complicated

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Grief, Sexual assault, Pregnancy, Mental illness, Sexual harassment, Miscarriage, Rape, and Religious bigotry

Moderate: Death, Death of parent, Colonisation, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Gun violence, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

Minor: Abandonment, Body shaming, Drug use, and Addiction

bookdnbusy's review against another edition

adventurous emotional inspiring reflective fast-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? It's complicated

4.0

the only reason i’m giving this four stars it’s because i wanted better for saraí. i wanted her to be everything she said she wanted to be. i wanted her to be better than her mother, and her sister.
 
but, nonetheless…
 
i enjoyed this, WAY TOO MUCH! this felt like a love letter to my summers in the city, running down the block yelling after el heladero to give me my vasito de colores so that i could give him his two dollars and walk back to my building already with my mouth turning blue thanks to the helado. a love letter to dreams and the hopes and the aspirations i had as a pre-teen sitting on the danger around the corner, away, but close enough that my mother knew where to send my siblings to find me and my friends. a love letter to a better life… to hope.
 
this collection of poems does such a great job at driving us through saraí’s story, her pain, and her joy. the hunger and thirst she constantly felt. whether for food, love or understanding. the way it forges the story with lack of dialogue is reminiscent of her diary, and how she truly saw life and experienced it.
 
it’s also a big mirror to the relationship a lot of hispanic mothers have with their daughters. i found myself tightening my jaw and reminding myself that my mother was but a child, too and that i, as her firstborn, were a product of trial and error. she learned. she rectified, but the damage was done, and estrella paid a different price than her mother’s and saraí paid the price because estrella had been the first.
 
honestly, this is so good and i will be picking this up whenever i feel nostalgic for more. for saraí. for estrella. for mami, and tío richie. I LOVED THIS!
 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Misogyny, Drug abuse, Drug use, Sexism, and Xenophobia

Moderate: Gun violence, Violence, and Addiction

Minor: Sexual assault, Mental illness, Police brutality, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Rape, Death, Pregnancy, and Miscarriage

the main character and main character's family are Pentecostal, and the book has descriptions of scripture and sometimes blasphemy (as a lot of forced religious kids do).

starrysteph's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful inspiring sad tense 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

4.5

An energizing explosion of heart & spirit, with characters that speak earnestly and directly with a yearning that is incredibly affecting.

 

We’re following Sarai, a Puerto Rican teenager living in Bushwick. She shares her hopes, she questions her identity, she agonizes over her familial pain & trauma, and she wonders about the future of her neighborhood and community. Sarai’s personality bursts from the page as she shares her quietest thoughts and her loudest dreams, all in verse.

 

This book covers tough subjects as Sarai faces all sorts of challenges: familial trauma, abuse, sexual assault, drug use & overdosing, teenage pregnancy, sexism & objectification of young women, ignorance & privilege, gentrification, and much more. 

 

The writing and voice is distinctive and connected and powerful. I was captivated by Sarai and hopeful for her and heartbroken for her. 

 

I found the ending to be a little bit crushing; the very last piece was too quick of a wrap up and some threads didn’t come together in the way I had hoped they would. I would have preferred getting maybe one more year of Sarai’s life and expanding on the conclusion.

 

CW: death (including child death), drugs & drug overdose, pregnancy, sexual assault (of a child), child abuse, mental illness, sexism, fatphobia, body shaming, ableism, domestic abuse, miscarriage, police brutality, gun violence, addiction, racism, toxic relationship, religious bigotry, psychosis, classism 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Fatphobia, Domestic abuse, Pregnancy, Sexual violence, Sexual content, Miscarriage, Addiction, Drug use, Sexual assault, Mental illness, Sexism, Child death, Drug abuse, Death of parent, Body shaming, Ableism, Religious bigotry, Child abuse, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Death, Gun violence, Racism, Toxic relationship, Classism, Sexual harassment, and Police brutality

panickat123's review against another edition

challenging emotional reflective sad tense fast-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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Pregnancy, and Drug use

Moderate: Addiction, Mental illness, Domestic abuse, Classism, Police brutality, Sexual harassment, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

Minor: Grief, Car accident, Death of parent, and Miscarriage

readswithrachel's review against another edition

emotional fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Miscarriage, Sexual assault, Pregnancy, Gun violence, Drug use, Death, and Child abuse

ritareadstrash's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful sad 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? No

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Physical abuse, Gun violence, Drug abuse, Death, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, and Pregnancy

Minor: Sexual assault, Toxic relationship, Racism, and Racial slurs

betweentheshelves's review against another edition

emotional hopeful 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? It's complicated

4.0

I definitely recommend the audiobook of this because it's read by the author and there's just something about listening to poetry read by the author. Phenomenally done. A lot of the poems here pack a punch. Something I'd want to highlight if I had a physical copy!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Death, and Pregnancy

Moderate: Addiction, Sexual assault, and Mental illness

Minor: Child death, Domestic abuse, and Drug abuse

delz's review against another edition

emotional reflective fast-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

4.0

When We Make It, is Sarai’s emotional roller coaster life in Bushwick NY. Sarai is a Puerto Rican girl living with her Mami and sister Estrella. They live tentatively, almost like transients because there is so little money for food let alone money for rent. Sarai’s life takes one bad leap after another, yet there is always hope that they will “make it” and not necessarily leave Bushwick,but just have some security in their lives. This book does remind me very much of Elizabeth Acevedo‘s  The Poet X, but Velasquez has her own story to tell and she has done it very well. Thank @PenguinTeen! for giving me an ARC of #WhenWeMakeIt

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death, Drug abuse, Miscarriage, Mental illness, Pregnancy, Rape, and Addiction