Reviews with content warning for Self harm - Poor Deer

Reviews tagging 'Self harm'

angel_hardy's review

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challenging dark emotional slow-paced

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

4.0

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emelynreads's review

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dark sad slow-paced

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

2.75

I wanted to enjoy this but I could not get invested in the story. I found it to be so uneventful at times that this book put me to sleep twice. I did enjoy 'Poor Deer' and the unreliable narrator. It has all the trappings of making for a good book but I think the pacing for me was incredibly slow. I'm so sad not to have enjoyed it.

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readingpicnic's review

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reflective sad medium-paced

4.0

Interesting to see an unreliable narrator being held accountable for lying or misremembering the story. This was a very sad story filled with guilt and grief over the accidental death of a child when the two girls were four years old, which she never forgave herself for, so it was a little difficult to get through. The writing was very good though: "After they climbed out, clean again, her mother sprinkled talcum powder on the girl's body with such rich abundance that she felt like a special dessert."
It was sad how doomed all the sapphic longings felt in this book, especially between Florence and Ruby, who were especially devastating in their inability to put a concrete name to their queer longing. The imagery of Florence unfolding and refolding her letter from Ruby for years made me physically ill. The story was a little disorienting at times when I would learn that a whole passage I had read never actually happened and was just imagined by Margaret. I would say that this book could fit into the weird girlhood genre.

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belovedb33's review

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emotional reflective sad 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

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mmccombs's review against another edition

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dark reflective sad medium-paced

4.5

Chouette is a book I think about quite regularly and I have a feeling Poor Deer will be the same! Dark, so sad, but also ultimately hopeful, Poor Deer imagines alternate memories and pasts and futures. It was interesting reading this right after Interesting Facts About Space, another new release where a young woman navigates childhood shame and false memories. The writing was so beautiful and often seeping with a kind of gross, dank undertone that lent to a dark fairytale feeling, I could so fully see and smell and feel this book. The ending didn’t fully land for me, but everything was so strong otherwise, it is a story with staying power.

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