Reviews tagging 'Grief'

Poor Deer by Claire Oshetsky

8 reviews

cernst09's review

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad medium-paced

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

3.75

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Grief, and Confinement

anawest's review

5.0

This was not a perfect book, but it had a perfect beginning and a perfect ending, and also most of it felt like someone was taking a meat cleaver to my insides and then laying them out on a table in a pretty table arrangement. Which is my ideal reading experience. Anyway, loved loved loved this. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Child death, and Grief

Moderate: Medical trauma and Domestic abuse

Minor: Rape, Animal death, and Suicidal thoughts

angel_hardy's review

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

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Death, Pedophilia, Murder, Mental illness, Self harm, Grief, and Child death

alexisgarcia's review

dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.5

this book was like something i’ve never read before. this was atmospheric, dark, twisty, and in general, depressing. the cover made me buy this and the synopsis hooked me. i was very drawn to this book and it was as good as i imagined.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Dysphoria, Grief, Mental illness, Bullying, Child abuse, Death, Panic attacks/disorders, Stalking, Violence, and Injury/Injury detail

belovedb33's review

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

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Sexual assault, Child death, Body horror, Ableism, Emotional abuse, Bullying, Self harm, Misogyny, Domestic abuse, Blood, Abandonment, Child abuse, Alcohol, Medical trauma, Grief, Death, and Animal death

Moderate: Suicidal thoughts

Minor: Fatphobia

girlsiread's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad tense slow-paced

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

5.0

wow wow wow wow….. no words 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Ableism, and Grief

Minor: Fire/Fire injury

savvylit's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective medium-paced

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

4.5

Margaret Murphy is an endearing and heartbreaking unreliable narrator. For most of Poor Deer, Margaret is a child simply trying her best to interpret a world of adults - namely her single mother and aunt. Oshetsky excels at writing what feels like a genuine child's perspective of the world. Margaret is adept and intuitive and yet so deeply underestimated. Though never explicitly stated, there's an implication of neurodivergence in a time and place in which adults had little to no understanding of such things.

As a whole, Poor Deer is an empathetic and imaginative look at the stories that we tell ourselves in order to survive. And the circumstances that push us to develop a complex and self-punishing interior world.

Many thanks to @eccobooks and @netgalley for the eARC of Poor Deer in exchange for my honest review! All thoughts and opinions are my own.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Abandonment, Ableism, Child abuse, Grief, and Mental illness

lyla's review

challenging dark mysterious reflective sad medium-paced

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

3.0

A really fresh and clever narrative structure - the epitome of unreliable narrator. I always love a child narrator, because it lays out the moral lessons with greater purity and innocence. A sad portrait of motherhood and family bonds, the book always leaves you wanting more from the characters in the way they behave and treat others. Definitely not a feel good novel, but an interesting premise and hugely reflective.

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: Murder, Emotional abuse, Grief, Suicidal thoughts, Abandonment, and Death