Reviews tagging 'Suicide'

Moon of the Crusted Snow by Waubgeshig Rice

89 reviews

culpeppper's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional hopeful mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.5

This was a truly unique book for me. I loved getting to know the setting, the family dynamics, and the community relationships in the beginning as dread slowly seeped in with the cold. I think a lot of authors don't use weather as a storytelling tool enough, and this story confirmed that I really appreciate when it's a core part of the story. I appreciated the main perspective of Evan, a devoted father, loving partner, and loyal community member who still had flaws and a personality beyond his relationships. The antagonist, or at least the physical embodiment of it, was foreboding from the moment it is introduced, and threats to the community as the cold presses in feel real; the stakes and tension rise slowly but the story doesn't drag. Instead, it drops in on important conversations and focuses on narrating plot or character moments for us rather than having us slog through every day on the rez. 

While I don't mind Rice's telling and not showing for instances where we’re getting caught up to speed on certain things, sometimes the writing does feel more like it's telling us what the character is feeling rather than showing us what they're doing and having us decide what the character might be feeling. This wasn't so apparent if sentences were longer, but in the bits between dialogue we’re often told how characters react and what emotion that reaction comes from. Another gripe is the kids are basically pieces of furniture with names but I'm more surprised when I find a novel that does kids well. In general, there were a few characters and plot elements that could have been built more— at times, it felt hollow or, in the case of certain characters, unfinished. So if you're looking for a tight, no questions left unanswered this is not that kinda story. Me, I don't mind it enough to care too much. 

There were a lot of beautiful moments interspersed between the hard and traumatic ones. The balance is maintained well, and it offers hope to readers when needed. While the pain characters felt was always there, it never felt overly traumatic or too much. 

Overall, I really did enjoy reading this and got through it quick, and it was a really interesting premise and execution of this genre of story. I'm looking forward to becoming more familiar with Rice's other work!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Alcohol, Cursing, Animal death, and Death

Moderate: Death of parent, Gore, Racism, Murder, Abandonment, Blood, Colonisation, and Gun violence

Minor: Fire/Fire injury, Suicide, Domestic abuse, Sexual content, Chronic illness, Addiction, Cannibalism, Forced institutionalization, and Gaslighting

Other: guns (not specifically always in gun violence way), smoking cigarettes/tobacco, fatally freezing conditions, animal hunting/butchering, institutional racism, starvation, threats of violence, poverty, corpses, intergenerational trauma, suffocation descriptions. Many of the triggers are embedded in the structure of the character's world, or appear in dream sequences. Death of Parent:

Aileen dies part of the way through the winter in her bed. Evan is shot in the final chapters.

elenaluisa's review

challenging dark emotional 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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Suicide, Animal death, Cannibalism, Suicide attempt, Violence, Alcohol, Gun violence, Colonisation, Death, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, and Murder

thefaketian's review

dark mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Minor: Grief, Murder, Cannibalism, Death, Gun violence, and Suicide

Lots of strong language

caitm23's review against another edition

challenging emotional reflective tense fast-paced

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

5.0

Absolutely incredible, one of the best books I have ever read. Couldn't put it down. Really excited to get to the sequel!

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death and Gun violence

Minor: Racism, Cannibalism, and Suicide

kellieligon's review against another edition

dark 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? No

3.0

Perhaps this was just the build up for the 2nd book, but it left you in a place you can just stop.

The foreboding and looming danger will put you on edge from start to finish.

Definitely speculative thriller, not post-apocalyptic sci fi.

*The audiobook in combination with the written text was the way to go!

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Content Warnings

Minor: Cannibalism, Suicide, and Gun violence

gelarson's review

adventurous dark hopeful informative mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

Very interesting perspective 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder and Suicide

vbarsi's review

dark emotional mysterious sad tense 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? No

3.75

Easy read, well written, ends kind of how you would expect so thats why I gave a bit of a lower star rating 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death, Suicide, Animal death, and Gun violence

Minor: Racism, Cannibalism, Alcohol, and Colonisation

graphgirl's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Minor: Gun violence and Suicide

j_richa's review

adventurous dark mysterious tense slow-paced

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

3.5

The slow building of tension throughout the book is easily it's strongest point, and

the decision not to elaborate on the cause of the apocalypse is a key part of that

. While I do feel like the community was very well described, too many of the characters felt one note for me to say the same of them. While I understand why the author would feel the need to elaborate on the roots of problems specific to the history of Indigenous exploitation, the commentary felt too much like exposition that would interrupt the voice of the character speaking fairly often, which could be rather jarring at times.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide and Racism

Moderate: Sexual harassment and Cannibalism

aj_mooney's review

dark emotional reflective 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? It's complicated

4.5

A stunning story of resiliency, community, and survival. I felt a deep chill while reading this book, but I never lost hope that the protagonists would prevail against all odds. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gun violence, Suicide, Death, Violence, Alcoholism, and Cannibalism