Reviews tagging 'Death'

Nightcrawling by Leila Mottley

69 reviews

zoinkie's review against another edition

dark emotional tense fast-paced

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

4.75

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Suicide attempt, Child abuse, Classism, Death, Drug use, Gaslighting, Sexual assault, Rape, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Trafficking, Alcohol, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Sexual harassment, Police brutality, Abandonment, Adult/minor relationship, and Death of parent

_meeg's review against another edition

challenging dark sad tense fast-paced

4.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Bullying, Injury/Injury detail, Rape, Mental illness, Self harm, Sexual harassment, Suicide attempt, Grief, Sexual assault, Domestic abuse, Child death, Death, Cursing, Suicidal thoughts, Kidnapping, Trafficking, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Misogyny, Murder, Gun violence, Abandonment, Sexual content, Violence, Addiction, Racial slurs, Child abuse, Hate crime, Police brutality, Classism, Death of parent, Forced institutionalization, Drug abuse, Racism, and Sexual violence

anna_in_the_spring's review against another edition

challenging dark sad medium-paced

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

2.5

Rating this book is really difficult. I can tell that it is a good book. It just really wasn't for me.
The writing is lyrical, which I only like sometimes. While I thought it was okay in this book, maybe that was because I had a much bigger problem with the language that is being used. In dialogue and sometimes also in internal speech African American dialect is being used. And I hated that. Let me explain. I am a non-native English speaker with dyslexia. Slangs and dialects in written English ( and any other written language I understand) irritate me greatly. I am at a level of reading comprehension with regular English where I can just read the text. Written dialects trigger my dyslexia and slow me down a great deal and make understanding difficult. They are like another foreign language. And I don't have the energy to deal with that. I just want to read a book, not struggle with a language that to me, who had such a hard time learning the original language, seems just wrong and like someone is playing a malicious prank on me. 
I understand that this is not the intention and I don't have a problem with the existence of dialects. Just with having to read them. I try avoiding these kind of books.
I still struggled through the book , skimming over some parts, because it is a good book. And I understand why the language is as it is. It just wasn't for me. That's fine. 
I didn't enjoy the plot, but I don't think you're supposed to. I'm not a big fan of tragedies, so again, not really for me. The subject matter is also thankfully very far removed from me. Still, if the dialect hadn't been there, I might have been able to enjoy the book, the way one enjoys a tragedy. Like this, I was never really able to get into it.  But without the dialect it would have been a different book. So, again, this was just not for me. And that's fine.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Adult/minor relationship, Alcohol, Child death, Death, Trafficking, Drug use, Police brutality, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, Suicide attempt, Sexual content, Sexual violence, and Suicide

mlachevre's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative sad tense 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? It's complicated

4.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Death, Rape, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Misogyny, Racism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Violence, Pedophilia, and Police brutality

blckmoonlillith's review against another edition

dark emotional informative sad tense 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

3.5

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Police brutality, Sexual assault, Grief, and Rape

Moderate: Death, Violence, Suicide, Mental illness, Child death, Child abuse, and Addiction

kmbutcher's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Misogyny, Sexual violence, Police brutality, Trafficking, Death of parent, Rape, Sexual assault, Transphobia, Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Child death, Classism, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Physical abuse, Racism, and Suicide attempt

samantha1960's review against another edition

challenging dark sad tense medium-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

4.5

This story is heartbreaking and absolutely unnerving but so beautifully written it’s hard to put it down once you pick it up. Kiara is a character I’ll think back on for years to come. An unbelievable debut novel.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcohol, Blood, Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Child death, Trafficking, Sexual violence, Vomit, Suicide attempt, Violence, Death of parent, Rape, Sexual assault, Grief, Pedophilia, Racism, Self harm, Death, and Police brutality

sidekicksam's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense slow-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? Yes

3.75

Kiara is on the cusp of adulthood, but has been dealing with adult issues for most of her life. Since her father died, her mother is at a halfway house, and her brother is chasing a dream of becoming a rapper, coming up with the rent falls to mostly her. 

What a stunning debut novel. It is apparent that Mottley is a poet, as her writing style is lyrical and explores themes as racism, sex work, poverty and oppression without making it overly graphic or horrifying to read, which is quite a feat. 

For me personally, the lyrical/poetic writing style also made it more challenging to get through, as I kept zoning out and took quite a bit of time to read each section, but the story grabbed me by the collar and made me keep reading. 

If you liked this, watch The Florida Project or read On The Savage Side, and if you particularly liked the writing style I recommend Caleb Azumah Nelson or The Prophets by Robert Jones Jr. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Drug abuse, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Emotional abuse, Domestic abuse, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Abandonment, Death of parent, and Death

eliannamentzer's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad tense fast-paced

4.5

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Physical abuse, Sexual violence, Grief, Death, Police brutality, Sexual harassment, Trafficking, Racism, Emotional abuse, Rape, Suicide, and Sexual assault

qqjj's review against another edition

challenging dark sad tense 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? Yes

4.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Addiction, Child abuse, Excrement, Child death, Death, Gaslighting, Death of parent, Cancer, Grief, Police brutality, Rape, Emotional abuse, Forced institutionalization, Physical abuse, Racism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Stalking, Violence, Sexual content, and Sexual harassment