Reviews tagging 'Child death'

The Yield by Tara June Winch

25 reviews

penguinsquack's review against another edition

5.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Rape, Slavery, Sexual assault, Terminal illness, Fire/Fire injury, Grief, Racism, Child death, Colonisation, Death, Eating disorder, Genocide, Sexual violence, and Racial slurs

skudiklier's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring reflective 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

4.75

This book was very very good. It took me a while to get into it at first, but that was more to do with how I was reading it than the book itself. I love how this story is told, and feel like it's really valuable for anyone to read.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Racial slurs, Police brutality, Death, Racism, Sexual content, Colonisation, Xenophobia, Slavery, Eating disorder, and Genocide

Moderate: Cursing, Fire/Fire injury, Sexual violence, Rape, Blood, Murder, Terminal illness, Gun violence, Alcohol, Death of parent, Child death, Alcoholism, and Cancer

Minor: Animal death, Suicide, Ableism, Vomit, and War

sarahpopham's review against another edition

emotional hopeful reflective sad medium-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Racial slurs, Colonisation, Grief, and Racism

Moderate: Child death and Child abuse

Minor: Sexual violence and Sexual assault

chazaiya's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional inspiring mysterious reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.25

a 3-3.5 star first half and a 4.5-5 star second half. love its use of narrative perspective, love poppy, took a bit to warm up to august but once i reached that halfway point i was just as invested in her story as any other.

even managed to make white man greenleaf likable considering what he did.

winch was on fire in the final stages of the book, it's like you could see everything crumbling, like you could feel her rage on the paper. brilliant novel. deserves a re-read, maybe i'll like the first half more on 2nd read. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Pedophilia, Child abuse, and Racism

Moderate: Colonisation, Kidnapping, and Child death

Minor: Cancer and Alcoholism

madelonpaige's review against another edition

emotional informative reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death and Racism

Moderate: Police brutality and Sexual assault

belindapancake's review against another edition

challenging emotional reflective sad slow-paced

• Strong character development? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Child abuse, Child death, Colonisation, Drug abuse, Forced institutionalization, Genocide, Grief, Hate crime, Incest, Eating disorder, Murder, Pedophilia, Police brutality, Racism, and Slavery

bobbijopmh's review against another edition

challenging emotional medium-paced

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

4.5

A moving story of finding home, connection and country. 

It's a really captivating plot and is written across multiple perspectives and timelines. At first, I found this a little jarring, switching between modern-day August & the 1900s; but the perspective switching really adds to the pacing of the story and sort of helps to gradually feed the reader the right emotions and information at the right points in the main narrative.

This book deals with some painful themes, but Tara June Winch's writing is beautiful and emotive. I'd definitely classify this as an #OwnVoices read, and I really loved the inclusion of Wiradjuri language as central to the book. I also really enjoyed the connection to the land and the environment that was so central to the plot. 

The only, singular reason this was not a five-star book for me was the way it ends. I would have liked it to go on just a little longer, but I loved it regardless.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Child abuse, Death, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Eating disorder, Forced institutionalization, Genocide, Grief, Murder, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Slavery, and Violence

avadore's review against another edition

emotional hopeful informative reflective medium-paced

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

5.0

I struggled a bit with the pacing to begin with, it is admittedly a slow start, but please stick with it until the funeral where August really starts to wake up to what is happening not just with herself but with her family. You just have to make it through the weight of August's malaise to get there. I raced through the other sections of the book to get to Albert Gondiwindi's part-dictionary part-memoir sections, which were sad and delightful and beautiful all the way through. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness, Eating disorder, and Child abuse

Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Child death, Genocide, Murder, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, and Violence

This book does not shy away from the experiences faced by Aboriginal people on missions in Australia during the late 19th and through the 20th century, including rape of women, violence, forced work, and the removal of children. The author is not overly graphic in her descriptions but she does not shy away from the realities faced by Aboriginal people who lived through the start, establishment, and continuation of the colony.

egg_cup's review against another edition

challenging emotional reflective 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

4.5

A tale of grief, trauma, and the healing power of family and connection to culture - the range of this book and it's ability to capture the way the past trickles down into the present results in a heartwrenching narrative. The characters feel candid and authentic, and the masterful way Tara weaves together three separate stories from three different time periods creates a rich tale of history and healing. This is a story that is sure to stay with anyone who reads it long after the last page has been turned.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Grief, and Death

Moderate: Child abuse, Racism, and Pedophilia

Minor: Genocide, Violence, and Slavery

abbie_'s review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad medium-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

I know shockingly little about Indigenous Australians, and while this is fiction you can of course learn a lot from fiction. It also provides a good jumping-off point for learning more, and Winch provides a reading list in the author’s note which I was frantically scribbling down!

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The Yield is split into three narrative strands, one of which is the Wiradjuri dictionary compiled by Albert ‘Poppy’ Gondiwindi, the grandfather of another main narrator, August. It was such a unique and clever way of telling a story, and being able to hear the Wiradjuri words out loud was wonderful. I also read that Winch is donating some of the profits of this book to Indigenous language classes in Australia. Sadly Australia’s Indigenous languages are among some of the most at risk in the world of disappearing.

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Honestly this book takes on so much, from colonialism and intent versus impact to big corps stealing land for profit and child abuse. Winch handles it all deftly and sensitively.

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Like with The Mountains Sing, another brilliant audiobook, I really want to reread this one in print too. I feel like there’s so much more to uncover and unpack on a second reading in a different format.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Addiction, Child abuse, Child death, Eating disorder, Pedophilia, Racial slurs, Racism, and Violence