Reviews tagging 'Death of parent'

The Immortalists by Chloe Benjamin

42 reviews

mcclintock1808's review

emotional hopeful inspiring reflective sad medium-paced

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

2.75

The concept of The Immortalists initially drew me to the book in the first place, and while I still enjoy the concept of it, I don't think it was executed the best. The story is in four sections following four siblings, and some fell flat. Simon's was a good story; it follows and deals with both inner and outer problems. It did get a bit too descriptive with his love life for my taste, but nothing against the book. Klara's perspective was the best in my opinion. Her struggles, dreams, hopes, and desires all meshed into one was perfectly told. Daniel's was the worst. He was stoic, and I didn't understand his character arc at all, it seemed so random and just used as a plot device. Although Varya's was better, it wasn't great. It did incorporate important themes, but it did so randomly and more things just seemed thrown in as plot devices. The only other thing that struck me as odd, was how every child came to either resent, disagree or look badly upon their religion. I understand a change in beliefs, but it just seemed odd that religion was displayed so negatively in the entire book. Overall, the book covers important themes and is very interesting to reflect back upon life and death, and how people should be living. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Homophobia, Addiction, Alcohol, Animal cruelty, Misogyny, Death of parent, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexism, Alcoholism, and Death

dixiecarroll's review

dark emotional mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? Yes

4.0

I enjoyed this and found the concept to be incredibly intriguing and captivating. I do think that it fell a little flat in certain areas, but I was still eager to keep going and will recommend to everyone! It’s a sweeping family saga plagued with death - look up triggers before hand because it’s filled with them all. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Death of parent, Mental illness, Animal cruelty, Injury/Injury detail, Suicide attempt, Terminal illness, Antisemitism, Homophobia, Suicidal thoughts, Abortion, Grief, Gun violence, Police brutality, and Suicide

minkkmuse's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious reflective medium-paced

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

2.0

 i was drawn in by this book’s compelling premise, and while i enjoyed the character-driven, polyvocal structure, the story itself falls flat for me. it is steeped in an emotionality that does not feel earned 

(and, in my opinion, cruelly uses the aids epidemic as an emotional twist)

and almost grossly misrepresents certain social issues. the most fascinating themes of the novel (possible futures, fate and circumstance, free will) are elided in favor of banal family dramas. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness, Suicide, Death, and Sexual content

Moderate: Death of parent, Homophobia, and Eating disorder

includes discussion of hiv/aids epidemic

art_books_chemistry's review against another edition

challenging sad tense slow-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness, Death of parent, Death, and Suicide

Moderate: Sexual content, Alcoholism, Homophobia, and Gun violence

Minor: Pregnancy

bebidocrimes's review

emotional reflective sad fast-paced

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

3.5

It's heartbreaking to read a story that really begs the question: what if? What if they never went to the fortune teller? I think their dates were different before they walked through her door, but that information influenced them all, and especially Simon, in how they would lead their lives. I think Simon's choices were a hefty domino effect for the rest of the siblings. How would you live your life if you knew when you would die? 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Gun violence, Death, Pregnancy, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, and Suicide

Moderate: Alcoholism, Death of parent, Medical content, Alcohol, and Pandemic/Epidemic

ashmarie166's review

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Death of parent, Eating disorder, Panic attacks/disorders, Pregnancy, Suicide, Terminal illness, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Death, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Chronic illness, Grief, Homophobia, and Mental illness

erinfitzharris's review

dark emotional 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? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Grief, Alcoholism, Addiction, Mental illness, Sexual content, and Suicide

Moderate: Death of parent

Minor: Abortion

amandaformby's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad medium-paced

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

2.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Sexual content, Death, Medical content, Grief, Drug use, Abortion, Homophobia, Eating disorder, Death of parent, Gun violence, Animal cruelty, Alcoholism, Suicide, and Mental illness

hannahshriver5's review

adventurous 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? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.75

I didn’t love this book but I also didn’t hate it? It had a lot of good possible routes that weren’t explored and I think there were almost too many things happening at once that it took away from the greater story. Somewhat related, I wished that the interfamilial relations would have been hashed out a bit more! 

I did appreciate the range of traits within the characters and their differences. One final critique is that factually/plot-wise there were a few small things that were misconstrued. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Suicide, Death, and Death of parent

Moderate: Chronic illness, Eating disorder, and Homophobia

katiekull's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad medium-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

2.5

I didn’t love this book. I struggled with the character building because it felt like the author didn’t really know these characters or how they would actually live their lives. To me there were too many jumps in the plot to follow 4 separate people and 4 separate lives and have it feel complete. It was a cool story idea though it just wasn’t a book I wanted to keep picking up I just wanted to be done. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death of parent, Death, Gun violence, and Suicide