Reviews tagging 'Cultural appropriation'

A Good Girl's Guide to Murder by Holly Jackson

3 reviews

whoever_'s review

adventurous dark emotional funny mysterious relaxing sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

the relationship progression of Ravi and pip is the best thing ever

and also the tension building in the last few chapter make the whole book even better.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Adult/minor relationship, Alcohol, Chronic illness, Drug abuse, Death, Addiction, Animal death, Body shaming, Car accident, Cultural appropriation, Cursing, Emotional abuse, Bullying, Death of parent, and Drug use

abi_ineedtoreadmore's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious sad tense fast-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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Kidnapping, Sexism, Stalking, Suicide attempt, Vomit, Car accident, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Gore, Grief, Rape, Self harm, Cultural appropriation, Dementia, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual harassment, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Bullying, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Violence, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Abortion, Alcohol, Animal death, Blood, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, Racism, Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Body shaming, Child abuse, Child death, Cursing, and Murder

phantasmaboo's review

mysterious fast-paced

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

2.0

I gave this book two stars. This book covers the story of a young woman named Pip who is investigating the death (murder) of a fellow student, Andie Bell, as part of her capstone project for high school. The books presents this story through 3rd person narration as well as through first person journal entries that mark Pip’s progress throughout this capstone. 

Overall, the text is well-written and we’ll-situated within the young adult genre. It was fast-paced and easy to read. 

Still, there were several areas of the text that didn’t sit right with me, which can be summarized as:

Topic/Plot

The general plot of the book is not one that resonated with me, and I’m not sure that it’s one that Jackson handled with care. The idea that a high school senior could or should investigate a recent murder as part of a capstone project is puzzling at best. We already live in a society in which murder victims (and their families) are passed off as entertainment, and this book feeds into that. In fact, there is more emotional weight given to the death of an animal than to the death of Andie Bell. 

The weight of the murder and the humanity of the victim are never examined in depth, nor does the main character have her behavior challenged in any meaningful way. In fact, she is awarded. 

This ends in a crescendo when Pip covers up a hit and run accident because “her friends have suffered enough” and tries to help the murderer escape because “it wasn’t fair”. None of this is checked or examined. It’s a bit ironic that Pip ends by saying “we have to do better” considered she covered up/tries to cover up two serious crimes.

The Protagonist

I did not care for the protagonist very much. Typically, this isn’t a requirement for me, but it was clear that Jackson’s intent was to have readers like Pip. I found her to be very shallow and defined by privilege; a privilege that goes unchecked.

That the author wants us to view Pip positively despite her covering up or attempting to cover up two separate and very serious crimes cemented my opinion on this. Given the writing and the lack of push back on Pip’s character, I find it hard to believe that this was intentional.

Diversity 

The book has some characters of color, but is overall written with a (privileged) white gaze. Minor discussions of race are superficial and barely integrated, despite the fact that the prime suspect in the murder is a man of color. I felt like this was a missed opportunity to provide a young adult text that examined such intricacies. There are also moments of micro-aggressions against minoritized populations that are passed off as humorous.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Suicide, and Suicide attempt

Moderate: Addiction, Terminal illness, Animal death, Drug use, Drug abuse, and Adult/minor relationship

Minor: Car accident, Rape, and Cultural appropriation