Reviews tagging 'Grief'

The Things She's Seen by Ezekiel Kwaymullina, Ambelin Kwaymullina

25 reviews

rockyroadbutch's review

adventurous dark emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious fast-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

Incredible and emotional. Powerful. Using stories and colors, metaphors and realism to tap into core emotional experiences. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death and Child death

Moderate: Rape, Colonisation, Violence, Vomit, Fire/Fire injury, Blood, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Car accident, Forced institutionalization, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Pedophilia, Racism, Sexual assault, and Sexual violence

Most of the story is told in metaphor, so very little is explicit. Fire and death are the most explicit.

tlaynejones's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful sad fast-paced

5.0

This is an excellent YA novel. The story is a mix of mystery, culture, and an examination of grief. The story alternates between the pov of Beth and Catching. Beth is a sixteen year old mixed race Aboriginal girl who has died. Her white father, who is stuck in his grief, can still see her and speak with her, so she is avoiding ‘passing over’ to help him heal. Her father is a murder detective and has been sent to an outback town to investigate a suspicious fire. While he is investigating the fire, and the deaths associated with it, they meet Catching, a teen Aboriginal girl who has been through a horrible ordeal and may be the key to the mystery. Catching tells her story in a way that seems to be interpreted through Aboriginal understandings of the world. 

I really enjoyed this whole book. Beth’s pov and Catching’s pov were so different that it kept my attention, and the way they resolved those differences later was lovely. 

I was familiar with these authors (they are sister and brother) because they have written many picture books for young children. However, I will definitely look for other novel length works. I found the storytelling quite lovely, and so full of heart. 

This book has been released in the US with the title “The Things She’s Seen”. Since “Catching Teller Crow” is the perfect title for this novel I think that was a weird choice. 

Highly recommended.

Very vague CW spoilers below. 

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There are big heavy topics in this novel. The crime they are investigating is Bad. Because much of the crime is described via a story based on Aboriginal legend the bleak horror is relayed through representation, without gory specifics. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death and Grief

Moderate: Murder, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Torture, Car accident, Confinement, Kidnapping, and Police brutality

careinthelibrary's review

dark emotional mysterious fast-paced

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

3.5

I finished The Things She's Seen (known as Catching Teller Crow in some countries) by Ambelin and Ezekiel Kwaymullina today. It's one I've owned for a while and finally got around to it. 

On the surface it's a YA ghost story and mystery, but there is so much bubbling under the surface here. The "enduring strength of Aboriginal women and girls" despite facing disproportionate, horrific violence, the direct and indirect impacts of the Stolen Generations which I want to learn more about, ancient storytelling of Aboriginal peoples. A ghost story, a crime thriller, found sisterhood, father-daughter growing their relationship beyond the barrier of death. 

It's a lot wrapped up in a short, fast novel. This hits the ground running and the pace rarely lets up. Its wide array of genres and themes makes me think it would appeal to a lot of different kinds of readers. I wish it had a more striking cover that captured the themes and tone of the book better. 

Death is only the beginning. And the end is the beginning that hasn't happened yet.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault, Colonisation, Rape, Murder, Grief, Fire/Fire injury, Child death, Child abuse, Kidnapping, Death, Confinement, and Sexual violence

Moderate: Death of parent, Car accident, and Racism

vezreads's review against another edition

emotional inspiring 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? Yes

5.0

An absolutely beautiful book. I cried like a little baby the whole way through. Amazing storytelling

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief

Moderate: Child death

Minor: Child abuse

ellenkyo's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful informative mysterious 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? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death and Grief

Minor: Rape, Murder, and Child abuse

immaavo's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious reflective sad fast-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? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Child death, Death, and Murder

binreads's review against another edition

hopeful mysterious sad fast-paced

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

3.0

Solid read, wasn’t exactly what I was expecting. It could’ve honestly been so much longer so that the story could have had more space to grow.

It took me until Catching’s last few chapters that I realized what had happened, and what her stories truly meant. I was just reading to read, I normally don’t do well with poetry stanza type of writing. I found myself not really processing the words I was reading, kept zoning out and having to go back to re-read. Silly me didn’t think too much into the Catching stories until the very end where I was like….wait is this what I think it is.  

 

I like the delicate way they approached this story. I definitely want to go back and skim what I didn’t pick up on the first time.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Fire/Fire injury, Grief, Murder, Child death, and Racism

Moderate: Car accident, Body horror, and Child abuse

Minor: Kidnapping

gattolinos_nerdy_nook's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional 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

4.5

This story is one that has stayed with me after finishing it. It might not be a long book but it spends every page crafting an impactful story. 

This books mainly focuses on grief and coming to terms with loss. This is done through a few characters that we met through out the book, but the main being Beth Teller's father. The book deals with grief and loss through a case that Beth's father is trying to solve. It is also through this case that the author shows the discrimination against Australian Aboriginals endure. From cold cases of missing young aboriginal girls, how they are taken advantage of, and the racisms that is present through the country.

I thought this is a well crafted book and something that will keep you thinking long after you have finished. I highly recommend this read for the story and the characters that go through very real emotions and reactions to everything.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Sexual violence, and Grief

Moderate: Physical abuse, Racism, and Death

Minor: Death of parent

emily_mh's review against another edition

dark mysterious 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? No

4.5

The mystery storyline of this book was great and kept the plot moving, but I also loved that the mystery wasn’t the point of the book. Its significance lay in its exposure of the brutality of colonisation, and its beautiful and heartbreaking exploration of grief. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Colonisation, Child abuse, Death, Grief, and Sexual violence

Moderate: Confinement, Violence, Car accident, Death of parent, Murder, and Fire/Fire injury

Minor: Racism, Gore, Body horror, Blood, Injury/Injury detail, Vomit, Medical content, Drug use, Abandonment, Physical abuse, Ableism, Bullying, Police brutality, Forced institutionalization, and Self harm

Colourism, the Stolen Generations, police corruption

justmeandmybooks's review

dark emotional mysterious 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? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, and Grief

Moderate: Kidnapping, Murder, and Racism

Minor: Fire/Fire injury, Addiction, Drug use, and Rape