Reviews with content warning for Death of parent - We Deserve Monuments

Reviews tagging 'Death of parent'

We Deserve Monuments by Jas Hammonds

60 reviews

delz's review against another edition

dark emotional funny hopeful 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

We Deserve Monuments is a really intense story. Avery is a pansexual, mixed race, senior in high school, but instead of finishing school at home in DC she’s being dragged to small town Bardell, Georgia. Her mom, Zora is going to take care of her dying mom, Momma Letty. They’ve not seen one another since Avery was 5 years old and the only thing Avery remembers from that visit was a screaming fight between the two women. Momma Letty’s neighbor was a close friend of Zora’s and she has a daughter, Simone. Simone and Avery are the same age. At first they’re tentative especially since Simone has Jade Oliver, her best friend. As Avery tries desperately to know her grandparents and discover what happened to her murdered grandpa Ray she realizes there are layers to the her family’s secrets that involve Bardell’s own dark secrets. The town’s ingrained racism and the unsolved murders of Jade Oliver’s mother and her own grandpa Ray. The story delves into all the messy relationship issues, good and bad. This is a beautifully written story, at times very relatable, always engaging.

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shadesofdivine's review against another edition

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dark emotional hopeful inspiring lighthearted mysterious reflective relaxing sad tense 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

5.0

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jillgoober's review against another edition

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challenging emotional 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? It's complicated

4.5

This is a fantastic black, queer, young adult story about intergenerational trauma. Our main character, Avery, is forced to temporarily move from her Washington, D.C. home to her mother's old home in Georgia because her grandmother has terminal cancer. She barely knows her grandma, Mama Lettie, because of the strained relationship between her and Avery's mother. During her time there, Avery gets to know her grandmother better as she gets to know herself better too.

I really enjoyed this from beginning to end except for one little tidbit that kept me from giving it five stars. I won't be specific because it's a big spoiler but the twist at the end just didn't do it for me. I felt like it was unnecessary and it personally didn't make sense why the character would do something like that.

Despite the strange plot twist, this is still an incredible novel overall. Please be cautious in reading this if the topics of terminal cancer and family death are difficult for you.

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ooohgoshtara's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious reflective sad tense slow-paced

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

5.0

This novel is layered and has a lot of depth. Beware it's an emotional story. A slow burn that follows main character Avery. Avery is a queer, biracial teen. There are secrets, drama, and a decades old mystery. Avery's family uproots their life moving them from D.C. to a small southern town to stay with their dying grandmother. The relationship between Letty, Avery's grandmother and her mother Zora has been strained for years. Because of their turbulent relationship Avery and her grandmother have never gotten the chance to get to know each other. Their strained relationship made me sad. Avery does what they can to get to know Letty even though neither Letty nor her mother make this easy. Avery is discovering who they are navigating friendships, love, family, and multi-generational trauma. The characters are so well developed. I enjoyed navigating this story with them from the family dynamics to the friendships. This YA novel touches on racism, anti-blackness, police violence, homophobia, grief, terminal illness, and death. I found Avery's family struggles to be very relatable. Deep rooted resentment from past hurts, secrets, and repeating the trauma cycle generation to generation.
"All night I thought how mom uprooted our entire lives to move down here. And now all she did was swat away my questions in a half baked attempt to pretend like everything was okay. Mom had always raised me to mature and inquisitive. But when it came to our own family all of that was out the window and replaced with her don't worry about it life is short the universe is big and our problems are not bullshit."
I thought this novel was well done from beginning to end and was floored by the many revelations at the end. Loved the title and how it ties into the overall story.

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katieritoch's review against another edition

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challenging emotional reflective fast-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

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aflaine's review against another edition

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emotional 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

4.5

I fell in love with each character and the complexity they carried. The theme of loneliness, and how that rooted in each person in unique ways, was present. The teenage queer romance was adorable, and it made me nostalgic for an adolescence I never experienced. I was so proud of each character by the end of the narrative.

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