Reviews tagging 'Suicidal thoughts'

The Reckless Kind by Carly Heath

14 reviews

stormeno's review against another edition

adventurous 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Alcoholism, Grief, Suicidal thoughts, Homophobia, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Injury/Injury detail, Religious bigotry, Ableism, Abandonment, Acephobia/Arophobia, Bullying, Classism, and Death of parent

Minor: Animal cruelty

xangemthelibrarian's review against another edition

challenging emotional hopeful medium-paced

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

5.0

"Some do what's right, some do what they're told. I've been doing what I'm told for far too long." - Jørgen

This book is one I've been wanting to read since it was published, and I kept putting it off in favor of other things. It interested me because the blurb hints at a potential poly relationship, and that is so rarely seen in YA literature. This is even better than that. 

This is a story of an entire generation reckoning with the harmful ideology of their hometown. Gunner and Erlend are gay. Asta is Ace. And the beautiful thing about this story is how they become family. The journey each of these three teens take to understand themselves and take charge of their own happiness is so touching. Then they find out it's NOT just the three of them against the world. They find almost as many allies as they do enemies in this town. 

I loved the piety vs. sin theme that colored the backdrop of this historical fiction. Christianity destroyed so much in Europe by creating a system where any Outsider was going to hell. This town condemned an entire family because they did not follow the church. 

Very slight spoilers ahead:

And the most perfect thing of all that this story does not end wrapped up nearly in a bow. Many of the characters here are disabled or end up with injuries that impact their daily routines. They don't magically heal. Other characters struggle with mental health issues. Those don't magically cure either. The religion doesn't automatically leave the town because a few teens decided they weren't going to submit to it.

It ended realistically, and it was perfect.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Homophobia, Misogyny, Religious bigotry, Death of parent, Grief, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Classism, Medical trauma, and Mental illness

Moderate: Panic attacks/disorders and Sexual content

Minor: Animal cruelty and Transphobia

kirstenf's review

adventurous challenging emotional hopeful inspiring 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Ableism, and Homophobia

Moderate: Violence, Blood, Physical abuse, Grief, Ableism, Sexism, Medical trauma, Sexual harassment, Death of parent, Injury/Injury detail, Sexual content, and Suicidal thoughts

Minor: Transphobia and Vomit

tiredreader51's review

adventurous dark funny 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? It's complicated

4.75

This was an amazing book! I was looking up books with ace rep and qpr rep and this book just kept coming up for so many things! I finally read it this week after having it on my list for like eight months, my only regret is that I hadn't read it sooner(:

 I would recommend to everyone but especially aro/ace, queer, deaf, or anxious people. 

I wish they had gone into Erlend's anxiety more but I still felt seen by Fuglestad. Happy reading!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Sexism, Suicidal thoughts, Alcoholism, Alcohol, and Blood

Moderate: Bullying and Acephobia/Arophobia

Minor: Sexual content

carolined314's review

emotional inspiring sad medium-paced

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

4.0

A story of queer, found family in 1904, with lots of learning to love one's self despite all kinds of flaws and faults.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Homophobia and Violence

Moderate: Panic attacks/disorders, Animal cruelty, Death of parent, Car accident, Xenophobia, Sexism, Medical trauma, Religious bigotry, Mental illness, and Grief

Minor: Suicidal thoughts

quinnyquinnquinn's review

adventurous emotional inspiring 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: Homophobia, Ableism, and Suicidal thoughts

Moderate: Alcoholism, Religious bigotry, Mental illness, Injury/Injury detail, Grief, Animal death, and Death of parent

Minor: Body shaming, Emotional abuse, Religious bigotry, and Child abuse

jgberokoff's review

adventurous emotional lighthearted fast-paced

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

3.5

First off the good: the relationships between the main characters were so sweet and I love them all; love the premise and environment, the queer and disabled rep was great

The bad: pacing was off at times; not a whole lot of fluff, majority of the book the relationships were angsty, I would’ve loved to see more happy sweet moments between characters

This book is not racially diverse despite being marketed as a general diverse book which is important to note.

As someone who is asexual, I wish there was more discussion about Asta’s asexuality. I get that it takes place in 1904 but she never seems to accept that she is asexual or aromantic? She says throughout that she is hopeless or not romantic. There also isn’t a place that really confirms they’re in a queer platonic relationship which was a major selling point for me.

Gunnar tried to convince Asta to marry Fred and at the end the boys live separately.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Suicidal thoughts, and Homophobia

Moderate: Injury/Injury detail

stelepami's review against another edition

It had some weird phrasing in places, it almost sounded like it had been poorly translated into English. Maybe the author was trying to sound like it was 1904 Norwegian? It bugged me a bit, but the story was worth it.

Gay, ace, and disabled representation!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicidal thoughts, Homophobia, and Ableism

Moderate: Addiction, Death of parent, and Animal death

ladygetslit's review

adventurous emotional inspiring slow-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicidal thoughts, Chronic illness, Homophobia, Injury/Injury detail, Ableism, and Bullying

Moderate: Alcoholism, Religious bigotry, and Sexual content

celestriakle's review

sad medium-paced

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

0.5

This book gets half a star for having good bones. I was so excited for this book: a queerplatonic throuple racing horses in a historical setting is a concept rich with material and interesting avenues to explore, and unfortunately, this book explores none of them. The author--an American--claims to have done much research, but it's anachronistic in jarring ways and does next to nothing with the setting. This book could have taken place anywhere in nearly any other pre-1950s decade and remained unchanged. (Worse, Norway was having a major historical event in 1904 that should have impacted these characters, but doesn't.) Characters are punished for having period-accurate morals. The main throuple rarely seems to even like each other, and all characters outside it are neglected, never receiving care or development.

In spite of promises that these are disabled characters who are more than their disability, characters are never allowed to grow beyond their disability and the book plays into terrible ableist tropes. In the most egregious case,

one of the major characters acquires paralysis of the legs in the first third, and he spends the entire book afterward begging for death, believing himself a burden, and pushing away everyone who loves him. The pinnacle of his "acceptance" culminates in a near torturous scene where he summons superhuman strength out of nowhere and literally drags himself through a freezing, rushing river in winter to rescue someone while the entire cast watches. He never comes to accept help from others.

 

Finally, it is CRUCIAL to know that this author runs a farm animal sanctuary. This attitude towards animals colors the entire novel, leading to all sorts of peculiar choices. Every single major characters ends up a vegetarian by the end of the novel. One otherwise-sympathetic character is villainized as soon as he reveals he eats rabbit for dinner. (And there is no mention at all of these characters' attitudes toward fish, which likely would have been a major part of these characters' diets.)

Asta becomes obsessed with a piglet she held for two minutes and the second half of the book centers on her pursuit of this piglet.

In the end, you're left with the very uncomfortable impression that these characters care more for animals than each other or anyone else, as interpersonal relationships and physical health are neglected and abandoned for the sake of the assorted animals in the book. By the end, it feels very much more like an aesop about how cruel humans are to animals than anything else.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Toxic friendship, Misogyny, Vomit, Mental illness, Alcoholism, Sexism, Religious bigotry, Homophobia, Chronic illness, Blood, Abandonment, Suicidal thoughts, Medical trauma, Medical content, Injury/Injury detail, Alcohol, Toxic relationship, Sexual harassment, and Outing

Moderate: Panic attacks/disorders, Gore, Bullying, Death of parent, and Body shaming

Minor: Sexual content and Xenophobia