Reviews with content warning for Death of parent - Ceux qu'il nous faut retrouver

Reviews tagging 'Death of parent'

Ceux qu'il nous faut retrouver by Joan He

62 reviews

emily_journals's review against another edition

adventurous reflective sad slow-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? Yes

3.0

I think a lot of the elements and pieces of this book were really well thought out and interesting, but in the end did not end up being executed as well as I initially hoped.

The world building was compelling where it existed, but a lot of the world was left to the reader to fill in the gaps because of the way the author wants to present the plot twist. The world building especially hindered the amount of exploration both the themes and characters could have. This book is also a very character driven book, but for being such a character driven and plot light book, the characters did not get enough development, especially for a lot of the very important side characters. The themes of this book feel very relevant and I enjoyed them, I don't think the rest of the elements, such as the character development and world building, were fleshed out enough to highlight and fully explore all of the themes in this book.

Overall, I think there were a lot of the building blocks and general ideas to make a great book, but the execution and exploration of all the elements together did not do enough to make this book anything exceptional.

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biblioghoul's review against another edition

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challenging mysterious reflective 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? Yes

3.5

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talonsontypewriters's review against another edition

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emotional reflective medium-paced

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

2.0

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augustar14's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective tense fast-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? Yes

3.25

I did find this book quite engaging. It has an air of mystery that has you wondering if what's happening is quite what it seems. The shifting point of view enhances this well. However, there were points I found underdeveloped or under explained which ultimately left me wanting at the end. <Spoiler> I didn't exactly understand the ending, whether it meant the reader was supposed to interpret what happened (and there was supposedly enough there to deduce a conclusion) or if it suggests that endings are ultimately unknown. Either way I felt confused and dissatisfied, wanting more information, to understand and know what did happen. </Spoiler>

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shoni's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious 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

You know think by now I have learned to not go in blind in a book. I knew nothing. It came highly recommended and Joan He's writing is amazing so of course I didn't even question it and picked it up. This did cause me to be a bit confused in the first 100 pages for a bit because the world-building just threw me off and I wasn't sure what the story itself was supposed to be. But that's around the time it started to make sense and I could see where we were, where the story was going.

Shortly after the story started I knew Cee and Kasey were somehow connected and I just couldn't figure it out.

idk if it is a spoiler but I did think they were sisters for like the first few pages until I acutally thought about it.

But the way Joan wrote both parts so seemlessly making it clear they connect somehow.

Like i'm still not over how it was right when Cee lost Hubert, you see Kasey discover Hubert, like it's clear from the beginning that they take place at different times but at the same time you want to believe it and thing its happening at the same time and time just moves differently in Kasey's world than Cee's.

Joan just managed to write about critizisim of the envormental and issues in such a way that can seem ridiculous but at the same time so real. You can see how people are slowly ignoring such important issues because it doesn't matter, it isn't an inconvenience to them at the moment, it will be an issue for the future generation. Which is the whole point of this book, stop making it other peoples problem who will suffer because of you.

I also love how each character you mean did play an important part in the story. No one was insignificant. They all either come back or you see why they showed up int first place.

CAN WE ALSO APPCICIATE THE TWIST! Oh my god those were justs so well done and both foreshadowed but also in such a way that you still were shocked and not ready for it. I also spend the last few chapters of the book just sitting in my sorrow and tears out of shock, sadness, hurt, aweness. Like everything. I think i went through all emotions a human can possible posses plus more at the end. Joan He really knows how to get the readers to feel and question. Her writing is truly something everyone must read. This book might have made me feel all of things but in all good ways.

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kaadee's review against another edition

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adventurous mysterious medium-paced

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

2.0

It wasn’t good. It was bad. The characters weren’t written well whatsoever. Kasey was a caricature of a neurodivergent person while Cee was a stereotypical fun girl. I hated every second of this book. Cee’s POV was must more bearable because it was fun figuring stuff out with her. Kasey’s POV wasn’t fun because it was so monotone and boring. Act was a boring rival because he had no personality. Hero was probably the most interesting because he was just trying to kill one of the main characters the whole time. Aside from the characters, the world building was… interesting. It was super hard to understand in some scenes, and maybe that’s because I’m an idiot (don’t think so though) the world is not described well and I had a hard time imagining it. The authors woke idea of trying to make a story about climate change just failed so hard. The writing wasn’t too bad but I wouldn’t read another book by this author. I did enjoy the slight representation though, I hate when authors push differences on us, so He succeeded in not annoying me in that aspect.

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decklededgess's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
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

4.0

trigger warnings: death, death of parent, grief, gore, gun violence, physical injury and violence, mental illness, murder, anxiety and panic disorder, classism, sexual content, suicide, violence

Based on the premise of this book, I expected two sisters separated by circumstance trying to find out what happened/trying to get back to each other. I did not expect a futuristic commentary of environmental deterioration, social media/s toxic impact on class hierarchy and disengagement from reality, and a deeply incisive look into what it means to trust and to be family.

Ouch.

That's really all I want to say because every point past 30% is a spoiler for some spectacular plot twists. The book leaves you with the perfect amount of explicit information to let you sit and ponder the what ifs of what happens past the last page and in the unsaid moments. Beautifully done.

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