Reviews tagging 'Death'

The Grief Keeper by Alexandra Villasante

30 reviews

lizzyc_16's review against another edition

challenging emotional hopeful informative reflective 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

this book was so fricking good. i'll write an organized review later...

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Homophobia, Toxic relationship, Suicide attempt, Suicidal thoughts, Self harm, Violence, Gun violence, Cursing, Death, and Grief

Moderate: Religious bigotry

Minor: Sexual assault

george_d_keaton's review against another edition

emotional hopeful 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

4.25

The Grief Keeper is romantic speculative YA LGBTQ fiction. Yeah, that's a mouthful. The book follows Marisol who, along with her sister, will do anything to stay in America. This includes being part of a government experiment involving PTSD. Over the course of the story, Marisol falls in love with the other member of the experiment, and not only has to deal with the grief of another, but the truth of her own past.

It was a difficult read for me. I suffer from PTSD from my time in the Marines, and the novel paints some realistic pictures of fictional tragedies. The book also describes the unending waves of crushing emotions one feels when going through intense heartache. Therapy and time are the traditional healers, but the government experiment on immigrants was both hopeful and toxic. Marisol is 17 and doesn't fully know what she is signing her life away for, which is similar to too many Marines I knew, but it does promise a better life for the subject of the experiment.

Over the course of the story, Marisol takes part of the experiment, but falls in love with the other participant, Rey. She also comes to terms with her past life in El Salvador. While the ending falls a little flat, it does provide hope for a better future for Marisol and her sister here in America. At times sweet and other times gut-wrenching, The Grief Keeper is a unique story of a young immigrant not only coming-of-age but triumphing over her past.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death, Mental illness, Suicide attempt, Grief, and Self harm

ziareads's review against another edition

adventurous hopeful sad tense fast-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Homophobia, Death, Mental illness, and Suicidal thoughts

Moderate: Pedophilia and Alcoholism

Minor: Suicide attempt

kathsaph's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective 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? No

4.75

"The Grief Keeper" is the story of Marisol, a seventeen-year-old girl, who flees El Salvador with her little sister under threat of death. Once in America Marisol is offered the chance to win asylum by participating in an experiment; taking another person's grief. What she does not expect is falling in love with the girl she is saving. 

This novel was personally difficult to read, but completely relevant and impactful. So many details were packed into 300 pages, all contributing to amazing character development and storytelling. The book is in the first person and often includes Spanish, I ended up looking up the words as I went along, and I recommend doing the same, it added another layer of depth. My response to "The Grief Keeper" was visceral, and although not all of the technology in the book exists, the societal views that would allow the experiment to happen do, making the book terrifying. Please check triggers before reading. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Classism, Gun violence, Homophobia, Medical content, Grief, Misogyny, Murder, Outing, Self harm, Sexual harassment, Mental illness, Racism, Suicidal thoughts, Death, Medical trauma, Suicide attempt, Xenophobia, Adult/minor relationship, Fire/Fire injury, Forced institutionalization, Lesbophobia, Torture, Violence, and Sexism

Minor: Blood, Addiction, Alcohol, Alcoholism, and Body shaming

spcandybars's review against another edition

challenging emotional inspiring reflective 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? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism and Lesbophobia

Moderate: Murder

Minor: Death, Panic attacks/disorders, Xenophobia, and Mental illness

lowsmee's review against another edition

dark emotional sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes

3.0

The highlight of this book is the relationship between Marisol and Gabi. The ending was a huge miss for me.

The sisterly love could not balance out the coercion, torture, emotional manipulation that came after it. I loved so much about the book but I couldn’t get past these 4 things.

1. I’m disgusted by the fact that Marisol gets taken in by the same people who were willing to sacrafice her to preserve their own family.

2. Her relationship with Rey has it’s moments but they are overshadowed by Rey’s willfull ignorance around how the cuffs work. I don’t buy that she just didn’t notice how Marisol was getting worse at the same rate that she was getting better.

3. I don’t think the author fully addresses why transferring grief and trauma from one person to another is a bad idea. There was an opportunity to highlight the importance of our interpersonal relationships in processing grief but she only hints at it.

4. Indranie uses her identity as a justification for kidnapping and abuse and it works.

The non YA sequel should be focused on Marisol processing the fact that she survived her own very special version of Get Out, and allow her to be angry at the people who decided she wasn’t anything more than a receptical for their fragile, white daughter’s grief.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Suicidal thoughts, and Xenophobia

Moderate: Child abuse and Homophobia

Minor: Child death, Death, and Grief

courtneyfalling's review against another edition

dark emotional sad slow-paced

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

4.0

This made me cry multiple times. I'd call it primarily a sad, contemporary novel with speculative fiction elements to deepen the emotional side. All of the main characters feel drawn-out and almost blurry around their edges... it's a lot more about how things feel than who they are. Marisol especially is a complicated mix of fiercely stubborn and mostly passive or internal, which makes the book's pacing sometimes feel heavy. The beginning weighs down a lot, and then we finally get the bulk of important backstory and growth in the final chapters. I can't say I was ever enamored with Rey as a character or the budding relationship between her and Marisol, but they do have some lighthearted moments and I liked the deeper arc of Marisol letting go of her internalized lesbophobia. And the criticism of the US immigration system is very well-done

although I still feel like Indranie deserves a lot more comeuppance than she gets

. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Grief, Gun violence, Hate crime, Lesbophobia, Mental illness, Murder, Racism, Suicide attempt, and Xenophobia

Moderate: Medical content, Medical trauma, Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, and Sexual assault

Minor: Alcohol

Additional CW for bomb attack/mass violence

steviaplath's review against another edition

challenging emotional hopeful inspiring lighthearted sad tense 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Sexual violence, Racism, Panic attacks/disorders, Outing, Medical trauma, Medical content, Lesbophobia, Injury/Injury detail, Homophobia, Hate crime, Grief, Forced institutionalization, Death, Cursing, and Child abuse

lilcoppertop's review against another edition

dark emotional funny hopeful 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? No

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse and Grief

Moderate: Blood, Child death, Death, Gun violence, Hate crime, Homophobia, Mental illness, Misogyny, Murder, Suicide attempt, Trafficking, and Xenophobia

oliverreeds's review against another edition

emotional funny hopeful medium-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

i really enjoyed this book because the characters were very well-written; however, the plot seemed like a loose association to give the characters room instead of a fleshed out plot. the idea of being a "grief keeper" seemed important at the beginning but slowly lost it's importance. i thought that the story would be based around the main character taking more than one person's grief over the book, but she stayed with only one person which, to me, made the book feel incomplete. the addition of the flashbacks as well seemed inorganic. i don't know what they added to the main character, and i wanted to know more about gabi as well and how the past was affecting her. the climax of the book was also so close to the end and didn't leave time for proper emotional coping with the reality of the situation. however, i loved the characters so much! i feel like they operated like real people (even though i wish marisole had been more vocal to rey about things she was upset about) and i enjoyed the romance element that was added in. oh, and i also wish the side characters had been in more scenes. they were only in one, which i felt didn't make them important to the novel as a whole especially because they were such interesting characters.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Death, Grief, Lesbophobia, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Murder, Racism, Suicide attempt, and Suicidal thoughts

Moderate: Pedophilia, Outing, Panic attacks/disorders, and Toxic friendship