Reviews tagging 'Suicidal thoughts'

Himmel und Hölle by Malorie Blackman

7 reviews

eveattwood's review against another edition

dark emotional informative reflective tense medium-paced

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

3.0

Read this as part of a module on teen fiction & I'm really torn in terms of how to rate it. The plot definitely picked up near the end & became more interesting to read, but the beginning was difficult to get into.

Things I enjoyed about this book:

• The concept is the most interesting part about this book, reversing the racism & discrimination black people have experienced, and instead envisioning them as the ones with the most power & influence in society. This means white characters or 'noughts' become the people who are looked down upon, or have historically been discriminated against. I think this would definitely be a good resource for teaching kids/teens about racism & the importance of listening to other peoples' experiences & showing them empathy
• I think the portrayal of how trauma, stress & constant racism affects Callum is done well & how this impacts him/his decisions later in the book

Things I didn't love about this book/could be improved:

• I know this is a YA book so it is targeted for a younger audience, but the writing of this book often felt v childish to the point that it took me out of the story or made me cringe. The povs were so hard to get fully invested in as the characters often came out with such strange phrases
• There's a lot of telling & not showing in this book, particularly in the first 2/3s. We hear a lot from Callum & Sephy about how they feel or things that happened, but not always in the moment. A lot of it feels v summarised 
• The relationship as a whole just fell pretty flat for me. I feel like there wasn't enough build up or flashbacks shown to show how close they were or why they liked each other

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism

Moderate: Suicidal thoughts and Suicide

izzyvioletgrace's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad tense fast-paced

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

4.0

An amazing book facing many difficult topics: racism, societal standards and mental health. I loved it. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Grief, Hate crime, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Rape, Stalking, Violence, Alcoholism, Mass/school shootings, Bullying, Alcohol, Death, Murder, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Emotional abuse, Forced institutionalization, Gaslighting, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Pregnancy, Racism, Genocide, Gun violence, Racial slurs, Torture, Abortion, Blood, and Addiction

karol99's review against another edition

emotional reflective tense medium-paced

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

3.0

Very YA and not in the best way. I didn't really like the writing. I was very frustrated with the characters, but I think that's due to the fact that the miscommunication trope is a pet-peeve of mine. They were very young for most of te book, which reflected in the writing- I am not a teen, and therefore might have read this too late as I am not the correct demographic anymore. Concept and idea of the book is very interesting, and enjoyed the book tackling race issues that are ignored and engraved into society today, and have become deeply systemic. But what took me out of it was the YA Cons vs the pros. I think think the way the book is written is very much a product of it's time.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racial slurs and Racism

Moderate: Rape, Religious bigotry, Sexual violence, Violence, Murder, Bullying, Hate crime, Police brutality, Pregnancy, Sexual content, Slavery, Physical abuse, Suicide, Abortion, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Torture, and Vomit

emmahe's review against another edition

I watched the show and thought it was gorgeous but then I found out half way through the book that

callum dies!?!?!?!?

so i’ll need to emotionally deal with that before diving back in 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Suicidal thoughts and Suicide

Minor: Suicide attempt

bungal0w's review against another edition

emotional informative reflective medium-paced

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

3.75

This book's plot line was so reflective of our society today and really easily makes you stop and think. Are the characters loveable- its complicated because the main characters, Callum and Sephy, are so deeply in love and trapped in their own world that they collectively are the only thing you can focus on which personally didnt want me to love one or the other but leave them without a specific favourite and no bias as i read.  however, the characters had only one personality and the plot was predictable.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Body shaming, Child death, Cultural appropriation, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Hate crime, Gun violence, Kidnapping, Pregnancy, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, and Suicide attempt

Moderate: Abortion

Minor: Abandonment

kqlon's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad tense 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Abortion, Addiction, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Blood, Bullying, Car accident, Death, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Grief, Hate crime, Kidnapping, Mental illness, Murder, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, and Violence

booksjessreads's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative sad fast-paced

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

4.25

I read the audiobook to this and it was super engaging. I really loved the character-development in this novel and I absolutely loved Malorie Blackman's writing style. This novel is so important, drawing parallels to today's society, demonstrating no matter how much progress we think has been made, there is still a long way to go. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Alcoholism, Car accident, Death, Death of parent, Grief, Kidnapping, Physical abuse, Racism, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, and Violence

Moderate: Blood, Pregnancy, and Sexual content

Minor: Abortion