Reviews tagging 'Child death'

Burn Our Bodies Down by Rory Power

31 reviews

percervall's review against another edition

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

4.0


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fanboyriot's review

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dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

Read For:
Small Town
Creepy Vibes
Family Secrets
Mommy Issues
Supernatural Elements

Margot grew up with her mom reminding her it was them against the world; they didn’t need anyone else.  Growing up in an emotionally unstable and abusive household she looks for other family only to find her grandmother's number.  Looking for answers and a link to the comforting family she craved she sneaks away to visit a grandmother she had never met.  The small town isn’t what she expected and the answers she gets are far from comforting.  Maybe it would have been better if she never went to begin with.

This book still has me questioning what I just read.  I have so many questions about the last few chapters.  I read this in a buddy read and we both seemed to have the same questions only to get to the end and never learn the answers to them.

I really did enjoy this book though.  The writing style of the majority of this book was so good, that it was intriguing and entertaining.  The author did such an amazing job with the setting of this book, bringing in the creepy vibes of a small town and unknown family secrets that left me wanting to read the next chapter.  However, it kinda lost me with most of the supernatural elements, I think the idea could have been better if it wasn't such an open-ended/rushed ending.  I’ve noticed this with this author's work before so maybe it's just her writing style or something.


Rating: ★ ★ ★ ★ (4/5)
Release Date: 07, July 2020
POV: First Person
Spice: n/a
Rep: Lesbian (MC)

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eeriekeri's review

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dark emotional sad tense slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

Horrifying, claustrophobic.

The supernatural, the gore. It's nothing compared to the choking feeling that suffuses every conversation between mother and daughter.

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cthulhussy's review

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dark mysterious sad tense slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5


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allisonsmith120's review

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dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes

4.5


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grrrlbrarian's review against another edition

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dark mysterious tense slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.0

I almost hit DNF about halfway through and kind of wish I had. Margot as a narrator is so melodramatic about everything, it made it difficult to care about anything in the story. The audiobook narrator was also giving it 100% on the emotional scale at all times, which again just felt like too much. I enjoyed the premise and the building tension through the story, as well as the lush and sometimes disturbing descriptions. The ending just felt like it belonged to a different story, there were too many loose ends and questions still remaining for me.

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astralbooks's review against another edition

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

4.0


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studiouspoppy's review against another edition

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

3.5

this book was really entertaining, if a little slow in the beginning and so chaotic at the end.
The plot was confusing and although I liked it, I think it could have been better developed. I didn’t love it.
The best part of this book is not the plot, though, is the subtext about abuse, which is really interesting and I think amazingly done, specially for a YA book. This book deals with ptsd, gaslighting, intergenerational trauma in such a good way, I though that was really hard to read but also it was really well developed. 
I specially loved how the author went about growing with someone who’s emotionally abusive and intergeneration trauma and pain. For such a confusing book, I think this topics where really well written and I loved the ending, and how Margot chooses to ve different, to leave, to not forgive her mother. I loved how her mother’s pain didn’t excuse her behavior, and neither did the fact that she tried. I think this book did amazingly in showing the abuse and the ptsd coming from it, and also showing the healing path as imperfect and how Margot still has impulses to forgive and get the bare minimum because she doesn’t know anything else.

Also, let’s talk about white trash and farming, and weird families and inbreeding? this book really delivered when it comes to that, so reading it was great for my dark-humored mind.

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sincerelykore's review

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

5.0

This book was the most mind-boggling, bizarre book I've ever read, but in the best way possible? I was so confused but invested the entire time. I just wanted to know what the hell was going on with Margot and the Neilson's! I legitemately could not stop thinking about this book while I was reading it.

To be honest, I was hoping that things would come together a little more smoothly. I didn't love how
the supernatural element was just thrown in at the end like that. It still doesn't make sense to me how ridicine caused people to randomly sprout from the ground. However, I do LOVE how the plotline of Jo vs. Katherine was resolved. It was how I thought it was, but it was so satisfying to see what really happened. I was also so glad that I predicted the connection between Tess and Jo's pregnancy.
 

Overall a very good book, and I will definitely be recommending it to people! Margot's relationship with Vera and Josephine was interesting, but her arguments and thoughts about Josephine definitely struck home. 

TLDR; 5 stars, I was so invested. 

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mapscitiesandsongs's review

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adventurous challenging dark mysterious tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.5

 “But you’re stronger than me, Margot. You are. You bore what I never could.” And the thing is, I know she means it like praise. Like pride. But it isn’t to me. Because yes, I bore this. I fixed it, but there’s a voice in my head, one I’ve never really heard before, and it says, I shouldn’t have had to.”

Wow, what a book. I have a hard time collecting my thoughts and actually reviewing this book. On one hand I enjoyed my reading experience. The atmosphere was just great and the story was intriguing. The portrayal of emotional abuse and gaslighting was just spectacular. That was the strongest part of the book. It was really hard to keep reading and I had to put the book down a few times. On the other hand, there were a few things that weren't that good. The characters were just mediocre. I really didn't care about any of them. So when
Tess and her family get killed.
I just felt nothing. Tess and Eli were just there but didn't really play a role in the end. It also quite bothered me how Rory Power actually alludes to things that don't ever matter. Like Margot's sexuality and the relationship that could have happened. It's like the author wanted to go down that route but in the end just didn't care and all that's left is a loose thread. Same with the relationship between Eli and Tess. What was the point? It I also thought that
Tess was actually alive when Officer Connors talkd about there being three bodies.
Another thing that felt quite strange was the pacing. The beginning and the end were quite fast-paced but the story just slowed down in the middle. 

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