Reviews tagging 'Death of parent'

Night of the Living Rez by Morgan Talty

6 reviews

lizzie24601's review

medium-paced

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

2.0

Some of the stories about David as a child are good (especially the two about Paige's pregnancies), but overall nothing very exciting.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Alcohol, Drug use, Addiction, Drug abuse, Sexual violence, Alcoholism, Dementia, and Sexual assault

Moderate: Miscarriage, Violence, and Grief

Minor: Car accident, Death of parent, Blood, Racial slurs, Excrement, and Injury/Injury detail

lilias's review

dark emotional reflective sad medium-paced

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

4.25

I started reading 𝘕𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘓𝘪𝘷𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘙𝘦𝘻 purposefully. It was the night they caught the mass shooter whose name I’m omitting, and I wanted to read a book that was quintessentially Maine. Author Morgan Talty is a Penobscot writer. He teaches at UMaine Orono, which is where my husband went to school.
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I am also reading haunting or horror books this month and thought this was a horror book because of the title. It’s not! I mean, yes it deals with the horrors of marginalization, poverty, and addiction, but it wouldn’t be found in the horror section.
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I found myself smiling at moments and cringing at others. Talty’s characters are very human, sometimes unbearably so. Family, friendship, and love are themes that move them along with and against each other. This book broke my heart and at the same time satisfied my urge to want to read something beautifully Maine.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Addiction, Drug abuse, and Child death

Moderate: Sexual violence, Cursing, Violence, Toxic friendship, Suicidal thoughts, Vomit, Pregnancy, Dementia, Death of parent, Alcoholism, Sexual assault, Death, and Alcohol

heatherjchin's review

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Drug abuse, Alcoholism, Drug use, and Dementia

Moderate: Racism, Child death, Toxic friendship, and Mental illness

Minor: Miscarriage, Emotional abuse, Vomit, Toxic relationship, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Pregnancy, Panic attacks/disorders, Confinement, Blood, Suicide attempt, Suicidal thoughts, Stalking, Physical abuse, Bullying, and Death of parent

emmas_bookshelf's review

challenging dark emotional sad medium-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

5.0

This is an incredibly poignant debut. The way time jumps allow us to understand how Dee was shaped by his upbringing on the Rez, and how we are able to look at little David knowing how pieces of his life turn out, was extremely effective narrative tool. The whole cast of characters was incredibly well developed and I felt like I could so clearly picture the scenery and settings. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug use, Addiction, Alcohol, Death of parent, Sexual assault, Child death, Drug abuse, Alcoholism, Rape, and Abandonment

alyssasaurus's review against another edition

dark sad tense slow-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Animal death, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Mental illness, Rape, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Car accident, Death, Death of parent, Drug abuse, Drug use, Dementia, Excrement, Pregnancy, Racial slurs, Addiction, Child death, Cursing, Abandonment, Miscarriage, Pedophilia, and Vomit

marywahlmeierbracciano's review

challenging funny sad medium-paced

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

5.0

Morgan Talty’s debut collection is enchanting, with stories that follow the same people and the same places amidst shifts in role and experience along a nonlinear timeline.  On a Penobscot reservation, a young boy gradually grows up, his perspective countered in other stories by that of himself in early adulthood.  Talty’s stories are made of connection and play, survival and addiction, softness, danger.  They explore that which is inherited, that which is inevitable, that which can be changed, that which cannot.  They are often humorous and often sad, and they are brimming with life.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug abuse and Addiction

Moderate: Racism, Pregnancy, Grief, Dementia, Death, Child death, Car accident, Alcoholism, Violence, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Death of parent, Blood, Alcohol, and Miscarriage

Minor: Animal death, Sexual violence, Pedophilia, and Vomit