Reviews tagging 'Death of parent'

Funeral Songs for Dying Girls by Cherie Dimaline

20 reviews

mpbookreviews's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional reflective 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death and Grief

Moderate: Alcohol, Sexual content, Vomit, Drug abuse, Bullying, Animal death, Death of parent, and Homophobia

tea_at_mole_end's review

slow-paced

1.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent

Moderate: Sexual content, Self harm, Drug use, Animal death, Grief, Vomit, and Suicide

saara_ilona_muu's review against another edition

challenging dark fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Loveable characters? No

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Toxic relationship, Racial slurs, Self harm, Child abuse, Death, Grief, Lesbophobia, Bullying, Child death, Pregnancy, Sexual content, and Terminal illness

Moderate: Emotional abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Animal death, and Death of parent

kickitupanotch7's review

dark emotional funny mysterious medium-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death of parent, Panic attacks/disorders, and Grief

Minor: Bullying, Child death, Drug use, Homophobia, Sexual content, Alcohol, and Animal death

chronologically_charlie's review against another edition

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Animal death, and Grief

Moderate: Death of parent, Drug use, Sexual content, and Alcohol

Minor: Self harm, Drug abuse, Racism, Bullying, and Lesbophobia

siobhanward's review against another edition

emotional 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? It's complicated

4.0

 I will truly read anything Cherie Dimaline writes and this book was a great example of why. While it did take a tiny bit of time to get moving, Dimaline created a beautiful narrative that kept me guessing. There was a lot going on in this book, but it never felt like too much or felt as though some plots were not getting the time they deserved. Dimaline has a gift for balancing complex characters and plots without overwhelming a reader.

I loved Winifred and Phil - I could have read about them forever. I wish some of the other characters (Winifred's dad, Penny), had been as well developed, but I also get that it's a YA book with limited space. Definitely a great read and I'm so excited to read more. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death

Moderate: Death of parent and Murder

katischr's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful sad medium-paced

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

4.0

Jesus Christ this was depressing. Good ending though, it really brought everything full circle. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief

Moderate: Death of parent

Minor: Drug use and Alcohol

multiplyoctopi's review against another edition

slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

3.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Bullying, Death of parent, Grief, Mental illness, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Sexual content, Sexual assault, Animal death, Medical content, Lesbophobia, Injury/Injury detail, Drug use, and Drug abuse

displacedcactus's review against another edition

dark emotional sad 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

This book was sad as heck. It's full of loneliness and heartbreak and uncertainty.

I expected it to be a horror novel, because, y'know, haunted cemetery, but it's not really scary at all. That's not to say that there aren't moments of intensity. There's some really heavy stuff in here surrounding the main character's mother's death, and the death of the ghost.

I think this one will appeal to teen readers who love a tragic, moody tale. Do take a look at the content warnings -- there's some stuff in here that could be inappropriate or a bit much for younger teens and tweens.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death of parent, and Death

Moderate: Alcohol, Animal death, Sexual content, and Drug use

Minor: Self harm, Racism, Violence, and Vomit

Although there's no play-by-play on-page sex scenes, there is some very frank discussion of sex, masturbation, and a couple of brief scenes/mentions of teens having sex under the influence of various substances. Animal death spoiler:

The main character's dog dies. He just goes in his sleep, so it's not violent, but still very sad

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library_kb's review

challenging dark emotional 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? It's complicated

4.0

I listened to this one as an advance listening copy from @Libro.fm. This is a really interesting book to me because according to what I usually like in stories, I wouldn't like this at all. It is slower paced, character driven, fairly flowery in language, uses a lot of flashbacks to tell the story, does focus quite a bit on the character exploring their sexual identity. However, I could not stop listening to this book--I always wanted to pick it up and keep going. Part of it was the way that Dimaline used themes and motifs, which were just beautiful, and part of it was the mystery of the setting and characterization. Anyways, I think there is a smaller audience for this one, but I would recommend it highly to upper high schoolers who are ready for some more mature content, like character driven stories and very atmospheric reads. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent

Moderate: Sexual content, Sexual violence, and Death

Minor: Self harm and Drug use