Reviews with content warning for Injury/Injury detail - Death Valley

Reviews tagging 'Injury/Injury detail'

Death Valley by Melissa Broder

25 reviews

cs172's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.75

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graecus_'s review against another edition

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dark funny reflective fast-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

3.5

i very much enjoyed reading this. it was my first melissa broder, and i will definitely be reading more of her books. the book wasn’t as weird as it could be (read reviews saying that it was a weird girl book and i was expecting it to be weirder), but i did enjoy the magical realist and surrealist elements.

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aletajean's review against another edition

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dark emotional reflective tense slow-paced

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

2.25

The first half seemed like there would be something more exciting than what was given. I didn’t enjoy listening to someone complain for hours about how hard it is for her for her loved ones to be in pain.

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localnikita's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional funny fast-paced

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

4.75

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sarah_kula's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional funny mysterious reflective sad fast-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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laviederhi's review against another edition

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funny mysterious reflective slow-paced

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

3.75

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caroisreading's review against another edition

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adventurous funny hopeful inspiring fast-paced

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

4.5

This is my first Melissa Broder book, and now I'm a huge fan. I cracked up so many times during this read, and felt so much affection for this protagonist.

This is a story about staring death in the face, and the in-between space of anticipatory grief and grief grief. A scorching, unforgiving desert is the symbolic backdrop, as made obvious by the title. Our narrator is an author, who feels intimately modeled after Melissa, herself, and she is navigating her father's near-death, post-accident condition, as well as her husband's debilitating and amorphous illness. We join her as she's arriving at a Best Western in the middle of nowhere, carving out a space for her own self-pity, care and emotions, and ideally, some writing inspo. When she takes a desert hike on the recommendation of the hotel staff, it unleashes a wild fever dream, where we are trying to grasp the edges of reality and hope alongside her.

Let me just say, the line, "Listen, Best Western cares, but not this much" made me have to put the book down and howl-laugh.

Definitely read this book if you're exploring your own mortality, the meaning of your life, or experiencing grief, but need to laugh about it.

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