Reviews tagging 'Suicide attempt'

An Unkindness of Ghosts by Rivers Solomon

94 reviews

oworthyfool's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful mysterious 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? It's complicated

5.0

Rivers Solomon weaves a deft tale of oppression, family, and ultimately hope in the face of human evil. A timely story of how society turns on the less fortunate and intentionally marginalized, the focus nonetheless is of Aster struggling to make sense of her mother's death, the day of her own birth. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Body horror, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gun violence, Hate crime, Mental illness, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Vomit, Police brutality, Medical content, Grief, Religious bigotry, Medical trauma, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Sexual harassment, Colonisation, Dysphoria, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Moderate: Excrement, Abortion, Fire/Fire injury, and Abandonment

midwichtriffid's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense 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

3.5

This was a book with an interesting premise, complex characters and a world that feels bleak and hopeless. It deals with an incredible number of very dark topics and you should be very aware of any trigger warnings in this book as it does not pull any of its punches. Its hard to say that I enjoyed this book, or even that I am glad that I read it, but it was a book that needed reading. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Gore, Hate crime, Mental illness, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Blood, Police brutality, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Abortion, Suicide attempt, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Pregnancy, Lesbophobia, Fire/Fire injury, Toxic friendship, Sexual harassment, Colonisation, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

alexashabit's review against another edition

dark emotional sad tense fast-paced

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

4.5

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Misogyny, Racism, Self harm, Sexual assault, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Transphobia, Medical content, Suicide attempt, and Toxic friendship

Moderate: Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Eating disorder, Gore, Gun violence, Homophobia, Physical abuse, Rape, Vomit, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Body shaming, Blood, Abortion, Murder, and Classism

thequeerbibliophile's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional informative inspiring mysterious reflective sad tense fast-paced

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

4.5

there were times where i felt like i was missing information. i had to reread things a couple times to understand things but even then i was a little lost. i really enjoyed it though and i appreciate the slow burn between aster and theo a lot 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Gun violence and Sexual violence

Moderate: Slavery and Vomit

Minor: Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, and Toxic friendship

booksjessreads's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional 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? Yes

5.0

This is my first ever sci-fi read, and I must say that this is an incredible book. I felt so immersed into this story and genuinely, it was phenomenal. The world-building, the dialogue, the complexity of characters, the natural flow of writing. It was just... amazing!

I will admit that it took me about 2-3 chapters to fully get going. I listened to the audiobook and I also felt like whilst I was listening in the first couple of chapters, I did miss key details about the world-building, but just continued listening. I felt like as I went through the story, this didn't matter too much and I thought I had a good grip of the world by the middle of the book. I have bought a physical copy so that next time I read, I read the print copy to annotate those extra details.

Genuinely, the conjunction between structural racism and generational ships in Matilda was my favourite part about the whole thing and thought the crafting of this world was done extremely well. I saw some 'critics reviews' that said the 'many layers of metaphor' and 'worldbuilding by poetry' disappointed readers that wanted hard science fiction, but this is what I loved most. The poetic language only heightened the worldbuilding and reading between the lines made it all the more real for the reader. Although, I understand this is not to everyone's taste. 

I am of the opinion of other reviews where the ending does feel slightly rushed and there were some things that could have been explored in some more depth for me, but I still really enjoyed the story anyway! I felt the pace really picks up about half way through, and that it was a very packed ending in the last few chapters.

I did also feel as though the death of the Sovereign and Lune's death could have been explored more. I felt like in the middle of the story, we were looking towards a mystery of what the fluid-like metal was and how it got there, but we were abruptly given the answer to that and I felt like it could have been dragged out more mysteriously before we came to that conclusion.

It is very rare I want a book to be longer, but I wish it was so that there could be so many more things added. I thought the book was excellent as it was anyway, not just because of the worldbuilding, but the ending, for me, was unexpected. I just wish that themes could have been explored more. I just never really wanted the book to end. 

I would recommend this book 100%! I think it was an amazing experience, especially listening to the audio as it just brought everything to life. Before reading though, please read the trigger warnings, as there are a lot of graphic triggers in this book.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Physical abuse, Racism, Rape, Violence, Medical content, Suicide attempt, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Emotional abuse, Infertility, Mental illness, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Suicide, Fire/Fire injury, and Sexual harassment

terrestrial_river's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional reflective 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? It's complicated

4.5

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racism, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Slavery, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Police brutality, Medical content, Grief, Suicide attempt, Colonisation, and Classism

Moderate: Gun violence, Blood, and Abortion

necromandy's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad 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

best book I have ever read. changed my life in three hours. I will remember this book like no other book I have ever read, that is a promise. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Child death, Death, Homophobia, Mental illness, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Torture, Violence, Xenophobia, Police brutality, Medical content, Grief, Abortion, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Toxic friendship

Moderate: Confinement, Cursing, Gun violence, Infertility, Blood, Pregnancy, Lesbophobia, Fire/Fire injury, Dysphoria, and Classism

orion's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful inspiring reflective sad tense slow-paced

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

4.75

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Bullying, Child death, Death, Emotional abuse, Hate crime, Homophobia, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Racism, Rape, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual assault, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Blood, Police brutality, Suicide attempt, Murder, Lesbophobia, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Moderate: Death, Torture, Transphobia, Medical content, Grief, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Toxic friendship, and Sexual harassment

Minor: Cursing and Death of parent

booksthatburn's review against another edition

I love so much about this book, I just couldn't handle a particular topic that's triggering for me when I was already stressed (mostly in good ways) by the story so far. The worldbuilding is very cool, paying attention to language and tiny cultural differences existing between the decks. The audiobook performance is good. I like Aster as a main character.

I really wish I could handle finishing this, but I just can't.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Medical content, and Medical trauma

Moderate: Ableism, Cancer, Child abuse, Cursing, Death, Homophobia, Infertility, Mental illness, Racism, Slavery, Terminal illness, Blood, Vomit, Police brutality, Abortion, Pregnancy, and Sexual harassment

Minor: Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Transphobia, Dementia, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, and Fire/Fire injury

rmperezpadilla's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional medium-paced

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

5.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Racial slurs, Racism, Self harm, Sexual violence, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Violence, Police brutality, Abortion, Suicide attempt, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Lesbophobia, Sexual harassment, and Classism

Moderate: Rape and Death of parent