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wolfiegrrrl's review
reflective
sad
medium-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
2.0
Bridge to Terabithia is a story about two kids bullying everyone they don't like, choosing fat people as their prime target. For the majority of the book, I kept hoping that this was going to be part of their character development, but the resolution is weak. Instead of learning to actually care about other people's feelings, they only give characters who are suffering other hardships a pass while continuing to body shame the characters they haven't deemed worthy of their kindness. Sympathy for people suffering is of course a good message, but "fat people don't deserve sympathy unless they're suffering" is just not right.
The grandest statement the author makes is that boys can like drawing and girls can wear pants. That's weak feminism even for the time because she still actively cuts down fat women and girls at every opportunity. It's excessive and unnecessary. Furthermore, she sends a bad message to victims of child abuse. This book's advice to kids suffering from an abusive home life is to "not mix personal life with school life" because "everyone will laugh at you and think you betrayed your parents" and "if your parents beat you up, get over it! it's not a big deal! it happens to everyone!"
This book had promise to it. There's a story in there about Jess learning to be more confident and processing his fears, then losing his friend and having to process that grief. Maybe there's even a story in there about learning to understand other people as well as yourself, but it's so fumbled by the attitudes of the author and the time period it was written in. As it stands, the ending is the most well-written part of this book.
The grandest statement the author makes is that boys can like drawing and girls can wear pants. That's weak feminism even for the time because she still actively cuts down fat women and girls at every opportunity. It's excessive and unnecessary. Furthermore, she sends a bad message to victims of child abuse. This book's advice to kids suffering from an abusive home life is to "not mix personal life with school life" because "everyone will laugh at you and think you betrayed your parents" and "if your parents beat you up, get over it! it's not a big deal! it happens to everyone!"
This book had promise to it. There's a story in there about Jess learning to be more confident and processing his fears, then losing his friend and having to process that grief. Maybe there's even a story in there about learning to understand other people as well as yourself, but it's so fumbled by the attitudes of the author and the time period it was written in. As it stands, the ending is the most well-written part of this book.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Grief, Bullying, Fatphobia, Body shaming, Sexism, Misogyny, and Religious bigotry
Moderate: Violence and Panic attacks/disorders
Minor: Child death, Death, Cancer, War, Child abuse, Death of parent, and Car accident
nikexistiertnik's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
emotional
sad
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
what can i say, i knew i'd be crying in the end.
all the body-shaming made the book unenjoyable at times, and it's pretty clear from the beginnin that leslie fits perfectly into the manic pixie dream girl trope.
hated the part about god and jesus, how the fck is that beautiful; i wish leslie would've elaborated a bit, because WHAT?
i didn't expect there to be narnia references, but now i am even more excited to finally read it, it's sitting on my shelf, impatiently waiting for me to pick it up.
all the body-shaming made the book unenjoyable at times, and it's pretty clear from the beginnin that leslie fits perfectly into the manic pixie dream girl trope.
hated the part about god and jesus, how the fck is that beautiful; i wish leslie would've elaborated a bit, because WHAT?
i didn't expect there to be narnia references, but now i am even more excited to finally read it, it's sitting on my shelf, impatiently waiting for me to pick it up.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Grief
Moderate: Fatphobia, Bullying, Child abuse, and Child death
meetmeinthebookstore's review
adventurous
emotional
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
4.25
Content Warnings
Graphic: Grief, Child death, and Death
Moderate: Fatphobia
Minor: Child abuse and Car accident
iris_irene's review
challenging
emotional
hopeful
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death, Death, and Grief
Minor: Child abuse and Misogyny
17kmcollins's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
sad
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Child death
Minor: Child abuse
bookishandjoyceful's review
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
sad
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? No
3.0
This was about an unexpected friendship and an escape to a magical world. We meet Jess and Leslie, two young kids who become neighbors and build a friendship through their school interactions and Leslie being an outgoing girl. I do have to admit I had some different expectations to this book going into it. I had never read this before, nor have I seen the movie, but in reading this I expected to be dropped into Terabithia with more magical language and scenery and not just noted about the characters throughout the book. I enjoyed Jess and Leslie’s unlikely friendship and how they themselves broke expectations. I know this is a beloved book, however, it just didn’t live up fully to the magical expectations and misconceptions I had going into it.
Have you ever had a book where the expectation of what you thought the book would be like was not met? I am not even sure where I got this expectation from, I think just hearing about this book in the past set me up thinking we were about to dive headfirst into a magical world and that was a little more on the outskirts of this book. I definitely wanted to love this story more than I did in the end.
Have you ever had a book where the expectation of what you thought the book would be like was not met? I am not even sure where I got this expectation from, I think just hearing about this book in the past set me up thinking we were about to dive headfirst into a magical world and that was a little more on the outskirts of this book. I definitely wanted to love this story more than I did in the end.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Bullying, Death, and Child death
Moderate: Child abuse
lennatheunicorncat's review
emotional
reflective
sad
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A
3.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Physical abuse, Child death, Grief, Fatphobia, and Body shaming
Moderate: Fatphobia and Body shaming
Minor: Homophobia, Child abuse, Child death, Grief, Fatphobia, Bullying, and Body shaming
quasinaut's review
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
reflective
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
I knew nothing about this book going in except that something sad happens towards the end. I loved the writing, the way Katherine Paterson captured Jess's emotions and inner self -- but I wasn't pulled in by the story as much as I had hoped to be.
Perhaps I'd have liked it more had I read it when I was younger, but I can't quite pinpoint what didn't work for me. There are especially some aspects -- the portrayal of Jesse's sisters as frivolous and spoiled; the lack of description of Terabithia as an imaginary escape; the casual mentions of child abuse and homophobia -- that either didn't hold up or made the book feel less than fully realized. Though, I was pleasantly surprised at Jesse's father in the final chapters of the book!
Perhaps I'd have liked it more had I read it when I was younger, but I can't quite pinpoint what didn't work for me. There are especially some aspects -- the portrayal of Jesse's sisters as frivolous and spoiled; the lack of description of Terabithia as an imaginary escape; the casual mentions of child abuse and homophobia -- that either didn't hold up or made the book feel less than fully realized. Though, I was pleasantly surprised at Jesse's father in the final chapters of the book!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Bullying, Child death, and Grief
Moderate: Child abuse and Homophobia
erniedresser's review
adventurous
emotional
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death and Grief
Moderate: Bullying, Fatphobia, Domestic abuse, Child abuse, and Death
booksthatburn's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
funny
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
3.5
BRIDGE TO TERABITHIA is about friendship, loneliness, sexism, bullying, rural isolation, and grief. Jesse is a lonely boy with too many sisters who meets a kid named Leslie, together they make invisible castles in the trees, finding out that even their bullies have bullies and nothing lasts forever.
Reading this as an adult, I'm struck by how Jesse thought that Leslie was making up from scratch stories like Moby Dick and Hamlet, it's just one small moment that exemplifies how good this book is at relaying through Jesse things that he doesn't actually understand but just tells like he sees them, allowing a younger reader to follow his thoughts as a fellow kid, or for an older one to understand the bits he missed. Leslie and Jesse bump into sexism and gendered constraints, often pushing through them and sometimes having to keep their heads down and fit in a bit longer. The kids feel like kids, not always saying or doing the right thing but trying their best. I like the way Jesse's relationship with his younger sister changes throughout the book, especially at the end when he's actively working to be a better brother to her and prompting her to be a better sibling to their even younger sister who's still a toddler.
I probably wouldn't give this particular book to people who are kids now, mainly due to ableist language which is unchallenged in the text, but it meant a lot to me when I first read it. It's the kind of book that haunts long after you put it down.
This book is famous for a shocking event that occurs near the end and transforms the tone of the book. This review contains spoilers from here on out.
-----
BRIDGE TO TERABITHIA is not free of trauma before the death. One could argue that it hints at the possibility by having the kids discuss the idea of death several chapters before it becomes suddenly relevant. Part of the point is that it's sudden. That it's sudden, and unfair, and it rocks Jesse's sense of how the world is, how it ought to be. Jesse's numb grief and conflicted emotions reactions to being unable to see Leslie again, along with his bursts of anger when his younger sister pesters him about it, make it feel very real. I'm glad that we're (hopefully) past the point that this book where the gender non-conforming atheist character dies might be the only queer representation one someone's shelf.
Reading this as an adult, I'm struck by how Jesse thought that Leslie was making up from scratch stories like Moby Dick and Hamlet, it's just one small moment that exemplifies how good this book is at relaying through Jesse things that he doesn't actually understand but just tells like he sees them, allowing a younger reader to follow his thoughts as a fellow kid, or for an older one to understand the bits he missed. Leslie and Jesse bump into sexism and gendered constraints, often pushing through them and sometimes having to keep their heads down and fit in a bit longer. The kids feel like kids, not always saying or doing the right thing but trying their best. I like the way Jesse's relationship with his younger sister changes throughout the book, especially at the end when he's actively working to be a better brother to her and prompting her to be a better sibling to their even younger sister who's still a toddler.
I probably wouldn't give this particular book to people who are kids now, mainly due to ableist language which is unchallenged in the text, but it meant a lot to me when I first read it. It's the kind of book that haunts long after you put it down.
This book is famous for a shocking event that occurs near the end and transforms the tone of the book. This review contains spoilers from here on out.
-----
BRIDGE TO TERABITHIA is not free of trauma before the death. One could argue that it hints at the possibility by having the kids discuss the idea of death several chapters before it becomes suddenly relevant. Part of the point is that it's sudden. That it's sudden, and unfair, and it rocks Jesse's sense of how the world is, how it ought to be. Jesse's numb grief and conflicted emotions reactions to being unable to see Leslie again, along with his bursts of anger when his younger sister pesters him about it, make it feel very real. I'm glad that we're (hopefully) past the point that this book where the gender non-conforming atheist character dies might be the only queer representation one someone's shelf.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Ableism, Bullying, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Fatphobia, Grief, Sexism, and Violence
Minor: Child abuse and Homophobia
CW for ableist language, major character death.