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shay43geek's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A
3.75
Graphic: Death, Gun violence, Violence, Police brutality, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Body horror, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, and Alcohol
careinthelibrary's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
4.0
Graphic: Death, Violence, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Chronic illness, Gore, Gun violence, Blood, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, and Death of parent
Minor: Pregnancy
jhbandcats's review against another edition
- 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
Outside of the violence, it’s a beautiful portrayal of Navajo connections between family and friends, describing the community, history, and culture. We see the insular life on the reservation and the casual discrimination of the cities.
Rita is a sympathetic character, plagued by the ghosts, struggling to find a balance between staying with her beloved grandma on the reservation and the necessary work she does in Albuquerque.
Two very small quibbles: I wasn’t convinced that she’d have that much influence as a civilian working for the police, and I found Erma’s aggression extreme. But I’ve never seen ghosts so I don’t really know what I’m talking about.
Graphic: Animal death, Bullying, Child death, Death, Gore, Gun violence, Misogyny, Racism, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Police brutality, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Abandonment, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism
winifara's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
2.0
Graphic: Child death and Death
Moderate: Death of parent
Minor: Animal death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gore, Gun violence, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexual content, Violence, Blood, Police brutality, Dementia, Kidnapping, Grief, Car accident, Murder, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism
jemau11's review
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
Graphic: Gore, Violence, and Murder
Moderate: Child death, Grief, and Death of parent
Minor: Animal death, Sexual content, and Police brutality
leweylibrary's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
1.5
I did not enjoy reading it, I had to force myself to finish it for a book club, and I had sooo many issues with it that completely took me out of the story. Like her awful friends wtf??? They were horrible and I really hope they weren't inspired by the author's real friends lol. What kind of friends automatically ask if you've murdered someone or destroyed your own apartment?? I wanted to like the supernatural element, and it was one of the few things keeping me interested, but there could've been so much more done with it. I felt like a lot of the conversations, situations, and relationships just made no sense. I truly don't know how this was long listed for the National Book Prize. Like how.
Graphic: Child death, Death, Gore, Terminal illness, Blood, Grief, Car accident, Death of parent, Murder, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, and Abandonment
Moderate: Drug use, Racism, and Colonisation
Minor: Pedophilia, Medical content, and Sexual harassment
vexatiousbird's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
My main complaint was the ending felt kind of rushed and abrupt.
Graphic: Child death, Death, Gore, and Death of parent
Moderate: Drug use and Alcohol
mynameisrebecca's review
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Graphic: Child death, Death, Gore, Racism, Blood, Death of parent, and Murder
Moderate: Xenophobia
lizzyfc's review
- 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
3.75
Graphic: Child death, Death, Car accident, Death of parent, and Murder
cait808's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Rita is a sendup to haggard, perpetually tired girlies everywhere, and her commitment to doing the right thing is admirable. Every time she propitiated the phantoms in a long-suffering tone, I liked our everywoman heroine more, and the descriptions of her actual family and the family she found outside the reservation warmed my heart. I fw the final line of the book v much and it feels like a love letter to both the kind of child Rita was and the woman Rita has become.
I am tepid about the chapter shift between past and present day. Once it was used to great effect—a question coming up in a present chapter was immediately answered by the following past chapter—but otherwise I kind of felt like it was relying on cliffhangers to get me to keep reading.
Also as an aside, I wish I knew more about cameras—each chapter has a subscript of a make/model of a camera of importance to the focal point (hehe) of the chapter. The climactic chapters are simply labelled with an f-stop setting indicating an ever-widening aperture, ending in “wide open.” Neat!
I felt the ending was very rushed. The book needed more chapters to flesh out SEVERAL interesting character skeletons; but unfortunately we are left with:
- Garcia, who
- Armenta, who
- Erma! Would’ve loved more
- Always need more on Shanice—
no notes on Grandma though. now THAT’S what I call a grandma. the idyllic yet grounded description of
Solid book overall, would def read from this author again, especially bc of how she writes both old people and body parts strewn across an Albuquerque highway with such care.
Graphic: Death and Gore
Moderate: Panic attacks/disorders, Violence, Grief, Death of parent, and Abandonment