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mynameisrebecca's review against another edition
- 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 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
3.75
Graphic: Child death, Death, Car accident, Death of parent, and Murder
cait808's review against another edition
- 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
cmmcgrath86's review against another edition
Graphic: Death, Gore, and Car accident
eicart_reads's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
4.25
Graphic: Death, Blood, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Child death, Racism, Grief, Car accident, and Colonisation
Minor: Animal death, Bullying, Drug use, Terminal illness, Death of parent, and Fire/Fire injury
bluegrassreader'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
I found the relationship between Rita and her Grandmother to be very touching and relatable. I also enjoyed the way the book explored Native American culture and some of the good and bad things about life on a reservation in today’s time. A very good book. Excited to see the author’s future work.
Graphic: Death, Car accident, and Murder
linnyb's review against another edition
- 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
4.0
Graphic: Body horror, Death, Gore, Blood, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail
awebofstories's review against another edition
- 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
4.0
Moderate: Child death, Death, Drug use, Gun violence, Police brutality, Car accident, Death of parent, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail
mmccombs's review against another edition
3.0
Graphic: Death, Gore, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Death of parent
lisaarnsdorf's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Overall, I really liked this book. My main complaints are: 1) the author uses an alternating timeline, with every other chapter being in the past and the present. As the two timelines converged, I started to get really confused about where we were in time. And the past timeline dragged on a little too long. 2) The ending was morally ambiguous and too convenient. It felt like a cop-out in some regards.
I hope this becomes a series because it's a really interesting premise!
Graphic: Child death, Death, Gore, Gun violence, Violence, Car accident, and Murder