Reviews tagging 'Mental illness'

The Marrow Thieves by Cherie Dimaline

4 reviews

srjennings's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional hopeful sad tense 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? It's complicated

4.75

Great book! The narrator of the audio was very good.  The plot is compelling and ties together history of oppression/ genocide of native peoples and an imagined future where they're hunted for their use to save white people.  The characters are complex. Not all native people are good and not all the whites are bad.  The main character,  Frenchie, does things that are wrong or at least questionable and struggles with huge amounts of trauma, loss,  and violence, as do the others.  The culture and history of indigenous people is interwoven throughout the story.  
Overall a great story and I'm looking forward to reading the sequel!  

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nnia's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring lighthearted mysterious reflective sad tense medium-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? It's complicated

5.0


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revengesrose's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional reflective 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? No

3.25


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sauvageloup's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious reflective 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? It's complicated

5.0

A gripping and beautiful book! 

Pros:
- the writing is gorgeous! if i highlighted books, it would be filled with highlighter. Some sentences and metaphors were just stunning, it's really poetic whilst still being grounded, brutal without being gratuitous, and really poignant too. The plot was perfect too, enough happening to keep it moving without it being rushed, the final twist totally surprising me.
- the characters were perfect too, especially Miigwans, Rose and the narrator, Francis/Frenchie himself. The trauma they've been through is obvious though not leaned heavily on, and Frenchie's crush is a reminder that he's still so young.
- the worldbuilding is original and brilliant, hugely awful but with hope through the Native Americans' survival.
- i loved the inclusion of Story, the language, the reverence the younger ones show their elders and the learning and how the community pulled together. I've never read a book by a Native American but this was a brilliant reason for why I should find more of them.
(- the worldbuilding and beautiful language reminded me loosely of Station Eleven, and that can only be a very good thing!)

Cons:
-
I wasn't too impacted when RiRi died... i don't rly know why, whether it was a fault with me or the writing. Was much more impacted when Miigwans and Isaac were reunited at the end <3

- sometimes the worldbuilding verged on a bit too tell-y for me and a little unoriginally presented maybe? but it was a minor detail

(not a pro or con, but I was suprised by how often the narrator/author used 'Indians' to describe themselves. I really thought that was considered a slur and Native American the "proper" term? something to look into i guess)

Overall, a wonderful book, i think maybe my first 5 star of the year, definitely want to read more by this author!

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