Reviews tagging 'Suicidal thoughts'

The Marrow Thieves by Cherie Dimaline

15 reviews

purplepickle's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional informative inspiring 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? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Racism, Child death, Drug use, Genocide, Death of parent, Cursing, Forced institutionalization, Death, and Grief

Minor: Sexual assault, Rape, and Suicidal thoughts

readingwithkaitlyn's review against another edition

tense fast-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Blood, Death, Murder, and Grief

Moderate: Suicidal thoughts, Injury/Injury detail, Suicide, Forced institutionalization, Kidnapping, Religious bigotry, and Child death

Minor: Pregnancy, Alcohol, Genocide, Animal death, Sexual assault, Rape, Child abuse, Colonisation, Addiction, War, Sexual content, Racial slurs, Vomit, Excrement, Gun violence, and Stalking

Residential schools, global warming, pollution, starvation, disease.

msbarnesela's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional tense fast-paced

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

3.75

Disclaimer: I’m not the target audience for this book. It’s YA, and it reads like YA, and I am not a teenager. I read this to determine whether I could use it with my students.

The plot moves quickly, and the chapters are short. The premise is compelling. The characters make sense, given the situation and setting. I wanted good things for them. They weren’t always likable, but they’re trying to survive while people are hunting them, and most of them are also dealing with puberty, so some prickliness is to be expected. 

I’m not a huge fan of the style of the prose. The book is from the perspective of the main character, who is a teen boy. The way his emotions and observations are narrated feels a little too exaggerated while also being weirdly self-aware. I would have enjoyed a bit more emotional subtlety and maybe just more writing craft? But again, I’m not the target audience. And I wonder if some of the storytelling techniques are echoing oral narrative techniques that I’m just not culturally connected to.

This is a book that I will use with my students. It has references to some really terrible things (see content warnings), but none of it is graphic. Violence and sex are acknowledged but not narrated, so it’s appropriate for younger high school (and maybe mature 8th graders, with adult support to contextualize and process the traumatic parts). Stylistically and structurally, it’s probably an easy enough read for middle grades. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Blood, Death, Genocide, Grief, Gun violence, Kidnapping, Racism, Trafficking, Violence, Child death, Cultural appropriation, and Forced institutionalization

Minor: Abandonment, Addiction, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Cursing, Medical content, Death of parent, Drug abuse, Pandemic/Epidemic, Religious bigotry, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Pregnancy, Rape, and Trafficking

One character alludes to being gang-raped (the lead-up and aftermath are briefly detailed, but not the rape itself). Another character is said to have been raped (no detail). Kidnapping, trafficking, medical experimentation, and murder of indigenous people are the premise of the book, so it’s to be expected that it’s referenced. Residential schools are referenced frequently, but there’s very little description of the experience of institutionalization since only one character in the book had spent any time in the schools. There is one reference to sexual arousal between two teens, but nothing happens beyond kissing, and it’s awkwardly and abruptly interrupted. Two young adult characters couple up, and the woman is mentioned to be pregnant, but it’s a passing reference. Some characters shoot people (mostly justifiable self-defense) and feel bad about it afterwards.

augustar14's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional 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

4.75

This book is so powerful. Very well done, hard to listen at times but all important because while set in the future, many of the experiences are based on reality or historic reality for indigenous Americans. Definitely recommend, if you're in a space for something that is heavy and strong.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault, Abandonment, Alcohol, Blood, Death, Death of parent, Drug abuse, Child death, Colonisation, Cultural appropriation, Cursing, Injury/Injury detail, Genocide, Grief, Gun violence, Kidnapping, Murder, Rape, Addiction, Forced institutionalization, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, and Violence

Moderate: Animal death, Alcoholism, and Vomit

Minor: Sexism, Xenophobia, Confinement, Medical content, Cannibalism, and War

anastasiamakes's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful sad tense 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

3.0

A really powerful rumination on the very real world we could be heading towards if we don't start tackling climate change and pollution, mixed in with a healthy dose of Native American lore. Dystopia focusing on the communities and relationships that form, and survival in the face of insurmountable odds.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Colonisation

Moderate: Abandonment, Child death, Forced institutionalization, and Genocide

Minor: Gun violence and Suicidal thoughts

alexalily's review against another edition

adventurous dark hopeful mysterious reflective tense fast-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Kidnapping, Death of parent, Genocide, Colonisation, Child death, and Racism

Moderate: Death, Injury/Injury detail, Grief, Murder, Violence, and Blood

Minor: Suicidal thoughts, Gun violence, and Animal death

rorikae's review against another edition

challenging 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

4.25

'The Marrow Thieves' by Cherie Dimaline is a near future story centering on a group of Indigenous people trying to survive in a world that wants to harvest their bone marrow for dreams. 
In the future, a majority of the population has lost the ability to dream. The one population that has retained the ability to dream are Indigenous people. This ability is stored in their bone marrow and so the government has started hunting Indigenous people down to harvest their bone marrow. The story follows Frenchy, a young Indigenous boy who has lost his family and is trying to survive in a world where Indigenous people are seeking to protect their community from exploitation. 
Dimaline does a great job of telling a full world's story through the eyes of one specific character and his interactions. Frenchy has dealt with a lot of pain in his life and the book is a rollercoaster of both highs and lows for him as he seeks to survive. This story centers the importance of family and culture while also being an allegory for the way Indigenous people are treated in current society. In this future world, the government has reinstated residential schools as a way of harvesting the bone marrow, harkening back to an all too recent past. As a Young Adult book, I think this does a great job of exploring Frenchy's life while also looking at how Indigenous people are exploited and harmed in North America. I am so glad to have discovered Dimaline's work this year and can't wait to read more. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Colonisation, Kidnapping, Suicidal thoughts, Alcohol, Child death, Death, Violence, Murder, Gun violence, Genocide, and Grief

burnt_milk's review against another edition

adventurous dark sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix

4.25

Definitely need to read the second book before I quite know how to talk about this but this was fantastic. The descriptions of family protecting each other against a society that aims to strip them of their essence were powerful.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Genocide, Racism, and Colonisation

Moderate: Rape, Sexual violence, Child death, and Gun violence

Minor: Suicidal thoughts

tascaraudo's review

adventurous dark emotional hopeful sad tense fast-paced

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

4.0

The writing was familiar to me, the way things people and places are described is short and rich with imagery. As a habitual skimmer, the fast-paced nature of the writing forced me to go back and actually read in order to understand what was going on. 
The book really starts with a bang, and you will never be bored. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Genocide

Moderate: Violence, Suicidal thoughts, Physical abuse, Murder, Kidnapping, and Drug use

Minor: Sexual assault

caseythereader's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious 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? No

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Blood, Child abuse, Child death, Colonisation, Confinement, Death, Death of parent, Drug use, Fire/Fire injury, Genocide, Gore, Grief, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Medical content, Murder, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, Racism, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, and Rape