Reviews tagging 'Gun violence'

Girl at War by Sara Nović

11 reviews

drraytay's review against another edition

challenging dark medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Diverse cast of characters? No

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Genocide, Death of parent, War, Violence, Murder, Gun violence, and Death

Moderate: Suicide, Rape, Racial slurs, Sexual violence, and Islamophobia

Minor: Vomit

bookedbymadeline's review

challenging dark emotional sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated

4.0

It look me so long to read because I was in a slump and I wasn’t loving the writing style. It’s very difficult to write books from a young child’s POV and not have it be telling over showing (I rarely see this child narrator trope done well tbh) which is why I didn’t like the writing style.

I just had such a hard time focusing and reading more than 10 pages a day. I didn’t fully feel engaged until part 2. It’s a very emotional and difficult book, which made me cry a few times. I learned things about the war and ethnic cleansing that I didn’t know before. I also marked a lot of quotes that I found profound or something I wanted to remember

I had one issue with the book and that was the author writing about what happened, that “the guilt of one side doesn’t determine the innocence of the other.” I understand what she’s trying to say but in this case, it was a genocide, it comes across as “well the Serbians did bad things but so did the other side” when it’s not that simple because the “other side” (Croatians and Bosnians) are innocent and did “bad things too” in order to survive and defend themselves.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, War, Blood, Death of parent, Grief, and Genocide

Moderate: Gun violence

Minor: Rape

puttingwingsonwords's review against another edition

dark reflective tense fast-paced

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

4.5

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Death, Mass/school shootings, Genocide, War, Murder, Xenophobia, Violence, Gun violence, Death of parent, and Grief

Moderate: Medical content and Blood

Minor: Alcohol, Cursing, Fire/Fire injury, Suicide, Vomit, Rape, Sexual violence, and Child death

itsmebecca's review

adventurous dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

I think what struck me most when reading Girl At War as an American was the way we treat survivors of war. The dichotomy between Ana’s childhood in Croatia and her life in America as a teen/adult was stark. I really felt her pain and frustration in the pages. As someone who has always had an interest in former Yugoslavia, this put humanity behind the history I have been studying.

Though I wish the end had been a bit more tied up, I can see the intent in leaving it more open. I will be thinking about this book for a while — and I am not often deeply impacted by books like this.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Genocide, Gun violence, Sexual assault, War, and Violence

kerrygetsliterary's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative inspiring reflective sad fast-paced

• 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

5.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Gun violence, Violence, Grief, Animal death, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Vomit, War, Death of parent, Child death, and Death

Minor: Rape and Sexual assault

nicoleisalwaysreading's review

challenging dark emotional informative reflective 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

4.0

read in one incredible sitting. paced incredibly well - I had to keep turning the pages. there is a distinct shift in the plot when war becomes not just a distant air siren and but an intimate tragedy, and it caught me off guard. the idyllic childhood of a rambunctious tomboy paired with her narrative as a closed-off survivor only a decade later is really special. the ending felt abrupt (disappointingly so) but its open-ended nature is hopeful. important and accessible fiction about the Yugoslav Wars

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: War, Gun violence, Death, and Death of parent

msennflinn's review

challenging emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: War, Death, Gun violence, Murder, Death of parent, Xenophobia, Violence, Child death, Genocide, Blood, and Grief

Minor: Sexual assault, Religious bigotry, and Rape

serendipitysbooks's review

dark emotional reflective medium-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? It's complicated

4.0

 Girl at War is an adult novel but was given an Alex award, meaning it will also appeal to readers aged between 12 and 18. We first meet Ana in Zagreb in 1991 when she enjoys a fairly typical childhood. It isn’t long before Yugoslavia’s civil war intrudes and forever alters the trajectory of Ana’s life and that of her family. Ten years later she is a college student in America but the shadows and scars caused by the conflict in Yugoslavia are very evident. Her experience in bearing arms in order to ensure her own survival, and the toll this took on her, was especially striking. So too was her broader reckoning with what had happened in her country and the many lasting impacts that had on her life. With news cycles being so short this book is a good reminder that the fallout from conflicts continues long after the foreign news cameras have left.
 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Genocide and Gun violence

alexture's review

challenging dark reflective 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

4.5

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Death of parent, Genocide, Gore, Grief, Gun violence, War, and Violence

Moderate: Mass/school shootings and Panic attacks/disorders

Minor: Rape and Alcoholism

annareads9898's review

dark emotional informative medium-paced

• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.5

I found this novel slightly difficult to "get into" at first, I had to re start it a few times because I did not feel like I was giving it my full attention. I liked how the book operated between three/four different timelines and events, it kept the Yugoslavian War and the genocide that occurred front and center instead of cramming it into one section of the book. I only gave it 3 and a half stars because I did not feel Ana as a fully formed character. She was the main character of the book but I felt the descriptions of her and the descriptions of her inner monologue to be very stop and go, like the events in her life were never finished. This could have been done purposely so, just not the type of prose that I usually enjoy. Sara Novic, the author of this novel, is deaf and in my copy of the book there was a section in the back devoted to her talking about being a deaf author which I found to be extremely interesting and worthy of evaluation. She seems to be a great advocate for HOH (hard of hearing) persons rights.  

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Death of parent, Death, Genocide, and Gun violence

Moderate: Grief, Murder, Racial slurs, and Violence