Reviews tagging 'Death of parent'

Girl at War by Sara Nović

16 reviews

whtbout2ndbrkfst's review

adventurous challenging hopeful informative reflective sad tense 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? No

5.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, War, and Death of parent

Moderate: Xenophobia

Minor: Rape and Violence

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

thehmkane's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful informative sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

Very solid. Great prose, heartwrenching story. Shines a light on a topic I knew little about.

---

Content Warnings

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

Minor: Sexual assault, Medical content, Rape, and Sexual violence

mrlsdevos's review against another edition

emotional reflective sad medium-paced

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

4.5

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Xenophobia, Death of parent, and War

Moderate: Hate crime, Genocide, Grief, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Rape and Sexual violence

kfrawrylion's review

challenging dark emotional sad medium-paced

5.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: War, Death, Blood, Murder, Child death, Death of parent, Genocide, Violence, and Injury/Injury detail

giugiufio's review

dark emotional hopeful medium-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

4.25

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, 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